Top 10 Garth Brooks albums
Garth Brooks is one of country music's most famous artists. The singer's first album, "Garth Brooks," was met with critical and commercial acclaim when it was released in 1989, and followed up with a sophomore effort, "No Fences," that made him an international country music superstar. Despite taking more than a decade off from releasing new albums in the early 2000s, Brooks has been an incredibly prolific songwriter, having released 16 albums since his debut. But which of these 16 are the best?
To determine the best Garth Brooks albums of all time, Stacker analyzed data from Best Ever Albums as of Jan. 31, 2022. Overall rank is determined by calculating the aggregate position of each album from more than 38,000 different top albums charts. The 38,000 charts referenced are a blend of charts from publications like Rolling Stone, New Music Express, Stereogum, and The Quietus, and people's personal charts. In theory, the more charts that an album has appeared on and the higher its rank score, the better it will be. Only solo studio albums were considered, meaning no live albums, shared billings, or compilations.
Click through for a look at Garth Brooks' best albums, and how they fit into his oeuvre and career.
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#10. 'No Fences' (1990)
- Best Ever Albums score: 138
- Rank in decade: 1,521
- Rank in year: 128
"No Fences" was Garth Brooks' sophomore album and his first to hit #1. It was the fourth bestselling album of all genres in the 1990s, and is the album that put Brooks on the map as an international country music superstar. Some of Brooks' most famous songs appear on the album, including "Friends in Low Places," which would go on to win the Academy of Country Music's 1990 Single of the Year. One of the tracks on the album, "Victim of the Game," was covered by Brooks' future wife Trisha Yearwood on her 1991 eponymous debut album.
#9. 'Ropin' the Wind' (1991)
- Best Ever Albums score: 71
- Rank in decade: 2,718
- Rank in year: 218
Garth Brooks' hotly anticipated follow-up to "No Fences," "Ropin' the Wind" was his first to hit #1 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart and the Top Country Albums chart just after its release. One of the album's marquee songs saw Brooks dip into cover territory, with his rendition of "Shameless" by Billy Joel. Brooks has said he wrote the album as a kind of "son of 'Fences'" during the few days when he had not been touring to promote that album. For more than three decades, "Ropin' in the Wind" held the record for the country album that spent the most weeks atop the Billboard 200 chart. But in March 2024, it was outdone by Morgan Wallen's "One Thing at a Time."
#8. 'In Pieces' (1993)
- Best Ever Albums score: 27
- Rank in decade: 4,879
- Rank in year: 476
"In Pieces" was Garth Brooks' sixth album, and a particularly huge hit outside the United States. The album debuted at #2 on the Billboard pop charts in the United Kingdom, a rarity for a country music album. Stateside, it debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 chart and spent five weeks at #1. Brooks said he made the album because he'd been feeling it was just time to smile, to laugh, and get loud. Brooks' band in particular shines on this album, and he's always been particularly proud of the cohesiveness on display between all members of the band.
#7. 'Garth Brooks' (1989)
- Best Ever Albums score: 20
- Rank in decade: 4,358
- Rank in year: 458
This eponymous debut album hit #2 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. It was received with both critical and commercial success, with two songs—"The Dance" and "If Tomorrow Never Comes"—reaching #1 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart. Many tracks off of the album have been covered by famous artists in subsequent years, like Barry Manilow's take on "If Tomorrow Never Comes."
#6. 'Garth Brooks and the Magic of Christmas' (1999)
- Best Ever Albums score: 16
- Rank in decade: 6,552
- Rank in year: 764
"Garth Brooks and the Magic of Christmas" was Brooks' ninth studio album, and featured a mix of 14 secular and religious Christmas classics. Unlike his other albums, none of the tracks on it were originally written by Brooks. The album was the foundation for Brooks' first televised Christmas special, which aired on NBC in December 1999, with guest appearances by Trisha Yearwood and Natalie Cole. In 2001, the album was re-released as "Garth Brooks and the Magic of Christmas: Songs From 'Call Me Claus,'" featuring two new songs for a made-for-TV holiday movie he executive produced with Whoopi Goldberg.
#5. 'Man Against Machine' (2014)
- Best Ever Albums score: 12
- Rank in decade: 12,199
- Rank in year: 1,311
"Man Against Machine" was Garth Brooks' first album since taking a 13-year hiatus from releasing new records. Brooks announced the album early in 2014 while promoting what he called his comeback tour. It was also the first album that Brooks released digitally. His "comeback" single—"People Loving People"—was well received, with Billboard calling it "firm, crunchy country rock." "Man Against Machine" seemed to achieve the level of commercial success as Brooks' previous efforts, landing at #1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart for seven weeks. However, none of its songs seemed to carve out major places in country music history.
#4. 'The Chase' (1992)
- Best Ever Albums score: 9
- Rank in decade: 8,351
- Rank in year: 755
"The Chase," Garth Brooks' fifth studio album, debuted at #1 on both the Billboard 200 chart and the Top Country Albums chart. While taking the #1 slot is always a feat, "The Chase" beat out Madonna's "Erotica" for this particular position. Brooks has said the album is his most personal, writing many of the songs from his own experiences. The album's biggest hits are "Somewhere Other Than the Night" and "That Summer," which both reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
#3. 'Sevens' (1997)
- Best Ever Albums score: 9
- Rank in decade: 8,432
- Rank in year: 895
"Sevens" was a commercial and critical success. One of its singles—"In Another's Eyes"—was recorded with Trisha Yearwood. Though they had sung harmony on each other's albums before, it was Brooks and Yearwood's first major collaboration, though they wouldn't start dating for another five years. The song would go on to win a Grammy for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals in 1997, as well as being nominated for Best Country Song.
#2. 'Fresh Horses' (1995)
- Best Ever Albums score: 9
- Rank in decade: 8,475
- Rank in year: 886
"Fresh Horses" had the biggest first-week sales of any of Garth Brooks' albums when it debuted in 1995 and sold nearly 500,000 copies. Brooks experimented across genres on the album, breaking out of his country music mold to try pop and ballads on for size. (Four years later, Brooks would lean into his genre experimentation even more with the 1999 album he released under his fictional rock persona, Chris Gaines.) He also wrote the majority of the tracks on "Fresh Horses," and he has said the album was, as such, a real reflection of himself.
#1. 'Scarecrow' (2001)
- Best Ever Albums score: 6
- Rank in decade: 12,369
- Rank in year: 1,124
"Scarecrow" was Garth Brooks' 14th studio album and the last album he released before taking more than a decade off from recording and releasing new work. The album's biggest tracks were its second single, "Wrapped Up in You," and his duet with Trisha Yearwood, "Squeeze Me In," which was nominated for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals at the Grammys. Steel guitar-heavy, "Scarecrow" is notably upbeat. "For the first time in my life," Brooks commented upon its release, "I think I made a happy album." The album came out the year he began dating Yearwood.
