Analysis of My Beatles Ranking by Album

Here’s an album by album breakdown of what I posted two weeks ago.

Might as well start at the beginning with “Please Please Me.” The highest ranked song is “Baby It’s You” at #26 (which is a cover, funnily enough) and the lowest is “There’s a Place” at #187, so it’s pretty spread out over the rankings. Since it is their first album, of course it’s going to be a mixed bag in terms of quality. I have always had a soft spot for this album though, since again it is the Beatles which is still much better than most other bands.

Up next is “With the Beatles.” The highest ranked song here is “All My Loving” at #23 and the lowest is “Money” at #179. “Money” is a bit of an outlier though, most of the songs are higher ranked, around 100 or so. As an album, it’s not one that I usually think of listening to since it is easy to overlook it. Having said that, most of the songs on it are very good, and even the covers do a great job.

Then comes their first soundtrack “A Hard Day’s Night.” Highest song is “Can’t Buy Me Love” at #10 and the lowest is “I’ll Be Back” at #180. Most songs are between numbers 80-140 though. This is their first album with only original songs, and it has gone down in history as one of their best albums as a result.

After that there is “Beatles For Sale.” Top song here is “Eight Days a Week” at #30 and lowest song is “Baby’s in Black” at #195. This song does not come out as high as the others, in fact there is a bit of a divide with about half of the album coming out around #100 and the other half around #175. At this point, they are getting a little tired of the craze about them, so I guess that is to be expected.

Their second soundtrack is “Help!” Best song is “Yesterday” at #46 and worst is “You Like Me Too Much” at #181. The songs are spread pretty evenly between those two. This is not a super great album, probably a by-product of all the pot they were smoking and their general lack of enthusiasm for this film. Still, it’s a fun one to listen to.

Next up is “Rubber Soul.” This album marks a significant shift in their music, away from generic rock n roll and into more experimental sounds. Top song is “In My Life” at #13 and lowest is the incredibly problematic “Run For Your Life” at #169. The majority of the songs here are below the 100 mark, which is pretty indicative of where it stands with me.

After that is “Revolver” which could almost be a continuation of “Rubber Soul.” “Eleanor Rigby” is the highest at #4, and lowest is “She Said She Said” at #170. The songs are actually pretty well spread out between them, probably because “Revolver” in general has a darker tone than “Rubber Soul” (“Run For Your Life” is pretty upbeat and unique for that album anyways).

“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” is definitely my favorite album from the Beatles. “A Day in the Life” is the highest ranked at #6 and then “Good Morning Good Morning” is the lowest at #95, so they are all below the 100 mark which is exciting. Most of them are clustered around #50 or so. It is often said that this album summed up the 60s, but let’s be honest it sums up my life as well.

This is followed with “Magical Mystery Tour.” It’s a strange album, but it claimed the #1 spot with “All You Need is Love,” and then the lowest is “Your Mother Should Know” at #142. There is a pretty sharp divide here, with some songs below #70 and some above #110. This is clearly a very hit-or-miss album, with quite a few hits and some misses. As an album, it is not nearly as strange as the movie.

“White Album” is next. “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” is #14 but it also claims last place with “Wild Honey Pie” at #208. There are quite a few songs from this album clustered at the end, but also some towards the beginning as well. With an album this big, it is hard to avoid that.

The last soundtrack album is “Yellow Submarine.” Top song is “Hey Bulldog” at #78 and lowest is “Only a Northern Song” at 191. The rest are spread pretty evenly between them, but since I didn’t include the George Martin (*tear*) orchestral things there are only like 5 songs included here.

The next recorded album is “Let It Be.” The title track is #3, and #196 is the lowest with “Dig a Pony.” The songs are spread out below #100, but then there is also a cluster around #180. Overall it is a pretty good album, but there are some duds in it. It happens when a band is in the middle of breaking up.

The last recorded album is “Abbey Road.” Highest is “Come Together” at #8, lowest is “You Never Give Me Your Money” at #203. The songs are spread evenly between them, which is what happens when you break up the medley I guess. This album probably would have been ranked higher if I counted it as one, but I could not really think of a good way to do that.