100 Greatest Ambient Albums

Just in time for the weekend, we have a list featuring 100 of the best ambient albums as voted for (or upvoted) in the r/ambientmusic community on Reddit. Firm favorites like Aphex Twin, Brian Eno, Steve Roach, FSOL, Boards of Canada, Oneohtrix Point Never, The Orb and Harold Budd are listed, but there are sure to be some new albums here for you to explore. 

Here's the list, and the original post on Reddit...

Here's the list (Number, Votes, Artist, Album [+if it's a series of albums or a soundtrack]) (asterisks represent that the placements can be swapped around between albums that have the same amount of votes):

1. (114) Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works, Vol. II [note: technically also 85-92 I guess?]

2. (86) Steve Roach - Structures from Silence

3. (84) Biosphere - Substrata

4. (78) Stars of the Lid - The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid

5. (77) William Basinski - The Disintegration Loops [I-IV]

6. (72) Stars of the Lid - Stars of the Lid and their Refinement of the Decline

7. (69) Brian Eno & Harold Budd - The Pearl

8. (67) Hiroshi Yoshimura - Music for Nine Post Cards

9. (56) Tim Hecker - Harmony in Ultraviolet

10. *(52) Brian Eno - Apollo

11. (52) Tim Hecker - Ravedeath, 1972

12. *(47) Gas - Pop

13. (47) Brian Eno [+Harold Budd, Laraaji] - Ambient [1-4]

14. (44) A Winged Victory for the Sullen - A Winged Victory for the Sullen

15. (40) Loscil - Endless Falls

16. *(35) C418 - Minecraft Volume Alpha & Beta {OST}

17. (35) The Caretaker - Everywhere at the End of Time [Stages 1-6]

18. (35) Grouper - A.I.A.: Alien Observer

19. (35) Global Communications - 76:14

20. (34) Hiroshi Yoshimura - Surround

21. *(33) The KLF - Chill Out

22. (33) Hiroshi Yoshimura - Green

23. (33) Huerco S. - For Those Of You Who Have Never (And Also Those Who Have)

24. (30) Grouper - Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill

25. (29) Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica

26. (28) Brian Eno - Thursday Afternoon

27. (27) Brian Eno - Discreet Music

28. (26) The Orb - U.F.Orb

29. *(24) Stars of the Lid - Avec Laudanum

30. (24) Celer - Xiexie

31. (23) Boards of Canada - Music has the Right to Children

32. (22) Susumu Yokota - Sakura

33. (21) Robert Fripp & Brian Eno - No Pussyfooting

34. *(20) The Future Sounds of London - Lifeforms

35. (20) Rafael Anton Irisarii - A Fragile Geography

36. (19) Ashra - New Age of Earth

37. (18) Tim Hecker - Virgins

38. *(17) Tangerine Dream - Phaedra

39. (17) The Dead Texan - The Dead Texan

40. *(16) Oval - 94diskont.

41. (16) Jon Hopkins - Music for Psychedelic Therapy

42. (15) Biosphere - Patashnik

43. (14) 2 8 1 4 - 2 8 1 4

44. *(13) Hiroshi Yoshimura - Wet Land

45. (13) Steve Roach - The Magnificent Void

46. (13) Max Richter - Sleep

47. *(12) Harold Budd - The Pavilion of Dreams

48. (12) Fennesz - Venice

49. *(11) Woob - Woob 1194

50. (11) Loscil - Plume

51. (11) William Basinski - A Shadow in Time

52. (11) Celer & Forest Management - Landmarks

53. (11) Alio Die - Aura Seminalis

54. *(10) Leyland Kirby - We, so tired of all the darkness in our lives

55. (10) Bibio - Phantom Brickworks

56. *(9) William Basinski - Melancholia

57. (9) Klaus Schulze - Timewind

58. (9) Robert Fripp & Brian Eno - Evening Star

59. (9) alva noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto - Insen

60. (9) Keith Fullerton Whitman - Lisbon

61. (9) Keith Fullerton Whitman - Playthroughs

62. (9) Belong - October Language

63. (9) Tetsu Inoue - World Receiver

64. *(8) Loscil - Equivalents

65. (8) Taylor Deupree - Stil.

66. (8) Kyle Bobby Dunn - Kyle Bobby Dunn and the Infinite Sadness

67. (8) 36 & zake - Stasis Sounds for Long-Distance Space Travel (I&II)

68. (8) Pete Namlook - Air [I believe just the first one, since it's not a series really]

69. (8) Elaine Radigue - Trilogie de la Mort

70. (8) Eluvium - Talk Amongst the Trees

71. *(7) Orbital - In Sides

72. (7) Natural Snow Buildings - The Winter Ray

73. (7) Carbon Based Lifeforms - World of Sleepers

74. (7) Brian Eno - Lux

75. (7) shuttle358 - Frame

76. (7) 36 - The Infinity Room

77. (7) Bowery Electric - Beat

78. (7) Nine Inch Nails - Quake {OST}

79. (7) Tetsu Inoue - Ambient Otaku

80. (7) Nils Frahm - Music for Animals

81. (7) Cluster & Brian Eno - Cluster & Eno

82. (7) Kali Malone - The Sacrifical Code

83. *(6) Jean-Michel Jarre - Oxygene [the whole series I suppose]

84. (6) Gas - Zauberberg

85. (6) t e l e p a t h ________ - ____ [Sekai Seikou]

86. (6) Harold Budd - Abandoned Cities

87. (6) Brian Eno - Another Green World

88. (6) Coil - Time Machines

89. (6) 2003 Toyota Corolla - 2003 Toyota Corolla

90. (6) Robert Rich & Alio Die - Fissures

91. (6) Masayoshi Fujita & Jan Jelinek - Schaum

92. (6) Sarah Davichi - Let Night Come On Bells End The Day

93. (6) David Sylvian & Holger Czukay - Plight & Premonition/Flux & Mutability

94. *(5) Tangerine Dream - Zeit

95. (5) Ryuichi Sakamoto - Async

96. (5) Jean-Michel Jarre - Waiting for Cousteau

97. (5) Gas [another artist named Gas!] - Gas 0095

98. (5) Chihei Hatakeyama - Late Spring

99. (5) Loscil - Sketches from New Brighton

100. (5) How To Disappear Completely - Mer de Revs [I-III]

See the full post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/ambientmusic/comments/1enxotj/results_for_rambientmusics_top_100_favorite/

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