Boston Albums Ranked Worst to Best

Boston’s rise from near obscurity in the latter part of 1976 entered the rock ‘n’ roll lexicon long ago.

Their story is familiar to anyone with a knowledge of popular track history: how MIT mechanical engineering master’s graduate Tom Scholz used his savings from a job at Polaroid to build a recording studio in his home’s basement; how, in the early to mid-’70s, he pieced together demos of his songs; and how he shopped those songs to Columbia Records, who gave him money to record Boston’s debut album in Los Angeles but instead he sharpened his home demos with singer Brad Delp, playing most of the instruments himself and submitting the tapes to the label.

The rest, as they say, is history, as you will see in the list below of Boston Albums Ranked.

READ MORE: best 35 Opening Songs on Debut Albums

Boston became an immediate anthem, selling so many copies in its first few months that it remains one of the best-selling debut albums of all time. Pressured to get a follow-up album on the shelves, Scholz and the other four members of Boston rushed out Don’t Look Back, the first of the band’s two No. 1 albums, in 1978.

And then it all came crashing down, as lawsuits, new labels, member turnover and multiple delays between records became another part of the Boston story. Only four additional albums have surfaced since Don’t Look Back, as the band struggled with both personal (Delp died by suicide in 2007) and professional (a seventh Boston album has reportedly been in the works since 2017) issues. Through it all, Scholz and the band rarely lost their flair for the gleaming arena rock at the center of their story.