Inspired by Get Back I recently undertook to listen to every Beatles album in order. Herein lies what I learned.

  • It’s harder than you’d think to say what is a Beatles album. Wikipedia list 21 studio albums, five live albums, and 54 compilation albums. That’s a lot and a lot more than the 12 I listened to.
  • Singles used to be a real thing. There are a lot of Beatles hits that aren’t on any of the canonical albums.
  • The Beatles were pretty great.

And here’s how I rank the Beatles albums, worst to best:

12) Yellow Submarine

11) Help

10) Magical Mystery Tour

9) Beatles For Sale

8) With the Beatles

7) A Hard Day’s Night

6) Let it be

5) Abbey Road

4) Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band

3) The Beatles (The White Album)

2) Revolver

1) Rubber Soul