Billboard.com's Scores

  • Music
Select another publication »
For 825 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 81% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 16% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 3.5 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 76
Highest review score: 100 The Complete Matrix Tapes [Box Set]
Lowest review score: 40 Jackie
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 750 out of 825
  2. Mixed: 75 out of 825
  3. Negative: 0 out of 825
825 music reviews
view
per page
    • 100 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Sticky Fingers [Deluxe Edition]
    Finally, a deluxe version of their 1971 masterpiece Sticky Fingers that includes a bounty of concurrent outtakes and live material, along with a companion DVD/CD release of a live-for-TV performance.... [Sticky Fingers itself] is indisputably one of the greatest albums of 1970s, if not the entire the rock era. The end.
    • 99 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Bootleg Series, Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965-1966
    At the very least, listening to The Cutting Edge 1965-1966 should send you scurrying back to the official versions of those three classic Bob Dylan albums. It’s his story, and it’s history, reconsidered one more time.
    • 96 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    To Pimp A Butterfly
    To Pimp a Butterfly defies easy listening, but it's deeply rewarding.
    • 96 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Keep An Eye On The Sky
    Spanning the years 1968-75, this exquisitely designed four-disc boxed set gathers a treasure trove of rare gems.
    • 96 Metascore
    • 94 Critic Score
    The SMiLE Sessions
    The SMiLE Sessions captures Wilson, session musicians and the Beach Boys in moments that are chaotic, loopy and remarkably in synch. It's a consistently brilliant album.
    • 94 Metascore
    • 95 Critic Score
    My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
    Needless to say, West has proved once again that he is most on point in the face of adversity.
    • 93 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Live At Reading
    This Reading appearance-released for the first time on the CD/DVD package "Live at Reading"-captured the trio's skill at turning simple power chords into some of the most memorable rock anthems of the '90s.
    • 93 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Dolly
    Perhaps that's a story for another set, however, and newcomers and fans alike will find this one remarkably satisfying
    • 92 Metascore
    • 94 Critic Score
    Channel Orange
    No matter what Ocean's mood is on the album, the songs sound fantastic.... it's one of the best albums of the year.
    • 92 Metascore
    • 86 Critic Score
    Raw Power [Reissue]
    Bowie is back, and thanks to better technology, these special editions of "Raw Power" sound right on the money. But the story here is the extras.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    The ArchAndroid
    Manipulating her voice as much as she does her sound, Monáe widens the cast of characters and pushes along the self-explorative narrative. The ArchAndroid could be the stuff of stage or screen, 3-D without the annoying glasses.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Ork Records: New York, New York
    Ork was a ­scoundrel and eventually a jailbird, but no one chronicled the undercard at CBGB ­better.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 81 Critic Score
    Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
    Big Boi delivers an inventive, high-spirited set full of synth-funk signifiers, talk-box flair and snares.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    M3LL155X [EP]
    The music is spacious, paranoid and sultry; the lyrics are ­suggestive and knotted.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 92 Critic Score
    The Idler Wheel Is Wiser than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More than Ropes Will Ever Do
    The result is an album that was absolutely worth the seven-year wait, not to mention the mountain of hype atop which Apple has sat since her big comeback at SXSW in March.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 84 Critic Score
    Ali & Toumani
    Ali and Toumani is spontaneous and deeply spiritual, depicting two outstanding musicians who are governed by nothing but their love for their nation.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Sale el Sol
    Sale el Sol manages to bridge the divide between the old and new Shakira with a spark that keeps you listening to the very end.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 71 Critic Score
    The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964
    The casual nature of the sessions-Dylan coughs during "Blowin' in the Wind" and stops "Talking Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues" to correct a lyric, for instance-only enriches the experience.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The RCA Victor and T-Neck Album Masters: 1959-1983 [Box Set]
    The box's liner notes are a bit scant, but it's full of treats even for aficionados.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Art Angels
    Art Angels is a marvel of meticulous, even obsessive home-studio recording, uncompromised by bandmates or collaborators.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 77 Critic Score
    No Devolucion
    What marks "No Devolucion" as an improvement over 2006's "A City by the Light Divided" and 2009's "Common Existence" is that frontman Geoff Rickly and his bandmates have finally written a batch of songs worthy of those complicated arrangements.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Cadillactica
    The diversity and focus has paid off, as Cadillactica is K.R.I.T.'s best and most cohesive work to date.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Blackstar
    Blackstar is its own strange, perverse thing, the ­latest move in a boundlessly ­unpredictable career.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Something More Than Free
    The achingly good Something More Than Free, captures the mix of excitement and fear that comes when the sun rises on a new day.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    M B V
    It's an album that seemingly could have come out in 1996 just as easily as today. Even the song titles feel familiar: "Only Tomorrow," "Is This and Yes," "Nothing Is." Having said that, it's lovely.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Slow Me Down
    As strong as this album is, it’s hard to pick out a standout track.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Summertime '06
    [A] promising, unapologetically dense debut.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Mono
    It's big, bold and still stands out next to anything coming from Nashville.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    I Love You, Honeybear
    If there's a funnier, stranger and more touchingly bizarre album released this year, it will be a very good year indeed.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Random Access Memories
    Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo have made an analog album that's less of a "throwback" and more of a salute to the idols that would now do anything to hop on the duo's full-length.
prev
Page: