Ranking the albums of THE BEATLES | Ranking Genius 

I telling you, if you don't have the White Album as #1, no wait....if you don't have Rubber Soul as, damn it, hang on, what i mean is it HAS TO BE Revolver...NOOOOO, what about Pepper...and i love A Hard Days Night....errr and then there's that Abbey one.....oh forget it!!

The sheer number of quality albums in such a short period of time... it is mind boggling when you think about it.

The Beatles are responsible for my love of music as a wee lad. The discovery of my mother's Sgt. Pepper 8-track was the catalyst of my lifelong musical journey. There's the Beatles, then there's everyone else.

Fitting all 13 albums into a top 11 is the kind of magic only possible in England. Love the Beatles and you too Andy!

I still maintain that A Hard Day’s Night is the first great rock album; it’s all original compositions and there’s not a weak track on the record.

As an American from the southern states, the Beatles have long been my favorite band. There was a summer in my youth where I listened to nothing in my car but an 8 track of Beatles' music. Their influence is almost beyond description....

Rubber Soul was the first Beatles album I ever bought when I was 15 and I was totally hooked.

You evoked the greatness of the Beatles albums without playing a note from them. Kudos!

Revolver No 1 but only with a gun to my head. I love all the albums for different reasons. The catholic nature of their music was incredible.

Fantastic video. And you've finally settled the Bernard Purdie mystery. Keep it up.

Love the new look, Andy. For a spilt second I thought it was an ad - very professional looking.

My favorite video you made! When you get to Tomorrow Never Knows and at that moment declare it best song ever I’m right there with you. Brings tears, I knew it was that good as a kid and as an old man now. Thanks for the channel

Love the aggressive songs on the first album There's a Place and Twist and Shout. Paul McCartneys bass is also key to the Beatles sound. He was fantastic. Malapropism comes from a character in an novel 1775 Sheridan in which Mrs Malaprop would mistake words and use something similar to the correct on...to comic effect. if you have the Lp of Sgt Pepper.. When the player arm finishes the last song on the run out groove there is the line "never could be any other way" that just repeats ad infinitum if you have a manual non automatic return arm player.

They're my fav band. What l love about mysic is that aftr all the amazing musicians that came before them they arrive and create a new genre of brilliant music. I think their time in Hamburg is often lost as developing their ability to be so efficient in the studio. Even after they stopped touring and treated the studio like a fifth musician. A brilliant example of musicians not at the top of their craft as individuals that when combined leaped so far ahead of everyone around them. From my many years of reading about music they are by far the most cited band as the biggest influence by those that followed. U never get tired of listening to them. Their ability to do every genre of pop rock blues is unparalleled.

Almost every Beatles album has a questionable inclusion: Run For Your Life, Yellow Submarine, When I'm 64, Honey Pie, Maxwell's Siver Hammer; but there's one exception, Hard Days Night. No covers, nothing you feel the need to skip over, just the Lennon & McCartney song mill operating at peak efficiency. Their one perfect album.

Yes, you do need to do a whole video on Tomorrow Never Knows.

My favourite response to anyone who says The Beatles are overrated is to say that The Beatles are actually underrated. Great list. Glad to see Mystery Tour getting it's due. It's my #1 with The White Album at #2. Other than having With the Beatles a little higher I can't argue with your rankings Andy.

What is your name? Sir Bedevere of Camelot. What is your quest? I seek the Holy Grail. What is the Beatles greatest album? Revolver. No the white aaaaaaaaaaaaah...

Extremely perceptive. I didnt think there was more to be said that was new about these albums but you said it. Well done!

Superb Andy. I don't think anyone could have done that entertaining and informative ranking better and in such an entertaining and passionate way. And this is from someone who has been a Beatles fan since I was 10 (now 69) and one ( as a bass player) who has been heavily influenced by Paul McCartney.

Ballsy of you to put "Magical Mystery Tour" up there. I always thought it was better than "Sergeant Peppers." You know, of course, that it wasn't really recorded as an album, but was cobbled together from singles.

I'm 70 and remember when the Beatles hit in the states, and MEET THE BEATLES was the first one that was available.

Bravo, Andy. Not only have you conducted (in under an hour) a very worthy analysis of the greatest catalogue in popular music history, but it is, I think, your greatest moment in 600+ RU-vid videos.

Your observation on which Beatles songs were prog- or Britpop- precursors were food for thought. Your videos are educational even for music nerds like me.

Loved your breakdown of the greatest band ever.

Andrew your casual black tee slimming haircut and jaw line of Michael Angelo’s David have taken this video to an extreme level of hunk

Just when you thought he could not do justice to a Beatles album-ranking video..... Of course, Andy knocks it out of the park! Cheers, mate, this is the stuff of angels. Love from Colorado ☺💚

Out of all the songs you mentioned, Martha My Dear is the one that's stuck in my head. Thanks a lot.

Great rundown, Andy. You convey a very palpable sense of the full centrality of the group’s art: the music, the album art, the films, the first rock Grammy nomination, the jazz connections, etc. Good stuff.

Let's be honest, there'll never be another band like them. Crazy amount of truly great songs.

Brilliant Andy. Your breadth and depth of knowledge continues to amaze me. As a massive Beatles fan, I won't disagree with your ranking and appreciate the effort you have put in to research all these albums and present them in your always entertaining way. I always wondered about that Bernard Purdie comment and now I know. Mrs Malaprop was a character in Sheridan's play The Rivals who was noted for getting her words mixed up. My favourite Beatles' song is Strawberry Fields Forever although there are so many brilliant songs and like you I often cry listening to certain songs especially In My Life and Because. Keep up the good work Andy, I'm surprised that you only have 27.9K subscribers. It should be millions. Take care.

Andy I've really enjoyed this , I've been a Beatles fan since 1963!

Only in the Beatles universe is an amazing song like "Rain" just a B Side.

That Paperback Writer intro is phenomenal. Everything is !! Very enjoyable video, Andy.Well done

Rubber Soul …. ‘In My Life’… does it get any better for ‘songs’. Underrated however,( and rarely mentioned), is ‘You won’t See Me’. James Jamerson style playing from Paul, and that Rhodes thing preempts ‘Captain And Tenille songs’ and all those Rhodes driven tracks from the seventies…. ‘I’m not In Love’ even … all that 70’s vibe stuff … 65 The Beatles

As a former graphic designer I have to say great new clean format Andy I love it!!

The musician that intuitively responds to music, could easily have moments of Pepper as being the best, but the wider person within me has ‘She’s Leaving Home’ as possibly the best. Incredible synergy between music and the written word.

If my memory serves me correctly, back in February of 1963, when I was a senior in high school in South Bend, Indiana, one Saturday night when I got home a bit after 9 PM from working as a stock/bag boy in a grocery store, a DJ named Dick Biondi was on radio station WLS in Chicago. He played "Please Please Me" for the first time on any major radio station in the USA and I was hooked on the Beatles without knowing the first thing about them. Later on, after I'd graduated we moved back to Miami, FL and shortly thereafter (I finally turned 18 in November) I left my parents' home for Nashville, TN and soon I heard the album called Meet The Beatles was being released. I had a friend in the Music Dept. of the downtown store known for getting the albums first when released. I worked third shift and the day the shipment came in he called me at work so I could get to the store early and buy the first copy (which I did). I still have it along with all the rest of The Beatles albums. My favorite music still includes some classic 50s but mostly it's the 60s thru mid-80s. Long ago, I gave up trying to rank any facet of the genius that was the Fab Four. It's not worth the effort to try. However, I did really enjoy watching this video!

Wow - when I got home from work I decided that I'd like to have a listen to those Beatles albums I was not too familiar with - and here you are Andy ranking their albums..!

Great video Andy! 49:25 Makes me think of Ian the manager of Spinal Tap -- "Every movie in every cinema is about death -- death sells!"

Well done, Andy! I love your music theory insights and expertise. Referencing Beach Boys was of course expected. Referencing Zappa and other prog rock masters brilliant and SPOT ON!

When Let It Be is your 7th best album you are doing pretty good.

bringing in 'let it be' early was perfect. a really fine list in general

Well done. Very enjoyable. Although I mist say, Magical Mystery Tour was not a UK album until much later. It was originally a double EP. Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields were released before Peppers as a single and originally intended for the Peppers album. They are not truly part of Magical Mystery Tour. Also the Magical Mystery Tour album, even the UK version released in the 1970's, was put together by Capitol from copies of copies of tapes (unlike the German version, which sounds amazing). Ranking is often personal taste and for me (having been around when each album was first released) a lot depends on the impact on me and others around me at the time. For that reason, I would rank Revolver higher than Peppers (and Rain had been released from the Revolver sessions. Peppers while ground breaking was a logical extension of what came immediately before).

Hey enjoyed this Andy! I'd love to see a whole video dedicated to Tomorrow Never Knows

Great analysis of the Beatles. Would love to hear you dedicate a full video to Ringo.

1. Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 2. Revolver 3. Abbey Road 4. Rubber Soul 5. The Beatles 6. Magical Mystery Tour 7. Let It Be 8. Help 9. A Hard Day's Night 10. Yellow Submarine 11. Please Please Me 12. With the Beatles 13. Beatles for Sale

A Scottish session drummer called Andy White actually played drums on Love Me Do.

Thanks, Andy, for that wonderful walk down memory lane. I was there along for the whole ride, saw Hard days night in a subtitled french version in a cinema in Tangiers, Morocco when this city was still the stronghold of some few dropouts of various fun seeking orientations from the anglosphere, you get the picture. One should add the contribution of the Motown girl groups of the early Beatles ´ hits.

Dude, how did you not discuss Helter Skelter?? Talk about unanticipated consequences! And it's pretty much considered foundational to heavy metal. A monster track!

One could exchange a few here and there, but the progression of this band is the list and Andy laid it out brilliantly. from the first one recorded to the last one. Let it be is an exception as it is slightly down from its calendar ranking. As a Beatles fan for a full 60 years now, I approve.

Great show Andy!! "Magical Mystery Tour" is a double EP in the UK

Personally, the White album and MMT were most important growing up. As an adult I've grown to love Rubber Soul and SPLHCB just as much. However the obvious answer to, What is my favorite? The next one i hear! Much Love Andy and to All. ✌

Beatles songs are like comedy - both very personal. That said, Walrus and Day in the Life were game-changing records.

Really enjoyed that! My #1 would probably be Revolver but absurdly hard to choose.

I always loved shes so heavy but noone talks about it, its great to hear you give it some love

Thank you for your wonderful ranking. Now please do a full video on "Tomorrow Never Knows". This is the song on Revolver (which is #1 on my ranking) that split the Universe wide open for me...

I like the slip of 'But in the End' into the Abbey Road part.

Another great episode!.....thanks Andy!

great stuff. I would have swapped Magical with Sgt Peppers, but really we are splitting hairs. Heck I could have also boosted the heck out of Hard Day's Night, which I think is the best of their early Beatlemania era stuff, and thus among the best ever. But really - let's just celebrate that we, well, many of us, got to live in the era of the Beatles in the first place. Thanks P, J, G and R.

Nice ranking job, I mean I like and respect your opinions. Me, I can't say what my favorite Beatles album is, let alone rank them. I agree, Tomorrow Never Knows may be the greatest, prog, rock, song ever made. It's John, man I loved him. He always has been, since I'm 11 years old, and always will be my hero.

Superb commentary, Andy. Loved it!

Great as always, Andy! The greatest band of all time! You should have kept Magical mystery tour at number one! It just has their best masterpieces - Strawberry fields, I'm the walrus and Blue Jay way! They definitely invented prog! All the best and keep going!❤❤❤

I just figured out what number one is going to be and I have to say this is the most accurate list ranking you've done. I think I would have come out exactly the same if I had done it before watching yours.

Excellent review and so entertaining. Thankyou Andy, I really really enjoyed this hour of your energetic rambling..

Superb video. Very enjoyable. Thanks.

Yes I love theMystery tour the Spaghetti scene and all the psychedelia which followed Pepper Walrus, Blue Jay way,Rich man and Strawberry fields,...

Great video, Andy! Thanks for bringing up and explaining the whole Bernard Purdie thing; I read about this in an interview he did in Modern Drummer magazine back in the 80’s(?), and I remember getting very upset about the whole thing at the time……

Fantastic video, loved every second of it. Generally agree with the rankings too.

Enjoyed your insightful analysis enormously, Thanks.

Spot on with your top three. Rubber Soul number 4

The first of a whole pile of additional posts.... In them days, the world was different in ways we cannot imagine First, you would play church halls and pubs, then when you started to make it you would do national tours on the variety circuit. A lot bands would fracture at this point due to the misreable existence of B&B living. The more talented members of a band could go onto be the backing musicians of name acts and finally shangri la, if you are good enough, you make a reliable, easy living being a session man for a record label or maybe the BBC. Some people went to Tin Pan Alley, Denmark St or the Brill building As you said, having a band that could do it all was a complete game changer, as it it made the bands a lot richer

Brilliant. Really enjoyed that. Thank you.

This is a well thought out ranking of the Beatles albums. Personally I would have put A Hard Days Night a bit higher, because it portrays the Beatles at their most energetic. They are full of confidence and are not yet tired of Beatlemania. It may not be their most sophisticated album, but it is their most joyful one, and that is worth something.

Very Very good points in here!!! I really enjoyed this one!!!!!! Really interesting observations, many of which, I agree on💯

Good job, Andy.

Great one again Andy,

The lead guitar work on "Beatles for Sale" is tribute to Harrison idol Carl Perkins". And Buddy Holly began in Texas country music, until rhythm & blues, and he writes "Not Fade Away". "Beatles for Sale shows where they came from, where they were in the moment, and where they were going. Those facts elevate the LP to among their top 4.

You should rank all the songs by The Beatles.

I was wondering when you would do this particular ranking and you didn’t disappoint. Really enjoyed and appreciated this video and I get where you’re coming from. My personal favourites are in a slightly different order but I do hear you. Thank you Andy👍😎

Great analysis Andy!

Sadly, Andy, you’ve missed the mark on a number of your ranking videos; however, you nailed it here, notwithstanding your reluctance to cite Abbey Road as the greatest Beatles album, indeed, the greatest (rock) album of all time, and, yes, “The Medley,” aka “The Long One” is the greatest piece of recorded music in popular music. I was pleasantly surprised that you ranked Magical Mystery Tour at number two. Based on the lineup of songs, a strong case can be made (as long as “Baby, You’re a Rich Man” is included), but the album does sound like a compilation more than a coherent artistic statement. I also agree with you that if “Hey, Jude” had been included on The White Album that it could have ranked as high as #2, but Abbey Road is secure as the top Beatles LP and the top rock LP of all time. Finally, I appreciated your slip of the tongue in confusing - briefly - The Beach Boys and the Pet Shop Boys. I’ll take the Pet Shop Boys over The Beach Boys eight days a week. You see what I did there? 😅

Interesting. And, I mostly agree. However, as much as I'm glad you gave some love to Magical Mystery Tour, it is NOT the 2nd best Beatles album :-) Drop that down to Rubber Soul territory and it's a sale.

very good

Bravo Andy👏 Perhaps the best ranking so far ... except maybe Pepper deserved a #2 and Let it Be a little higher,, but I realize, ranking the Beatles' albums could never be done in all-in-agreement way. We're talking about once in century geniuses here

Great video. Thanks

Love that you gave us all the elbow at the end Andy!

Thank you so much for your work here, Erin. I am always interested in these evaluations. 👨🏻

I loved this. Your ranking order was surprising and unexpected. You ranked some typically lower-ranked albums higher and some typically higher-ranked albums lower. That made this video much more interesting than other similar videos.

Agree with Magical Mystery over Sgt. Pepper. I would rank White Album higher. Great list, Andy.

Absolutely fantastic have a wonderful weekend Andy ❤😊

Yes. Spot on Andy

While not wishing to sound like a smart arse (not ass I'm English) Mrs Malaprop was a character in a play from 1775 who kept getting her words mixed up. Consequently her name became the definition for using a wrong but similar word instead of the correct word. Or something like that.....Great vid. Keep 'em coming.

Its great seeing MMT getting its due. All Beatles periods are covered very well. In fact, every Beatles album could be characterized as its own distinct period. Cheers.

Favourite Beatles song for me is day in the. Life

A Hard Days Night had ATTITUDE and possibly more impact when it was released than any of their other albums. Those rankings always dismiss their fiirst 5 albums. you at least gave it a wee bit of respect.

amazing vid!

That was excellent!

The world really needed this video. 38,000,000 people have already shared their own opinions about these albums, and thanks to you we now have 38,000,001.

Well - I guess MMT always seemed like a compilation album. So I guess I never thought of it in the running for best album. But if I forget all that... not knowing that Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields had been released before Sgt Pepper... I think I would agree. I've always Loved MMT and especially I am the Walrus, and of course the pre-mentioned.. Just amazing.