Top 10 Best Comeback Albums of All Time

The music industry is no stranger to the rollercoaster ride of artists fading from the spotlight only to surge back with a vengeance. These triumphant returns often take the form of a comeback album - a powerful testament to the artist's resilience, creativity, and unending passion for their craft.

What do you think are the best comeback albums of all time? This is your chance to pay homage to the albums that not only marked an artist's return to form but also moved you with their music.

Think back to those times when you heard that an artist you loved, who had been quiet for a while, was dropping a new album. Remember the anticipation, the excitement, the thrill of the first listen? Maybe it was an album that brought a band back into the limelight after years of silence. Or perhaps it was a solo artist shaking off their past to redefine their musical identity.

Is it the album that reignited the career of a rock band from yesteryears? Or is it the record that marked a pop star's triumphant return after a slump? Maybe it's the raw, emotional collection of songs from a singer-songwriter that marked their personal and professional resurrection.

This is about more than just good music. It's about celebrating resilience, reinvention, and the relentless spirit of artists who returned stronger than ever. It's about recognizing those albums that shook the music scene and reminded us why we loved these artists in the first place.
The Top Ten
1 Perfect Strangers - Deep Purple

I believe this was the first time a legendary band had a reunion tour? Nevertheless, this album takes the band into new directions and it never rests on the past. Five masters of their respective instruments!

An awesome album of 1984 released after 9 years of silence. One of their best albums actually, if you ask me. Even the bonus tracks are amazing, esp. Son of Alerik. The album went platinum in the U.S. Ritchie Blackmore said that the song Perfect Strangers is his favorite Deep Purple song.

2 Dystopia - Megadeth

After a series of disappointing albums, released between 1994 and 2016, this album of 2016 was pretty good and eventually won Megadeth their first Metal Grammy.

3 13 - Black Sabbath

Released in 2013, it was the 1st album after Forbidden (1995). Whole 18 years!
Forbidden was a disappointment - as Tony Iommi himself stated, this album should be forbidden.
The album 13 was much better accepted, basically because it featured Ozzy after decades of absence. Nostalgia. The album sounded to me like a recycled material from their previous hits but I have to admit it was a very good summary of their earlier work. It's their final album because they disbanded.

4 American Idiot - Green Day
5 Brave New World - Iron Maiden

After this came the Book of Souls. In my opinion, one song on Book of Souls, Empire of the Clouds, is actually better than their 80s stuff (they were still masterpieces, mind you).

6 Blood of the Nations - Accept

After 14 years of silence from 1996-2010, Accept made a great come back.

An unbelievably powerful album from front to back.

7 Heaven and Hell - Black Sabbath
8 Death Magnetic - Metallica

How is this a comeback album? This album is terrible and so is Hardwired. Metallica has zero talent now and they can't even write a basic guitar riff without ripping off one of their old ones. Production is trash and too modern and loud. Kirk Hammett plays his laziest guitar solos in All Nightmare Long. FFS Metallica should have called it a day when Cliff Burton died. They have sucked since The Black Album and Master of Puppets was when Metallica started to begin sucking.

Massive improvement over their previous album. I know that's not saying a lot because St. Anger was terrible, but still this was good.

Great back to thrash album that showcases their amazing skill.

9 Hardwired... to Self-Destruct - Metallica

This album is amazing and Spit Out the Bone is the best song of 2016.

10 My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - Kanye West

First thing I thought of when I saw this list. After a 2-year period of the world hating him, and his world crashing down launching him into a state of deep depression, he focused that energy into creating the greatest album of all time.

Monster, All Of The Lights (including the interlude), Lost In America, Power, Dark Fantasy and much MUCH more. What's not to like?

This album is a masterpiece! But my absolute favorite track is "hell of a life"..That song is sooo addicting!

The Contenders
11 Revelations of Oblivion - Possessed

After 33 years of silence the godfathers of death metal came back!

One of the longest period between two albums : 33 years.

12 Stranger in Us All - Rainbow

After 12 years of silence (1983-1995), Rainbow released this pleasant album. Their final album.

13 Monotheist - Celtic Frost

I was waiting for this to show up. Fantastic album and my favorite from this band.

From 1990 to 2006 they didn't release any albums (16 years). This album came out in 2006.

14 The Next Day - David Bowie
15 Fear Inoculum - Tool

Boring and awful album - it felt like forever while I was listening to it. Nobody should lend an ear to this monotonous garbage.

16 Ironbound - Overkill
17 Queensryche - Queensryche
18 Pump - Aerosmith
19 Back in Black - AC/DC
20 Black Gives Way to Blue - Alice in Chains
21 You Won't Get What You Want - Daughters

After being disbanded for almost 8 years, Daughters return with a mighty fine album.

22 Third - Portishead
23 XI - Metal Church
24 Dark Before Dawn - Breaking Benjamin

I'm shocked and insulted nobody put this on the list before me. The last album before this one was Dear Agony, which was released in 2009. This album was released in 2015. After Dear Agony, Benjamin Burnley (the singer) got ill and some members left, but they came back! This album should be #1 because not only it was released 6 years after the last one, but also because in my opinion, that was their best album of all!

25 Weezer (White Album) - Weezer
8Load More
PSearch List