There’s something different about listening to a live album. The between-song banter, the roar of a crowd fueled by an epic guitar solo or a poignant song, and the buzz of energy can’t be captured on albums created in a studio.
Stacker compiled data on the top live albums of all time according to Best Ever Albums, which ranks albums according to their appearance and performance on 40,000 editorial and data-based charts (e.g., Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Billboard, etc.). The Best Ever Albums score is derived from a formula that weighs how many charts an album has appeared on and how high it was on each of those charts, then awards points accordingly. For a more in-depth methodology, click here. This list represents data as of Sept. 14, 2020.
Whether it’s Johnny Cash singing about prison life while surrounded by a group of inmates behind prison walls, the Ramones’ final album as an original quartet, an extended guitar solo, or an acoustic jam…
