About

What is AlbumRankings?

AlbumRankings is a user-driven music ranking site aimed to make it easy for people to discover new music by genre or style. The main idea is a site similar to IMDB but for music instead of movies. A site where users can rate and comment on albums and songs, find lyrics, watch music videos and view various rankings based on how people have rated and tagged the albums.

The site also works like a wiki and every registered user can help shape the database by adding and editing information. If you're missing an artist or album, you can add it. And if you've found a spelling mistake, you can edit it. The goal being of course to turn this into one of the best and most accurate music databases around.

How can I contribute?

For the site to function and grow, we depend on people like you to rate the albums and songs you've heard, both good and bad. The easiest way to contribute is by having a look through your collection and rate some albums and songs. The more ratings we get, the more accurate the rankings will be, which in turn makes it easier for people to discover good music.

By reviewing and commenting on albums and songs you can share your taste with others and help them find the music you like (or make them stay away from music you dislike). Tagging albums is another great way to help. By tagging an album with a certain genre or style, you will make it show up in the rankings for that tag as well as when browsing by tag, making it easier for people to find.

How does the rating system work?

Next to each album and song you will find a star rater that looks like this:

  • 0
 or
  • 3.5

That is your rating (or in some cases someone else's). To submit a rating, simply hover over the star rater and submit your rating. You can always change it later on. Next to the star rater you will find the weighted rating for the album or song. The larger version also shows number of votes:

or

The score is not the average rating but rather a bayesian (weighted) average based on the following formula: 

$bayesian_rating = ($num_votes / ($num_votes + 3)) * $average_rating + (3 / ($num_votes + 3)) * 3.0;

In plain English it basically means that each album (and song) starts out with 3 invisible 3.0 votes. This is done to prevent albums with only a couple of votes to end up too high on the rankings and to avoid heavy fluctuations on albums with only a few votes. The more votes an album has, the closer its score will be to its actual average rating.

Why register?

Registering an account is quick and easy. All you need to do is enter a username and password and you're good to go. No hassle. After registering you will be taken to your profile where you can enter additional details such as e-mail and website (optional of course) and upload an avatar.
Benefits of becoming a member: