Phil Collins says he's thinking about a comeback. Here are his 5 best solo albums, ranked
Quick Read
- Phil Collins told the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame he still thinks about touring, but a short run of shows isn't financially practical, and no comeback has been announced.
- Collins, 75, will be inducted as a solo artist on Nov. 14 in Los Angeles, his second induction after Genesis in 2010, and he has said he won't perform.
- "Face Value" tops Stacker's ranking of his five best solo albums, ahead of "No Jacket Required" and "...But Seriously."
Phil Collins has spent most of his life on a stage, and he isn't fully convinced he's done with it. In a new interview with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, recorded days before his induction as a solo artist, the 75-year-old said that every now and again he still thinks about going back on the road.
"Once you've been on stage all your life and tasted that, it's difficult to stop," Collins said. "I never say exactly never."
The obstacle isn't only physical. It's the math. "You can't do that kind of thing just for a half a dozen shows, because it's not financially practical," he said. No tour has been announced, and nothing Collins has said amounts to a plan. But for a performer whose last show was more than four years ago, the door is open (a crack).
A second trip to the Hall
Collins will be inducted on Nov. 14 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, part of a 2026 Performer class that also includes Oasis, Sade, Iron Maiden, Wu-Tang Clan, Billy Idol, Joy Division/New Order and Luther Vandross, according to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The ceremony airs in December on ABC and Disney+. It's his second induction. The first came in 2010, with Genesis.
The honor caught him off guard. "I'd gotten quite used to being overlooked," Collins told The New York Times, adding that he was "quite surprised" to learn he was up for induction, Louder reported. In the Hall's interview, he framed it as a capstone: "I think getting inducted into the Hall of Fame is a lovely way to end it."
Don't expect him to sing. Collins told BBC Breakfast in May that he'd turned down a request to perform at the ceremony. "You've got to be match fit to do something like that," he said.
Why Phil Collins stopped touring
The man behind pop's most famous drum fill hasn't been able to drum for years. A 2007 spinal injury and the nerve damage that followed eroded his ability to play; by 2021, he said he could "barely hold a stick." Back surgery and a series of knee operations came after.
Genesis' The Last Domino? tour ended on March 26, 2022, at London's O2 Arena, with Collins singing from a chair while his son Nic played drums. It was billed as the end.
Recent updates are more hopeful. Collins told the BBC his health has improved over the past 18 months. "I can't really see it happening, but I'm healthier now than I have been for quite a while," he said of touring. Speaking to the Hall this month, he went a step further: "I'm now back to being where I think I could do it."
Could Phil Collins release new music?
A tour and a record are separate questions, and the second may be easier to answer. "I've got a studio that's totally in working order downstairs in the basement of my house," Collins said in the Hall interview, adding that he has ideas and songs in varying states of completion, Rolling Stone reported. In May, he said he'd like to "have a fiddle about and see if there's more music." That's a shift from early 2025, when he said he wasn't hungry enough to make new music.
No album has been confirmed. His last record of original songs was 2002's "Testify." His most recent studio album, 2010's "Going Back," was a collection of Motown and soul covers.
Phil Collins' 5 best solo albums, ranked
Whatever comes next, the catalog is already settled. Stacker ranked Collins' five best solo studio albums (Genesis records, live albums, compilations and soundtracks excluded), weighing contemporary and retrospective criticism, published rankings, U.S. and U.K. chart history, Grammy recognition and Collins' own assessments.
#5. Hello, I Must Be Going! (1982)
- Notable songs: “I Don’t Care Anymore,” “You Can’t Hurry Love,” “Thru These Walls”
- Peak chart position: No. 8 (U.S.), No. 2 (U.K.)
- U.S. sales: 3 million+ (3x Platinum)
Collins' second album carried the raw, divorce-shadowed mood of his debut into tracks like the snarling, Grammy-nominated "I Don't Care Anymore." His cover of the Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love" became his first U.K. No. 1 single. Critics split at the time, but it's the bridge between "Face Value" and the horn-driven pop that followed.
#4. Both Sides (1993)
- Notable songs: “Both Sides of the Story,” “Everyday,” “Can’t Turn Back the Years”
- Peak chart position: No. 13 (U.S.), No. 1 (U.K.)
- U.S. sales: 1 million+ (Platinum)
Collins made "Both Sides" entirely alone, credited with every instrument, and it sounds like it: hushed, melancholy, unguarded. Radio balked at the downbeat pace. Time has been kinder. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine called it "quietly compelling," and Collins has named it his favorite "from a songwriting and creative perspective." That reappraisal edges it past his second album.
#3. ...But Seriously (1989)
- Notable songs: “Another Day in Paradise,” “I Wish It Would Rain Down,” “Something Happened on the Way to Heaven”
- Peak chart position: No. 1 (U.S.), No. 1 (U.K.)
- U.S. sales: 4 million+ (4x Platinum)
Collins traded dance-pop for songs about homelessness, apartheid, and his own family without losing the hooks. "Another Day in Paradise" hit No. 1 and won the Grammy for Record of the Year, and the album spent 15 weeks atop the U.K. chart on its way to becoming Britain's best-selling album of 1990. Critics heard too many ballads. Buyers didn't care.
#2. No Jacket Required (1985)
- Notable songs: “Sussudio,” “One More Night,” “Take Me Home”
- Peak chart position: No. 1 (U.S.), No. 1 (U.K.)
- U.S. sales: 12 million+ (Diamond)
This is the album that made Collins inescapable. All four of its singles reached the Billboard top 10, it spent seven weeks at No. 1, and it won Album of the Year at the 1986 Grammys (it's since been certified Diamond in the U.S.). Some critics now hear it as dated, and Collins counts it among his least favorites. No record better captures mid-'80s pop.
#1. Face Value (1981)
- Notable songs: “In the Air Tonight,” “I Missed Again,” “If Leaving Me Is Easy”
- Peak chart position: No. 7 (U.S.), No. 1 (U.K.)
- U.S. sales: 5 million+ (5x Platinum)
Written largely in the wake of his first divorce, "Face Value" is Collins at his most exposed. "In the Air Tonight," co-produced with Hugh Padgham, turned a cavernous gated-drum break into one of pop's most recognizable moments. AllMusic's Tim Sendra called the album "Collins' most honest, most compelling work." It has sold an estimated 12 million copies worldwide.
What comes next for Phil Collins?
Collins says he sometimes feels he "hasn't finished." Maybe he hasn't. A basement studio and a healthier stretch make new music plausible, and the right offer could make a stage plausible too. Rolling Stone still calls a surprise performance at the ceremony "extraordinarily unlikely," and Collins expects to watch from his seat.
He doesn't need the encore. Five decades, two inductions, and a run of records that defined the sound of the 1980s already settled the question. But if he wants to take another spin out on the road, we're more than happy to meet him there.
