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Bob Dylan’s best albums – UPDATED

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bob dylan album 1962 bob dylan freewheelin Dylan_The_Times_They_Are_A_Changin_front Bob_Dylan_-_Another_Side_Of_Bob_Dylan bob dylan bringing it all back home Bob_Dylan_-_Highway_61_Revisited
bobdylan-blondeonblonde-cover Bob Dyaln-john-wesley-harding bob dylan nashville skyline bobdylan-selfportrait-cover bob dylan new morning Bob Dylan - Pat Garret
Bob_Dylan-Planet_Waves-Frontal blood-on-the-tracks-album-cover Bob_Dylan-Desire-Frontal Bob-Dylan-Street-Legal Bob Dylan slow train bob dylan saved
Bob_Dylan-Shot_Of_Love-Frontal Infidels Bob Dylan - Empire Burlesque Knocked out loaded Bob Dylan - album-down-in-the-groove Bob_Dylan-Oh_Mercy-Frontal
bob dylan under the red sky album-good-as-i-been-to-you Bob_Dylan-World_Gone_Wrong-Frontal bob-dylan-time-out-of-mind-1997 Bob Dylan - love-and-theft bob dylan modern times 2006
Bob Dylan - Together_Through_Life bob_dylan_christmas_in_the_heart_20 COLUMBIA RECORDS BOB DYLAN ALBUM

UPDATED to include 22 lists from the comments section in this post.

The new votes caused some (minor) changes to the list. Most important: BIABH moved up to #4 & TOOM dropped to #5.

—

Saturday I asked the question – What are your five favorite Bob Dylan studio albums ? – over at our Facebook page. The response was great. As of writing 80 people (all Bob Dylan experts)  have uttered their opinions.
If you’re not on Facebook, or do not “like” our page.. you can use the comment section to post your 5 favorites. I will update this list at a later stage.

Some numbers:

  • 362 votes 462 votes
    Not everyone came up with 5. Some even tried more than 5 (I only counted 5 from each person)
    —
  • only 4 3 out of 33 albums received 0 votes:
    – Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid – July 13, 1973
    – Down in the Groove – May 31, 1988
    – Under the Red Sky – September 11, 1990
    – World Gone Wrong – October 26, 1993
    —
  • Best decades:
    – 60’s   164 204 votes
    – 70’s   107 142 votes
    – 90’s   31 votes
    – 00’s  43 votes

 

Here are the results of the JV community jury:

1. Blood on the Tracks – January 17, 1975 58 75 votes
2. Highway 61 Revisited – August 30, 1965 45 59 votes
3. Blonde on Blonde – May 16, 1966 43 54 votes
4. Bringing It All Back Home – March 22, 1965 28 36 votes
5.Time Out of Mind – September 30, 1997 29 34 votes
6.The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan – May 27, 1963 21 23 votes
7. Desire – January 5, 1976 16 21 votes
7. Love and Theft – September 11, 2001 16 21 votes
9. John Wesley Harding – December 27, 1967 15 18 votes
10. Street Legal – June 15, 1978 11 17 votes
11. Oh Mercy – September 22, 1989 9 12 votes
12. New Morning – October 19, 1970 9 11 votes
13. Modern Times – August 29, 2006
 10 votes
14. Infidels – November 1, 1983 6 8 votes
15. Nashville Skyline – April 9, 1969 5 7 votes
15. Slow Train Coming – August 20, 1979 4 7 votes
15. Tempest – September 11, 2012 4 7 votes
18. The Times They Are a-Changin’ – January 13, 1964 5 6 votes
18. Planet Waves – January 17, 1974 5 6 votes
19. Another Side of Bob Dylan – August 8, 1964
 4 5 votes
19. Self Portrait – June 8, 1970 4 5 votes
21. Bob Dylan – March 19, 1962 3 votes
21. Saved – June 20, 1980 3 votes
21. Together Through Life – April 28, 2009 3 votes
21. Good as I Been to You – October 27, 1992 2 3 votes
25. Christmas in the Heart – October 13, 2009 1 2 vote
26. Empire Burlesque – June 8, 1985 1 vote
26. Knocked Out Loaded – August 8, 1986 1 vote
26. Shot Of Love – August 12, 1981 1 vote

Hardly a surprising top three. BOTT have won many similar polls, and when not winning H61R or BoB have.

BTW here are my list (also submitted to the Facebook question on our page)

  1. Blonde on Blonde – May 16, 1966
  2. Blood on the Tracks – January 17, 1975
  3. Highway 61 Revisited – August 30, 1965
  4. Bringing It All Back Home – March 22, 1965
  5. Desire – January 5, 1976

-Egil

43 thoughts on “Bob Dylan’s best albums – UPDATED”

  1. Whats with the lack of love for Modern Times. Its not BOB, BOTT,61 or L&T but hey it includes Spirit on the Water, Workin Mans Blues#2 and Ain’t Talkin. Thanks Bob
    or L&T

  2. Here is my list:

    1.Highway 61 revisited (every song is good and most are great!)

    2.Blonde on Blonde (love Dylan and the blues style on this album, so many good songs!)

    3.Bringing it all back home (SHB, and she belongs to me start it off great and the acoustic side is killer)

    4.John Wesley Harding (really like the stripped down style of this album, bass+drums amazing on every song)

    5. Blood on the tracks (love shelter from the storm and of course Tangled up in blue, also buckets of rain is an

    underrated song that caps off a solid album)

  3. My five best are 1/ BLONDE ON BLONDE 2 /HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED 3/ BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME 4/ DESIRE 5/BLOOD ON THE TRACKS

  4. My picks would be:

    1. Highway 61 Revisited
    2. Blood on the Tracks
    3. Blonde on Blonde
    4. Bringing it all Back Home
    5. “Love and Theft”

  5. Blood on the Tracks, Highway 61 revisited, Blonde on Blonde, John Wesley Harding, Another Side of Bob Dylan

  6. 1 Blood On the Tracks 2 Street Legal 3 Bringing It All Back Home 4 Oh Mercy 5 “Love and Theft”

  7. 1. Blonde On Blonde
    2. Highway 61 Revisited
    3. Time Out Of Mind
    4. Street Legal
    5. Love & Theft

  8. Pingback: Bob Dylan's best albums | Johanna's Visions - Bokkoloko | Bokkoloko

  10. World gone wrong without a single vote. I mean, top five, no but it’s better than knocked out loaded and empire burlesque, and as a companion piece to gaibty, it’s better, in my opinion than that as well. Also, shot of love is just out of my top 10 and oh mercy is around #7. Odd list, lacking some critical mass of votes maybe, but a fascinating effort. Thanks.

  12. Blood on the Tracks, Desire, John Wesley Harding, Bringing It All Back Home, Blonde on Blonde

  14. 1, Slow Train Coming
    2. Highway 61 Revisited
    3. Blood on the Tracks
    4. Time out of Mind
    5. Christmas in the Heart

  15. 1 Blood on thé tracks
    2 “Love & Theft”
    3 Tempest
    4 Highway 61 revisited
    5 Street Legal

  16. Here are my 5: Street Legal, Hwy 61, Blonde on Blonde, Blood on the Tracks, John Wesley Harding

  17. 1. Blood On the Tracks 2. Blonde On Blonde 3. Love and Theft 4. New Morning 5. The Times They Are A-Changin’

  19. Street legal…blood on the tracks….another side of….love and theft…..desire

  20. 1. Highway 61 Revisited 2. Blood on the Tracks 3. Street Legal 4. Bringing It All Back Home 5. Desire

  21. Where is the 1973 album Dylan? Stop laughing! While no where near a great album, I downloaded from iTunes recently and was pleasantly surprised! It fits nicely in with the Another Self Portrait. And his version of Mr. Bojangles is really quite moving.

    1. Hi Gary,

      This is not an “ordinary” studio album, rather a compilation of outtakes not “approved” by Dylan.

  23. This morning (in no particular order): Blood on the Tracks, Highway 61 Revisited, Slow Train Coming, Infidels (I’ve been listening to this one a lot lately), and Desire. Ask me next week and you would probably get a different list, though I imagine Blood on the Tracks and Highway 61 Revisited would likely always be there.

  24. Highway 61, Blood on the Tracks, Bringing it all Back Home, Time Out of Mind, Nashville Skyline

  25. the answer‘s obvious：1，blonde 2，tracks 3，61 4，mercy 5，time out of mind。。lol
    btw，visions of johanna is my favourite。

    i’m from china。

  26. Pingback: Bob Dylan’s best albums

  27. Highway 61, Bringing it all Back Home, Blonde on Blonde, Blood on the Tracks, Tempest

  28. Blood on the Tracks, Blonde on Blonde, Love & Theft, World Gone Wrong, Bringing It All Back Home

    1. Will do… both are on my to do list.

      Maybe:
      Poll 1 Favorite tour
      Poll 2 Favorite show from the top 3/5 favorite tours …

      there is much fun to look forward to….

  31. 1. Blonde On Blonde 2. Highway 61 Revisited 3. Street Legal 4. Blood On The Tracks 5. Time Out Of Mind

    1. Maybe it should have been. A couple of voters listed it, but I think most people considered it not a “studio” album as such.

      I didn’t list the options 🙂 I just asked for “your 5 fav bob dylan studio albums”.

  34. Hi Guys… my top 5 best Dylan albums are: Oh Mercy; John Wesley Harding; Blonde on Blonde; Highway 61; Self Portrait… cheers & thanks for a fascinating web site… I note you don’t list any of the ‘Bootleg series’ ? Number 8 Tell Tale Signs is fantastic !!! cheers Roger

    1. Only studio albums on this list.
      Maybe TBS should be a separate list 🙂 Or maybe “The rest” should be a separate list ? hmmm

  35. Bobs best lps: 1) Blonde on Blonde, 2) Bringing All Back Home 3) Highway 61 Revisited 4) Love and Theft 5) The Basement Tapes

  36. #1-Highway 61. #2 Nashville Skyline, Been listening to this a lot lately, surprised it rated so low,. #3 Blood on the Tracks, #4 Blonde on Blonde #5 Slow Train Coming, Mostly because Slow Train is a brilliant song and performance one of Bob’s all time best.

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