Top 10 Most Overrated Albums of All Time

A terrible, overrated album released by a terrible, overrated individual. The album's influence is overrated as well, since it inspired terrible, overrated pop acts like the Backstreet Boys and Justin Bieber. Also, the dancing in it was not unlike anything before it. James Brown was dancing in a similar way many years before someone decided to put that kind of dancing into a music video.

The album probably wouldn't have been half as talked about if it weren't for the synchronized dancing in the Thriller video. Given the musicals that came out before this overrated album, you can't say that synchronized dancing started with that video. This album was given way too much credit by its fans.

The first half of Led Zeppelin IV is nearly perfect. Up to Stairway to Heaven, Zeppelin's output was getting progressively better, and it finally found its peak in Stairway. But as soon as we are done with that, everything collapses.

After the first half of IV, there is barely anything worthwhile in Zeppelin's catalogue to check out. Unless you want to annoy yourself to death with riffs that go nowhere, vocals you can barely make out a single word, bass you can't hear, and pretty decent drumming.

One good song: Black Dog. Stairway to Heaven is just awful, and the rest of it is just not that good. Another thing I don't get is that everyone loves this whole album just for Stairway to Heaven.

Well, I like potatoes, onions, and some other vegetables, but when I buy them, I don't pull the vegetable aisle off the wall and drag it home with me! That would be as pointless as buying the whole album.

Commonly misunderstood as a "portrait of a man who spirals into suicide," when in actuality, it's Trent Reznor's myopic, atrophied fantasy of being able to hurt people and never face the consequences, as envisioned through the lens of an offender who kills himself to escape being held accountable for what he did.

Aged terribly. The only reason anyone admits to thinking this is good is because they were conditioned to.

This album has no place in modern culture. It should be left to be lost in the septic tank of history.

I know people are going to hate me for this, but this cover is absolute trash, and so is Smells Like Tater Tot Spirit. What is so good about the cover and that trash song? It sounds so bland and generic. I mean, a naked baby with money on a string? Seriously? And the song about mulattos, albinos, mosquitos, libidos? Seriously, people need to stop overrating them.

I'm not saying to hate this, but don't go as far as saying it's the best album cover ever. Oh well, time to lose followers and friends.

-TheDarkOne_221b

Yeah, this sucks. This sounds like your average so-called "artistic" music, and the vocalist has an annoying voice. This is only overlooked by "hipsters" usually found on Rate Your Music who think their taste is unique for listening to this, which honestly sounds like a pile of crap coming into my ear.

And to make matters worse, it's just so boring. I could fall asleep within half a minute.

The instrumentals are good, but the vocalist, Jeff Mangum, annoys me on most of the songs here (except for three songs). It would've been a genuinely good album if Jeff Mangum could sing better, but even then, it would still be overrated by music critics and hipsters.

A severe disappointment in comparison to all her previous albums. (Yes, even her debut where she was just getting her foot in the door.) Only four songs on this album work (those being "All You Had To Do Was Stay," "Wildest Dreams," "I Know Places," and "Clean"). Everything else is a failed attempt to fit in with what was trendy. That's all this album will ever be to me.

It's also a bad sign when the very first song alienates the entire conservative audience (not to be political, but that was where a lot of her fans came from). Flat out dismissing them right off the bat is kind of a dumb move. I understand that she has the right to say what she wants, but maybe it would've been better if done in a smoother fashion than what is done in this track, such as putting the track somewhere else on the album.

Anyways, nothing works about this album. It's clunky, the songs range from awful to tolerable (in the rare case amazing), and while Taylor has a great voice, it isn't flamboyant enough to get her to the "diva" tier that she thinks she belongs in. In short: an overrated mess of an album. Check out her older (far better) stuff.

I'd say the Green Album is overrated. People say it's their best song just because Island in the Sun is on it.

El Scorcho is the only good song. It's way different from their first album. What a letdown.

Decent sound, if canned. The songs just do not flow very well. It really feels like they thought about a song first (likely A Beautiful Lie), wrote it, and then completely forgot about it to write the next one in some random direction, as long as it comes out catchy and marketable.

And for the praise and attention this album got, I don't think there's anything superb on here to justify it. So, definitely overrated.

I don't like this album, yet people say that this is a masterpiece and blame me for my personal taste in music, which includes not liking this album.

It won AOTY in 2025, yet I would've picked New Blue Sun by André 3000. I know that nothing will be as bad as Mumford & Sons' AOTY victory in 2013, but this is up there. This album is just bland guitar pop disguised as country music.

While The Tortured Poets Department was very forgettable, this may have been even more forgettable. If my comment offends anyone who enjoys this album, I am sorry, but I will say that Beyoncé is a great singer. I think she needs to stop being so generic.

Although I appreciate this album's impact and influence on rock music, it's not enough for me to enjoy it.

Unlike some people, I don't base my opinion of music on critical reception and how it "pioneered" a sub-genre. Obviously, I know there are a lot of people who genuinely enjoy the music on the record, and in no way am I trying to claim that only snobby bandwagons like this album. However, it does happen to be an album that gets its vinyl stuck on the wall of college dorms around the country by kids who want to convince their friends that they're somehow sophisticated or something. That's all I'm saying.

Now, I don't full-on hate this album, and I concede that it has a couple of highlight songs. "Run Run Run" is one of the only tracks on the LP with a memorable melody. "Sunday Morning" is the go-to song for those college students to play since it's the only one they've heard. And, of course, "Heroin" is a beautifully haunting and challenging classic.

Other than that, though, the songs are mediocre at best and unlistenable at worst. The album is a drag to get through. Nearly every song on the album is about the junkie lifestyle and shooting up loads of drugs, as Lou Reed even explains it. I like lyrical cohesion, but at a certain point, it's exhausting to listen to the same subject explored in a different way. I just don't want to hear about that constantly for almost 50 minutes.

However, I would probably be able to handle it if the album offered some interesting melodies or vocals throughout, but nope. Lou Reed just rhythmically talks for the majority of the album, sounding like he's half-awake and half-doped out of his mind. Nico's songs are mostly the only ones with a salvageable melody to them, but then again, those songs don't fit on the album at all anyway.

For those who genuinely enjoy this album as a whole, I am really rather envious, as I wish I understood the hype. Personally, it's just not for me. And for those... more

I actually do like Green Day quite a bit, but Dookie is way better than American Idiot.

This album is about half-and-half for me. Some of the songs are fine. Others, not so much.

Half the stuff here sounds the same and like a borefest. There are some good riffs here, but overall I don't think it's even top 3 Green Day (which is an overrated band in itself in my opinion).

Thrash is a pathetic and moronic genre, and this album exemplifies everything that makes the genre so unlikeable. Over-the-top, corny guitar battles, oversaturated technical passages, and forced virtuosity, along with some god-awful vocals and a cold case of the filler.

The riffs may be exciting at times, but I need more than just technicality in my music, and this album fails at delivering anything other than that.

"Hey guys, I have an idea, let's sing about DEATH."

That's what all metal musicians say before they form a band.

Beyoncé has always been a great singer, but I never liked her music.

This album ruined R&B for years to come until Kendrick Lamar and Bruno Mars fixed it in 2012. The music is just boring and meaningless.

Beyoncé should probably call it quits now in 2025, considering that she's using the same outdated sound over and over again. I don't give her much credit for avoiding auto-tune.

This album created one of the worst fanbases ever. The word Beyhive didn't exist until after this album came out. The song Crazy in Love is the most overrated song of the last decade. The other singles from the album were overrated as well. At least the song Me, Myself, and I was less overhyped than Crazy in Love or Baby Boy.

Before that album came out, Beyoncé was just treated as being one of the members of Destiny's Child, not some divine, flawless lady that should be treated like the queen of everything. This album is overrated, Beyoncé is overrated, and her fanbase is just plain terrible.

Funny how OK Computer is ranked higher than this album, yet this is the one that actually has comments to validate their vote. I had to vote for this because, as much as I love Radiohead, I can't stand watching it become a band that feeds on its hype through the passage of time. Kid A is a great album. There's no doubt about it.

But Radiohead's trademark was, and always will be, OK Computer. Kid A doesn't live up to its hype. In short, I would not choose it as the only album I could ever listen to if I had to choose only one for the rest of my life. It's not that special, though musically it is groundbreaking. It lacks the spirit and raw heart which OK Computer has plenty of. P.S. OK Computer shouldn't be on this list.

This album is such hot trash, but I wouldn't call it overrated. A different case can be made for "Blood Sugar Sex Magik," however.

I truly enjoy this album, blast it in the car, and have memorized the lyrics, but I need everyone to really take a step back for a second. Let me play devil's advocate (not my own feelings). It's a progressive album, but does that make it one of the best? Anyone can record several unused/unheard-of instruments into a repeating melody and claim it is the modern standard in the evolution of music.

So, let's put DSOTM on the same level as every album that was not so "progressive". Three to (maybe) five songs actually stand out. "Band On The Run" had the title track, "Jet", "Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five", and "Let Me Roll It". "Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-nerd" had extraordinary hits like "Free Bird", "Simple Man", "Tuesday's Gone", and "Gimme Three Steps". Sales don't account for the greatness of an album, neither does the impact on the time.

What makes an album truly the best is universal application, hit after hit after hit, and a little bit of everything. I'm not claiming that DSOTM isn't a long-standing benchmark, or that it wasn't full of beautiful melodies and wicked sounds. All I'm trying to show is the bizarre nature for everyone to cling to this album and never let it be scrutinized and judged for the collection of tracks it is. Great album, but an overrated album.

I do think this is a good album, but it is not deserving of the "Best Album of All Time" title that has often been given to it. Most people seem to rate it highly because they think it is "important" and defined a generation.

I love about half of the songs, but parts of the record are not fun to listen to at all. "Paranoid Android," "Karma Police," and "Climbing up the Walls" are my least favorite tracks. Lastly, the album ends rather anticlimactically with "The Tourist," which I find quite boring.

Ask RateYourMusic and you will see how overrated this album is. Overrated as hell, people treat it like the next coming of Christ. I don't really feel the hype of that album. Most of it is dull. Sounds like a third-rate Pink Floyd to me. I can't stand the fanbase too.

Why is this considered groundbreaking? Kanye's rapping ability is average at best. Okay, it's mostly praised because of the beats and production, but I honestly don't think that good production automatically makes an album amazing, especially when everything else about it is average or mediocre.

I'm not gonna pretend like this isn't a great album because it does have considerable highs, but it's so inconsistent and lyrically, this album is a mess. The production is great and with a massive scale, but it isn't enough to cover the corny bars.

Another case of the biggest hits being the biggest flops on the album. The poppier, more well-known songs (except for "Stan") come off as lame and tacky, and they never seem to grasp my attention. Tracks like "Amityville," "Kill You," and "Kim" are where this album truly shines.

The irony of this album is that its fans think it's the greatest hip-hop album when most casual fans of hip-hop don't even like this album.

My mom bought this album a few months ago, listened to it in the car with my dad, and said that it was horrid.

This album was one of the first to use whiny, babyish, heavy auto-tune.

All her songs sound the same. She set the stage for some of the worst female pop songs leading up to 2011.

I love this album, but I can see why people would think that it's overrated.

Beyoncé is trying to deal with racism and the music crisis, but she always ends up failing.

Adele won AOTY in 2017, and even she thought that she didn't deserve to win over Beyoncé. In my opinion, she did. Trap beats and uninspired vocals don't work.

The fact that the mainstream media calls this manufactured Barbie an artist is gross.

It proves even more that she cannot produce good music without songs written by other people and produced by other people. Even then, the songs are not good.

It's not her worst album, but it is very overhyped.