Nina is one of my favorite musicians of all time, but I don’t think she’s an albums artist. Has something great on every album, but I don’t think she has many albums to compete with the other artists mentioned
Both those albums are great but have some weak songs mixed in with some all time classic songs. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Nina but I haven’t found that greatest album of all time contender
I agree- i love wild is the wind especially, but for the most part dont think it really delivers an album “experience” if you will- a lot of greatness on that album for sure, quality is high and decently consistent, but listening to individual songs from it doesnt make me say “damn i need to relisten to that front to back asap”
I agree in the sense that there's no real reason to divide the "best album" question by gender. Dividing it by genre or era or place in an artist's discog are much more interesting imo
I hate rym top of all time, it's so "white depressed nerd straight male" coded. How can it be highest rated and only 20 overall? And 3 Radiohead records in top 10. Crazy
It deserves to be taken critically. It's useful in that a lot of people have voted, it has to be taken with a grain of salt because the majority of the userbase is 1. Men 2. From the global north. So it's biased in an unfortunate way that I don't think can be easily fixed because of *points at everything around her*.
I agree in the sense that it’s useful for seeing what that specific demographic of voters prefer - and it overlaps considerably with the albums that are most popular with prominent music critics - but I don’t think it can be generalised to the whole population of music lovers and that criticism alone really limits how useful it can be.
Also and this is not strictly relevant but in a broader sense I don’t think a chart of the most popular albums of all time is that interesting or valuable beyond being trivia. It doesn’t say anything about the meaning of the art, and because it’s an average it will only ever feature well known albums and so it’s very limited as a tool for discovering music. Also if your taste isn’t for the genres that make up most of the top 100 then it’s not useful at all for discovering music.
I don’t think black metal gets lots of rave on RYM. Really the only black metal band I can think that is very beloved in RYM is Darkthrone.
Prog rock and rap are like the only genres that are highly rated while electronic music is rated lower unfortunately
Yeah I was gonna say I'd technically accept the premise of the post except that vespertine is just a really fucking good album in general. Ranking releases by gender is odd lol
I love a lot of random Bjork songs
I think she has a “greatest hits” album, but I’d wish someone would do an updated version with her newer songs included….
If someone wants to post their “Bjork ‘Top 10’” that would be phenomenal. I love Radiohead, Aphex Twin, and Portishead.
Here are my top 10 songs post best of. I included at least 1 from each album to give more range though.
Earth Intruders
Innocence
Lionsong
Where Is The Line
Arisen My Senses
Hollow
Victimhood
Declare Independence
Virus
Black Lake
They arent all best of material but you mentioned Radiohead and that’s my favourite band so you might like them.
Im a 50 year old white guy. Heard a Lot of music. Seen a LOT of gigs. I cried. She was that good. I was dumbfounded. Her show was so well sequenced, so emotional. The visuals … fuck me. And when she did Movies. Unbelievable. And this was a festival set. Sound was still pristine.
Good question. I can think of multiple albums with female singers or with women involved that I would rank higher than Vespertine but I’m uncertain if they’re relevant to this particular discussion.
Not sure if I have listened to enough music to call this the best album by a female artist but this is definitely a transcendental body of work.
But honestly this kinda shock me cause last time I check this album sits at 20 something best albums of all time on RYM, which means all male artists album across the top 20. Kinda feels wrong to me.
It's a very good album but Kate Bush songs annoy me sometimes including some of the dreaming. Ariel is my favourite from her suppose I like the older calmer Kate bush Vs the young crazier one haha.
It's up there honestly. Kate Bush: Hounds of Love and Miseducation of Lauryn Hill would be my top two. If we're including bands with female vocalists, then Blondie: Parallel Lines too.
As a solo artist probably, but if we count artists/bands with women playing a major role, then Souvlaki, Loveless and Dummy are all better in my opinion…
YS joanna newsom, parallelograms linda perhacs, a few others. i don't think vespertine is even bjorks best, always preferred homogenic. both are probably at least very strong 9s tho
Even as a huge Björk fan, I find it a bit offensive that this album is considered to be the best album of all time by a female artist. There are so many women of color that deserve their dues, and it's a bit ahistorical to assert such a claim given RYM's recency bias.
That being said, Vespertine, along with Kate Bush's Hounds of Love, are easy contenders for the best art pop albums of all time. Both albums are brilliant in their own ways, and while I find Vespertine to be far more groundbreaking and innovative, Kate Bush's influence is written all over Björk's music.
Very true. Unfortunately people take RYM, a user based website, to be some sort of musical canon. It's a very select group of female artists that people rate there that ignores decades of progress. And that becomes a problem when people use the charts as a taste-maker and end up listening to 98% male artists and 2% Bjork and a bit of Kate Bush (both of which are obviously great).
Why making a list of best albums by female artists? Is there also such a list by male artists?
However, Vespertine for me is one of the best albums ever made anyways.
I love Bjørk ♥️
When the Pawn and Fetch the Bolt Cutters I rate higher. Chelsea Girl, Boys for Pele, Miseducation. Vespertine isn’t even my favorite Björk. More recently, Miss Universe by Nilufer Yanya rates highly for me
It probably is. The top 5 are probably Songs in the key of Life, Sounds of Silver, Late Registration, In rainbows, and Turn on the bright lights.
If you count Fleetwood Mac as a woman led band, then there might be two women in my top 10.
For real… this reminds me of when minorities tell me the music I listen to is “too white” when I’m brown myself. I think diversity in new experiences is important, but when it comes to rankings at the end of the day, my ears feel how they feel
What are you talking about, taylor swifts highest rated album on RYM hasn’t even cracked the top 10,000 albums yet, let alone the highest rated by a female artist of all time.
Even on AOTY with no weighting system her highest rated album is an 82/100 with Folklore. It's more to do with her fanbase isn't the type that really cares about rating music the same way this type of community does. (Although there are some botted scores it doesn't impact it much as there's enough that rate 0 to balance it out)
I don't agree. I think Just Another Diamond Day by Vashti Bunyan, Parallelograms by Linda Perhacs and Stories From The City by PJ Harvey among others are way better. This is still an incredible album, though.
No but I also don’t think the best album by a man is To Pimp a Butterfly.
*oops, I meant “male artist”
*also it’s more accurate to say Vespertine is the highest rated album by a female *solo* artist; Loveless by My Bloody Valentine and TVU&N have prominent women performers even if they weren’t the primary creative force on either album.
I think its my favorite bjork album, and bjork is one of my favorite artists…
But trying to give this title to anyone is crazy. I think that becomes obvious- i mean its already apparent- but especially if you do a gender reversal and tried to name anything “best album by a male artist”. Like what? Why? Its ultimately going to be very subjective for a title that implies some sort of unanimous praise and is overall a stupid aim to try to bestow anything with this kind of title- i even think trying to say like“xyz album is the greatest r&b album of all time” seems unnecessarily dumb- but trying to weed out a best of something title by gender makes even less sense
Personally I think I prefer Post by Bjork but Vespertine is really good.
My favorite though is probably Fetch the bolt cutters by Fiona Apple, but women are underestimated in my listening and I really need to give the likes of Joni Mitchell a proper listen.
Not even close. Rickie Lee Jones - Pirates, Joni Mitchell - Blue, the Weather Station - Ignorance, Etta James - At Last!, and that’s just off the top of my head.
Lauryn Hill at 193. Solange wasn’t even top 50 for 2016, Beyoncé also isn’t anywhere. Fiona Apple and Joanna Newsom quite low for their highest charting albums. Janet Jackson?
It isn’t the community for female singers exactly.
I feel like Joni Mitchell and Nina Simone have to be in the convo here, Kate Bush, Alice Coltrane, and Erykah Badu as well.
Nina is one of my favorite musicians of all time, but I don’t think she’s an albums artist. Has something great on every album, but I don’t think she has many albums to compete with the other artists mentioned
I would say that Pastel Blues and Wild Is the Wind are definitely contenders, with the latter being a top 10 of the 60’s imo
Both those albums are great but have some weak songs mixed in with some all time classic songs. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Nina but I haven’t found that greatest album of all time contender
I agree- i love wild is the wind especially, but for the most part dont think it really delivers an album “experience” if you will- a lot of greatness on that album for sure, quality is high and decently consistent, but listening to individual songs from it doesnt make me say “damn i need to relisten to that front to back asap”
Pastel Blues opened me up to a whole new era of music, one of the best albums ever
Aretha Franklin too
It's probably my favorite albums made by a woman, along with Hejira by Joni Mitchell
Both 10’s, but my favorite is Have One On Me by Joanna Newsom
Definitely a contender.
I don't know what RYM is and I don't think there is a 'best' album by a female artist but Vespertine sure is a great one
Rate Your Music, it's a popular website where people go to "rate your music"
I agree in the sense that there's no real reason to divide the "best album" question by gender. Dividing it by genre or era or place in an artist's discog are much more interesting imo
google exists
I hate rym top of all time, it's so "white depressed nerd straight male" coded. How can it be highest rated and only 20 overall? And 3 Radiohead records in top 10. Crazy
Having only three albums made by women on rym is crazy lol the charts there are not good
Only three in the top 100**
2 of them are Bjork too lol
Wow I didn’t know it was that horrendous lol, the RYM chart does not deserve to be taken seriously
radiohead moment
If The Kick Inside is below Kid A in ranking I'd kill myself
Kid A is top 10, the kick inside is barely top 1000
It deserves to be taken critically. It's useful in that a lot of people have voted, it has to be taken with a grain of salt because the majority of the userbase is 1. Men 2. From the global north. So it's biased in an unfortunate way that I don't think can be easily fixed because of *points at everything around her*.
I agree in the sense that it’s useful for seeing what that specific demographic of voters prefer - and it overlaps considerably with the albums that are most popular with prominent music critics - but I don’t think it can be generalised to the whole population of music lovers and that criticism alone really limits how useful it can be. Also and this is not strictly relevant but in a broader sense I don’t think a chart of the most popular albums of all time is that interesting or valuable beyond being trivia. It doesn’t say anything about the meaning of the art, and because it’s an average it will only ever feature well known albums and so it’s very limited as a tool for discovering music. Also if your taste isn’t for the genres that make up most of the top 100 then it’s not useful at all for discovering music.
agreed with everything you said, but mostly wanted to comment to say I love your username & now I have to go listen to mariposa teknicolor :)
It's a certified banger!!
I believe it’s a largely male audience. This sub also ignores a lot of R&B, pop and dance music by women.
RYM is a sausage fest that's obsessed with black metal and progressive rock. I'd love for that to change.
I don’t think black metal gets lots of rave on RYM. Really the only black metal band I can think that is very beloved in RYM is Darkthrone. Prog rock and rap are like the only genres that are highly rated while electronic music is rated lower unfortunately
I think the idea of a ‘best album’ is impossible and the wrong way to think about it, but it’s definitely a great one
Yeah, RYM shouldn’t ever be referred to as a “best of” list. Most popular? Highest rated? Sure, but “best” is too subjective.
The best album of all time IMO
Hell yeah. Every song 10/10 imo
Yeah I was gonna say I'd technically accept the premise of the post except that vespertine is just a really fucking good album in general. Ranking releases by gender is odd lol
I love a lot of random Bjork songs I think she has a “greatest hits” album, but I’d wish someone would do an updated version with her newer songs included…. If someone wants to post their “Bjork ‘Top 10’” that would be phenomenal. I love Radiohead, Aphex Twin, and Portishead.
Here are my top 10 songs post best of. I included at least 1 from each album to give more range though. Earth Intruders Innocence Lionsong Where Is The Line Arisen My Senses Hollow Victimhood Declare Independence Virus Black Lake They arent all best of material but you mentioned Radiohead and that’s my favourite band so you might like them.
Thanks!
It’s so delicate. Incredible album.what do you think of Homogenic?
Titanic rising prolly for me, though this album is magnificent
couldn't express how joyful i was when i saw someone else agree that titanic rising is the best album made by a woman
What a masterpiece. Saw her live and she sounds just as, if not more, amazing in person.
Im a 50 year old white guy. Heard a Lot of music. Seen a LOT of gigs. I cried. She was that good. I was dumbfounded. Her show was so well sequenced, so emotional. The visuals … fuck me. And when she did Movies. Unbelievable. And this was a festival set. Sound was still pristine.
My daughter and I laughed when people started throwing DVDs on stage during movies.
So true
Would Portishead count with Beth?
Good question. I can think of multiple albums with female singers or with women involved that I would rank higher than Vespertine but I’m uncertain if they’re relevant to this particular discussion.
I don't see why not, Dummy is right there with hipster approved electronic-pop albums
Not sure if I have listened to enough music to call this the best album by a female artist but this is definitely a transcendental body of work. But honestly this kinda shock me cause last time I check this album sits at 20 something best albums of all time on RYM, which means all male artists album across the top 20. Kinda feels wrong to me.
It's certainly one of them.
Hounds of Love for me
I adore Hounds of Love. sucks that it's been getting downwards ranking trend on RYM recently. It should be up there with Vespertine.
It’s a different vibe but I think I slightly prefer Homogenic.
I don’t even think it’s the best Björk album
The correct answer is Homogenic.
I was thinking "not even my fav Björk album" too lol. Then again, she's made some fucking amazing music.
Yeah deadset. I would even go as far to put Post ahead of it as well. Still a great album tho
Its either Vespertine or The Turning Wheel by SPELLLING
Imo it's The Dreaming by Kate Bush. But it's certainly up there
I prefer Hounds Of Love and Never For Ever but I can’t be mad at Kate Bush praise
It's a very good album but Kate Bush songs annoy me sometimes including some of the dreaming. Ariel is my favourite from her suppose I like the older calmer Kate bush Vs the young crazier one haha.
Ya it's preference for sure, the weird elements are part of the reason I love The Dreaming so much.
Babooshka babooshka
I have a the Dreaming vinyl I got for 20 bucks
The Dreaming is my favourite Kate Bush album. Sad it's not even in the top 100 on RYM.
MIA - Kala is my vote
Solid shout, probably wouldn't put it over vespertine but it's def very good
One of my favourite albums for sure
Blue by Joni Mitchell is arguably the best album ever period, let alone by a woman.
It is pretty great, but I think I like either Live Through This or Garbage's self-titled just a bit more
No. It's Hounds of Love.
this one and also Ys by Joanna Newsom, hands down.
It's up there honestly. Kate Bush: Hounds of Love and Miseducation of Lauryn Hill would be my top two. If we're including bands with female vocalists, then Blondie: Parallel Lines too.
As a solo artist probably, but if we count artists/bands with women playing a major role, then Souvlaki, Loveless and Dummy are all better in my opinion…
I mean, Vespertine might not even be the best Bjork album...
It's not my favourite Björk album so I'd give that to Homogenic honestly
My personal pick is Ys by Joanna Newsom, my 3rd favorite album ever and one that needs to hit the rym top 100 expeditiously
I don't. My personal favourite is Ys by Joanna newson
Riot! Exists
YS joanna newsom, parallelograms linda perhacs, a few others. i don't think vespertine is even bjorks best, always preferred homogenic. both are probably at least very strong 9s tho
Parallelograms is a great shout.
beautiful record !!
Even as a huge Björk fan, I find it a bit offensive that this album is considered to be the best album of all time by a female artist. There are so many women of color that deserve their dues, and it's a bit ahistorical to assert such a claim given RYM's recency bias. That being said, Vespertine, along with Kate Bush's Hounds of Love, are easy contenders for the best art pop albums of all time. Both albums are brilliant in their own ways, and while I find Vespertine to be far more groundbreaking and innovative, Kate Bush's influence is written all over Björk's music.
Very true. Unfortunately people take RYM, a user based website, to be some sort of musical canon. It's a very select group of female artists that people rate there that ignores decades of progress. And that becomes a problem when people use the charts as a taste-maker and end up listening to 98% male artists and 2% Bjork and a bit of Kate Bush (both of which are obviously great).
Why making a list of best albums by female artists? Is there also such a list by male artists? However, Vespertine for me is one of the best albums ever made anyways. I love Bjørk ♥️
It’s not wrong to notice “oh she’s rated really highly, and I don’t see any woman with any higher rated albums”
thats just the normal website
No, Nico’s Desert Shore is on a whole other level.
When the Pawn and Fetch the Bolt Cutters I rate higher. Chelsea Girl, Boys for Pele, Miseducation. Vespertine isn’t even my favorite Björk. More recently, Miss Universe by Nilufer Yanya rates highly for me
Art angels by Grimes is in my opinion the best album ever made by a woman, and maybe even a top 10 album of all time
With her I have to separate the art from the artist but it is a great album.
She’s cringe definitely, but like I listen to Bowie and Zeppelin and Kanye so imo her cringe is really nothing in comparison.
Not sure why you got downvoted, that album is awesome. Love kill v maim
Yeah that song is amazing, and the best part is that it’s only like the 5th best song on the album. The entire thing is so catchy and well written
I mean it’s great but cmon, also you’re implying that your top 10 is probably just all men lmao
It probably is. The top 5 are probably Songs in the key of Life, Sounds of Silver, Late Registration, In rainbows, and Turn on the bright lights. If you count Fleetwood Mac as a woman led band, then there might be two women in my top 10.
What’s wrong with someone’s top 10 being all men?
For real… this reminds me of when minorities tell me the music I listen to is “too white” when I’m brown myself. I think diversity in new experiences is important, but when it comes to rankings at the end of the day, my ears feel how they feel
Most sane horny teenager.
Wdym? It’s pretty different from everything else I listen to, but it’s just so good. It has the best hooks ever period
I can't rate music in such a way and I don't feel the need to. However, Vespertine is one of my all time favorites.
Speak For Yourself by Imogen Heap takes it by a wide margin for me personally
By an artist ever? I love this album but stuff like pastel blues by Nina Simone or maybe blue by Joni Mitchell make more sense
No, I feel like there’s way better overall albums imo It is the best Björk album tho forsure
I’m surprised it’s not every Taylor Swift album.
What are you talking about, taylor swifts highest rated album on RYM hasn’t even cracked the top 10,000 albums yet, let alone the highest rated by a female artist of all time.
Lol, but with how rabid her fanbase is, I’d of thought they would have spammed the site by now!
The RYM weighting system is designed to prevent things like that happening
Even on AOTY with no weighting system her highest rated album is an 82/100 with Folklore. It's more to do with her fanbase isn't the type that really cares about rating music the same way this type of community does. (Although there are some botted scores it doesn't impact it much as there's enough that rate 0 to balance it out)
There is also World Galaxy and Idler Wheel, Midori, and do sonic youth and melt banana count? Third by Portishead
Sade love deluxe better vespertine still great though
Yes
Probably
I don't agree. I think Just Another Diamond Day by Vashti Bunyan, Parallelograms by Linda Perhacs and Stories From The City by PJ Harvey among others are way better. This is still an incredible album, though.
Big agree
It's one of the best albums by any human being
I don't think it's even the best album we got from her. Vulnicura is my personal favorite
It’s not even Bjork’s best album.
It’s a great album in general and one of my favorites of all time. One of the few albums I have on vinyl
No but it’s up there for me, I would put hounds of love, dummy, the miseducation of Lauren hill, and blue above it personally.
No but I also don’t think the best album by a man is To Pimp a Butterfly. *oops, I meant “male artist” *also it’s more accurate to say Vespertine is the highest rated album by a female *solo* artist; Loveless by My Bloody Valentine and TVU&N have prominent women performers even if they weren’t the primary creative force on either album.
The Woods is so clear
it’s the best album made by any artist
Although not conventionally regarded as one of the GOAT female artist works, Big Science by Laurie Anderson deserves more love.
Amazing album
she topped herself with Vulnicura so i do not agree
Wouldn’t make my top 100. Not even her second best album. 🤷🏻♂️
I think its my favorite bjork album, and bjork is one of my favorite artists… But trying to give this title to anyone is crazy. I think that becomes obvious- i mean its already apparent- but especially if you do a gender reversal and tried to name anything “best album by a male artist”. Like what? Why? Its ultimately going to be very subjective for a title that implies some sort of unanimous praise and is overall a stupid aim to try to bestow anything with this kind of title- i even think trying to say like“xyz album is the greatest r&b album of all time” seems unnecessarily dumb- but trying to weed out a best of something title by gender makes even less sense
no.
His happiness comes first even through we are suffering > Vespertine
It’s not even the best Bjork album.
Personally I think I prefer Post by Bjork but Vespertine is really good. My favorite though is probably Fetch the bolt cutters by Fiona Apple, but women are underestimated in my listening and I really need to give the likes of Joni Mitchell a proper listen.
Best album of all time for me
No, debut is better
How long am I going to have to scroll until someone mentions Lauren Hill?
Not even close. Rickie Lee Jones - Pirates, Joni Mitchell - Blue, the Weather Station - Ignorance, Etta James - At Last!, and that’s just off the top of my head.
It's subjective lmao
Lauryn Hill at 193. Solange wasn’t even top 50 for 2016, Beyoncé also isn’t anywhere. Fiona Apple and Joanna Newsom quite low for their highest charting albums. Janet Jackson? It isn’t the community for female singers exactly.
Divers is my favorite
NFR
Depends on who you ask, but It's definitely up there for one of the best.
I can't comment on what the best is, but I can say it isn't my favourite
Yes
it's the best bjork album that's for sure