What is your system to rate songs and albums? What scale do you use?

If you use 1 to 10, what does each number stand for?

I'm looking for inspiration.

1 to 10

Based on strictly vibes

Is 5/10 neither good or bad for you either and 6 (or 5.5 if you use .5 steps) the start of good?

I don’t. Numbers are meaningless and everyone has a different scale so it’s pointless to me

Sometimes it's hard to turn a feeling about a song into a numeric value, especially if an artist has so many songs

10 - masterpiece, all time favorite

9 - excellent, top 5 for the year

8 - great, gets regular spins

7 - good, I’ll return to it

6 - fair, has good qualities, might come back to it

5 - mid

4 on down - different levels of bad

i listen

i think this is good

move on

This is the most similar to mine, but when I rate songs with this system and then use the average rating from all songs as the album rating pretty much no album would even get to a 9/10

0-2 - completely unlistenable, physically hurting me to sit through

3-4 - bad & unremarkable

5 - subpar, with some redeeming qualities

6 - okay overall, liked a decent amount but also disliked to the same extent

7 - good, servicable, worth returning to, but not standout

8 - high quality, near top-of-the-line, only a few blemishes to note

9 - near-flawless, exceptional, thoroughly enjoyable

10 - masterpiece, no notes, S-tier in every way

• wow this stinks
• this is ok. Won’t listen again
• this is good. Will listen again
• this will be one of my new favorite songs right now

10 - perfect to ME!

9 - AMAZING

8 - great

7 - good

6 - okay

5 - mid / whatever

4 - bad

3 - terrible

2 - TRASH

1 - it's irredeemable ASS

11/10 is for unearthly magic that only happens when planets align

Stuff like Station To Station, Astral Weeks, Yeezus, Purple Rain, The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society

10
A masterpiece, one of the best albums of all time. Will be culturally and aesthetically important many years from now in some way.

9.1 – 9.9
A monument, an instant classic. Sounds ahead of its time, sounds timeless, immediately belongs in the canon. Entire genres could be created in its wake.

8.6 – 9.0
A major statement, worthy of your time and energy, no matter your taste. Transcends genre, claims new ground, a total and intentional work of art, possesses an aura that makes it vital to its genre, its era, or the artist’s career.

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8.0 – 8.5
Essential listening, among the best records of the year. Shows a mastery of craft or taps into the sublime, feels a part of the zeitgeist, steps out of its genre, takes big risks that pay off.

7.6 – 7.9
Excellent record, highly recommended. “Best in class” for its genre. Not a bad song on it.

7.0 – 7.5
Very good record, recommend checking it out. Hardly a dull moment, a great hang, maybe plays it safe but executes everything very well, maybe takes some risks but doesn’t land everything perfectly.

6.6 – 6.9
Good record, a few issues, but worth your attention if you’re into the band or genre. Maybe starts strong and fades a little by the end, includes a few songs that don’t move the needle, but also has a handful of outstanding moments.

6.0 – 6.5
Pretty good, not great, some unavoidable issues, but interesting. Fans of the band or genre will get the most out of it.

5.6 – 5.9
Decent record, a few things going for it, but a handful of major issues overwhelm the experience.

5.0 – 5.5
Not very good, but not a total disaster.

4.0 – 4.9
Pretty bad.

3.0 – 3.9
Really bad. Incompetent and thoughtless.

2.0 – 2.9
Terrible.

1.0 – 1.9
Terrible and symptomatic of some kind of larger problem in music or the world.

0.0 – 0.9
Worthless.

anything that goes beyond this is mental illness btw

5 and 6 are range of barely ok to decent

7 is when it starts being notable

I do use decimals

Every project or songs that I believe are 10s are 10s for difference reasons most of the time

It comes down to enjoyment though

Albums basically how often and for how long I can keep the entire album on repeat

1. Do I like it?
2. Can I replay it?
5. Good stretch of songs?
3. Best songs?
5. How does it play in different situations?

How do you formulate a score out of these questions?

Q1 gives a rough rating range. If I like it, guaranteed at least a 6/10

Q2-Q4 narrows it down. Can't be a high rating album if I don't fw a few songs first listen

Q5 confirms the score because at that point I've listened to the album at least 3 times in different scenarios (e.g. at work, outside, at home)

10 - perfect/what little flaws it has dont matter to me
9 - amazing album with a handful of perfect songs
8- great album will be revisiting for years
7 - still a great album with some flaws
6 - flawed album with a ton of enjoyable moments
5 - average with some good moments
4-1 - hard to give something this rating bc even if I really hate it Im not giving it enough time/listens to really solidify my opinion on it

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vibes

0 - no

1 - yes

i rank whatever i want however i want