Radiohead Albums Ranked Worst to Best

Radiohead may be the most iconic band of the last 3 decades, so it’s an honor to take the time to rank them from good to iconic. Let’s get straight into the ranking.

Radiohead albums ranked:

1. In Rainbows (2007)
2. OK Computer (1997)
3. The Bends (1995)
4. A Moon Shaped Pool (2016)
5. Hail to the Thief (2003)
6. Kid A (2000)
7. Amnesiac (2001)
8. Pablo Honey (1993)
9. The King of Limbs (2011)

9. The King of Limbs (2011)

Best Song: Lotus Flower
Worst Song: Feral

While there are undoubtedly great songs in 2011s The King of Limbs, it’s at times hard to get past the synthetic looping nature of the album. Radiohead is always pushing boundaries, but always at the confluence of progression and authenticity.

Rather, this album tends to lean towards progression for the sake of it at times. Songs like Feral do a great job at illustrating this point. As much as some Radiohead fans might adore it, the vast majority of audiences don’t see the allure of a looping drum pattern and edited vocal samples and chops for 3 minutes.

That’s not to take away from the solid bones of the album. The live version at the Basement takes some songs I saw as throwaway and brings them to life. It’s hard though, to wonder if this was simply a misstep for a legendary band.

8. Pablo Honey (1993)

Best Songs: Creep, Blow Out
Worst Song: Prove Yourself

Pablo Honey is the clear fan least-favorite, and It’s not hard to see why. The album is almost like it was made by an entirely different band, with corny and cheesy 90s sounds dominating the entire track list. There are even – dare I say it – generic songs in here, which is almost disturbing to see in a Radiohead production!

Yet, I can’t help but find myself nodding along with many of the tracks on here, despite everything. Blow Out is the secret hero of the album, providing really interesting, jazzy chords atop a tight bass and drum groove.

So while there’s an entire middle section of the album that starts to fade from my memory every time I’m more than a few weeks out from a listen, there are some really high peaks that keep me returning to a classic but slightly aged album.

7. Amnesiac (2001)

Best Songs: Life in a Glasshouse, Pyramid Song
Worst Song: Pulk / Pull Revolving Doors

Amnesiac has some of the greatest songs ever written on it, and that’s no exaggeration. Pyramid Song and Life in a Glasshouse are up there as all-timers. Still, this album is a tale of two sides.

On the other side of this coin is Pulk / Pull, or Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box. Both of which are not just not my favorites from the band, but actively frustrating to listen to. So this album ends up being extremely hard to rank.

Thankfully, there are also plenty of songs that are fantastic throughout the runtime like the buttery smooth Knives Out, or the jaunty I Might Be Wrong. For now, it’ll have to sit down here, but it hurts me to put it so low!

6. Kid A (2000)

Best Songs: How to Disappear Completely, Everything In Its Right Place, Motion Picture Soundtrack
Worst Song: Kid A

We’re finally to the albums where I can’t really think of a single negative thing to say about them. I know Kid A is traditionally considered as either number 1 or 2 for the band, and I totally see why. But it’s simply not to my personal preferences. And that’s what this ranking is! Just a subjective list of my enjoyment.

It’s also not just that this album is fantastic, but that each song delves into new territory in such an interesting and iconic way. For example, the variance between Everything In Its Right Place, The National Anthem, and How to Disappear Completely is so stark. Yet, they are placed all within a track or 2 of each other and feel perfectly cohesive.

Sure, Treefingers and Kid A are not my favorite songs from the band, and that keeps it from quite competing for the top spot. But everything else here tickles my fancy in a unique way and keeps me curious about my future relationship with the band and with this album.

5. Hail to the Thief (2003)

Best Songs: A Wolf at the Door, 2+2=5
Worst Song: The Gloaming

Hail to the Thief sees a merging of the upcoming highly loop focused elements of The King Of Limbs, with the more organic instrumentation of OK Computer and their other traditional outings.

As a general preference, I’ve continually leaned towards their more traditional pieces, like There There, A Wolf at the Door, or 2+2=5. So when songs like The Gloaming come on, it can feel like it trips the flow of the album slightly. However, Hail to the Thief has so many amazing songs to return to that despite a couple of skips it’s lengthy 56 minute runtime fills out a full experience.

Another huge upside of this album is the fantastic amount of energy found in small bursts, mixed with beautiful and transcendent ballads. I particularly love how Thom Yorke changes up his singing style from track to track, including the lower register singing on A Wolf at the Door. Even the short 1:59 I Will manages to have such a strong impact on the listener, making this one that you’ll want to check out.

I also find it to be pretty accessible in comparison to some of the other more abstract albums like Amnesiac, so it’s a great entry point if you’re looking to just get into the band beyond The Bends or OK Computer.

4. A Moon Shaped Pool (2016)

Best Songs: Decks Dark, True Love Waits, Daydreaming
Worst Song: Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor Rich Man Poor Man Beggar Man Thief

A Moon Shaped Pool is the most recent entry into the Radiohead catalogue. It’s so hard to believe it’s been 9 years since we’ve had a new Radiohead album, and this one enters the upper echelons of legendary Radiohead status. I’ve had something negative to say about every album thus far, but for me, this is where we’ve reached the albums that genuinely belong in a museum for how unbelievably beautiful they are from start to finish.

And that is the term that most accurately describes this album. Beautiful. In fact, I would use the term painfully beautiful. There is pained strain in every word that Thom pushes out. I could just gush about every element of this album from start to finish endlessly.

For me, the legendary status applies specifically to the songs Daydreaming, Decks Dark, Glass Eyes, and True Love Waits. But the entire experience has moments of painful beauty sprinkled throughout. If I’m on a night drive, sitting under the stars, or reflecting on mortality and life itself, this is the album I go to. And I hope it earns more respect over the years. It deserves it.

3. The Bends (1995)

Best Songs: (Nice Dream), Street Spirit (Fade Out)
Worst Song: The Bends

The Bends is a 90s album classic, and the perfect middle ground between the simpler style of Pablo Honey and the more progressive antics of OK Computer.

When I pick up an acoustic guitar the first thing I do, every single time, is play Street Spirit. And not long after I’ll start playing (Nice Dream). Both of those are in my top Radiohead songs. But it’s not just the top 2 that are strong.

Just is a song that was created out of a challenge to see how many chords the band could smash into a song, but somehow it feels completely natural swapping keys and chords faster than you thought was possible. That’s something that always impresses me so much about Radiohead – their ability to make such complex musicality sound so natural. Like they’re discovering something that was always there, and are just showing us what they’ve found.

2. OK Computer (1997)

Best Songs: Paranoid Android, Exit Music (For a Film)
Worst Song: Fitter Happier

There isn’t really anything I can say about OK Computer that hasn’t been said a thousand times before. This album is the subject of research papers, the spawning of multiple new subgenres, and an entire new generation of fans of music.

It quite literally cannot be overstated – the impact and quality of this album. And, with any other band it would be the clear #1, but with Radiohead, you’re picking between multiple decade-defining albums.

Not to be predictable, but Paranoid Android is a disturbingly well-written 6:27 long masterpiece, complete with multiple tempo and dynamic shifts. I know there is no comparing, but if we were, this would be the Radiohead version of Bohemian Rhapsody.

Exit Music, my personal favorite from the album, with its dirty bass and ominous atmosphere, is the main source of the Muse comparison, and one of the only songs where I can truly see that parallel. The gritty bass and explosive, bombastic outro might just be my favorite Radiohead moment of all time.

And there are no weak moments throughout. I mean, I suppose Fitter Happier isn’t one I return to often, but obviously, serves a deeper, thematic purpose.

And to top all of this off, OK Computer was the album that got me into Radiohead. So much so, that I actually reacted to every single Radiohead album on my YouTube Channel, and added Radiohead to my series of How to Write a Song:

So yeah, this album means a lot to me, but not quite as much as number 1…

1. In Rainbows (2007)

Best Songs: All of them
Worst Song: None

Ahh yes, my personal Radiohead number 1, In Rainbows. I love this album so much that I couldn’t even manage to list which songs were my favorite, as I’d end up listing the entire track list.

If you held a gun to my head and forced me to answer, I’d say that Nude is my favorite off the album, but I genuinely swap between tracks on a monthly basis. From the first moment I heard the choppy drum pattern in 15 Step I knew I was in for a treat, and every moment built on the last.

I actually didn’t know music had the ability to be this beautiful before hearing this album.

Just to list a couple of my favorite moments, we have the bass groove in the ending of 15 Step, All of Nude, the strings in the bridge of Reckoner, and when Thom jumps up the octave in Jigsaw Falling into Place. Do yourself a favor if you’ve overlooked this album. Don’t.