Now that the latest update of iTunes (7.4.1) has Album ratings, I thought it was a good idea to see which albums I actually ‘like’ most. They actually made it smart enough to use the average of all the songs as the default rating for an album. Too bad it doesn’t have fractional ratings though.

Anyway… Tijl wouldn’t be Tijl if he didn’t use some kind of algorithm to calculate the more accurate ratings in order to make a ranking ;). So basically what I did was making a selection of all the albums with a default rating of 4 or 5 stars. Then I calculated their real ratings by taking the average of the song ratings. In the end I let my heart pass the final judgement in order to make the final ranking.

So here’s what I got out of that… 25 albums that I actually should buy ;). Be aware though that three of these albums are actually not albums at all, but ripped audio from dvd’s (Solidarnosc Live, Fantasia 2000, Jarre in China). The links bring you to the respective webpages on allmusic.com, unless there isn’t one, in which case it brings you to another relevant page about the album.

1. (1973) Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells
2. (2003) Yi-Jia Susanne Hou - Fire & Ice
3. (1977) Jean-Michel Jarre - Oxygene
4. (1975) Mike Oldfield - Ommadawn
5. (2005) VNV Nation - Matter + Form
6. (2005) Jean-Michel Jarre - Solidarnosc Live
7. (2004) Dj Tiësto - Just Be
8. (2000) Fantasia 2000
9. (1996) Mike Oldfield - The Songs of Distant Earth
10. (1993) Laura Pausini - Laura Pausini
11. (1997) Jean-Michel Jarre - Oxygene 7-13
12. (1994) The Lion King (OST)
13. (2000) Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory
14. (1998) Madonna - Ray of Light
15. (1996) Andrea Bocelli - Romanza
16. (1997) Delerium - Karma
17. (2003) Evanescence - Fallen
18. (1998) City of Angels (OST)
19. (1998) Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells III
20. (1998) Sarah Brightman - Eden
21. (2005) Jean-Michel Jarre - Jarre in China
22. (1990) Enigma - MCMXC a.D.
23. (2005) Jean-Michel Jarre - Aero
24. (1992) Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes
25. (1991) Nirvana - Nevermind

Funnily enough… 3 of the 4 highest ranked albums were made before I was even born. Most of the albums were published in the 90’s.