The Best Jimmy Buffett Albums of All Time

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Updated May 1, 2024 25.9K views 31 items
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5.3K votes
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Voting Rules
This list includes studio albums only, so if you add an album make sure it's a proper studio release.

List of the best Jimmy Buffett albums, including pictures of the album covers when available. This Jimmy Buffett discography is ranked from best to worst, so the top Jimmy Buffett albums can be found at the top of the list. The big breakthrough for Buffet and his Coral Reefer Band came in 1977 with the album Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes, highlighted by its signature song, "Margaritaville." Since then the laid-back, island-loving soft rocker has spawned a legion of "Parrotheads" - the nickname given to his hardcore fans. 

To make voting for your favorite records easier for you, we haven't included Jimmy Buffett singles, EPs, or compilations, so everything you see here should only be studio albums. If you think the greatest Jimmy Buffett album isn't high enough on the list, be sure to vote for it so it receives the credit it deserves. Make sure you don't just vote for critically acclaimed albums; if you have a favorite Jimmy Buffett album, then vote it up, even if it's not necessarily the most popular.

If you want to know the best Jimmy Buffett album of all time, this list will answer your questions. Examples include Banana Wind, Christmas Island, Take the Weather With You, and License to Chill. This list of popular Jimmy Buffett CDs has been voted on by music fans around the world, so the order of this list isn't just one person's opinion. 

Most divisive: Don't Stop the Carnival
Over 1.0K Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of The Best Jimmy Buffett Albums of All Time
  • A1A
    1
    1974
    367 votes
    • Artist: Jimmy Buffett
    • Tracks: Dallas, Trying to Reason With Hurricane Season, A Pirate Looks at Forty
    • Length (mins): 00:36:24
    • Genres (Music): Country, Gulf and western
  • Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes
    2

    Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes

    1977
    319 votes
    • Artist: Jimmy Buffett
    • Tracks: Ringling, Ringling, Ballad of Spider John
    • Length (mins): 00:39:10
    • Genres (Music): Country, Gulf and western
    • Artist: Jimmy Buffett
    • Tracks: The Last Line, Cheeseburger in Paradise, Coast of Marseilles
    • Length (mins): 00:34:41
    • Genres (Music): Rock music, Gulf and western
    • Artist: Jimmy Buffett
    • Tracks: Railroad Lady, Cuban Crime of Passion, I Have Found Me a Home
    • Genres (Music): Country, Gulf and western
  • Havana Daydreamin'
    6
    1976
    205 votes
    • Artist: Jimmy Buffett
    • Tracks: Defying Gravity, Something So Feminine About a Mandolin, Kick It in Second Wind
    • Genres (Music): Rock music, Gulf and western
  • Volcano
    7
    1979
    199 votes
    • Artist: Jimmy Buffett
    • Tracks: Lady I Can't Explain, Volcano, Sending The Old Man Home
    • Genres (Music): Rock music, Gulf and western
  • Fruitcakes
    8
    1994
    190 votes
    • Artist: Jimmy Buffett
    • Tracks: Frenchman for the Night, Love in the Library, She's Got You
    • Length (mins): 01:01:52
    • Genres (Music): Rock music, Gulf and western
    • Artist: Jimmy Buffett
    • Tracks: Distantly In Love, Twelve Volt Man, California Promises
    • Length (mins): 00:40:54
    • Genres (Music): Rock music, Gulf and western
  • Coconut Telegraph
    10
    1981
    158 votes
    • Artist: Jimmy Buffett
    • Tracks: The Weather Is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful, Little Miss Magic
    • Length (mins): 00:33:29
    • Genres (Music): Rock music, Gulf and western
  • Barometer Soup
    11
    1995
    154 votes
    • Artist: Jimmy Buffett
    • Tracks: Ballad of Skip Wiley, Blue Heaven Rendezvous, Don't Chu-Know
    • Length (mins): 00:54:41
    • Genres (Music): Rock music, Gulf and western
  • Banana Wind
    12
    1996
    170 votes
    • Artist: Jimmy Buffett
    • Tracks: Desdemona's Building a Rocket Ship, School Boy Heart, Cultural Infidel
    • Length (mins): 01:07:51
    • Genres (Music): Rock music, Gulf and western
  • Floridays
    13
    1986
    141 votes
    • Artist: Jimmy Buffett
    • Tracks: You'll Never Work In Dis Bidness Again, Creola, No Plane on Sunday
    • Length (mins): 00:46:21
    • Genres (Music): Rock music, Country, Gulf and western
  • Last Mango in Paris
    14
    1985
    128 votes
    • Artist: Jimmy Buffett
    • Tracks: Please Bypass This Heart, Frank and Lola, Beyond the End
    • Length (mins): 00:36:45
    • Genres (Music): Country, Gulf and western
  • Off to See the Lizard
    15
    • Artist: Jimmy Buffett
    • Tracks: Take Another Road, I Wish Lunch Could Last Forever, Boomerang Love
    • Genres (Music): Rock music, Gulf and western
  • License to Chill
    16
    2004
    140 votes
    • Artist: Jimmy Buffett
    • Tracks: Window on the World, Trip Around the Sun, Conky Tonkin'
    • Length (mins): 00:57:20
    • Genres (Music): Country
  • Riddles in the Sand
    17
    1984
    108 votes
    • Artist: Jimmy Buffett
    • Tracks: Come to the Moon, Love in Decline, La Vie Dansante
    • Length (mins): 00:33:53
    • Genres (Music): Country, Gulf and western
  • Far Side of the World
    18
    • Artist: Jimmy Buffett
    • Tracks: Blue Guitar, Last Man Standing, Mademoiselle (Voulez Vous Danser)
    • Length (mins): 00:57:43
    • Genres (Music): Rock music, Gulf and western
    • Artist: Jimmy Buffett
    • Tracks: Reggabilly Hill, Wheel Inside the Wheel, Bama Breeze
    • Genres (Music): Country, Pop music, Soft rock, Beach music
  • Somewhere Over China
    20
    • Artist: Jimmy Buffett
    • Tracks: Where's the Party, Lip Service, It's Midnight and I'm Not Famous Yet
    • Length (mins): 00:35:49
    • Genres (Music): Rock music, Gulf and western
  • Down to Earth
    21
    1970
    73 votes
    • Artist: Jimmy Buffett
    • Tracks: Ain't He a Genius, Turnaboout, The Misionary
    • Label: Varèse Vintage Records
    • Genres (Music): Folk rock
  • Christmas Island
    22
    1996
    87 votes
    • Artist: Jimmy Buffett
    • Tracks: Christmas Island, Up on the House Top, Merry Christmas
    • Length (mins): 00:43:44
    • Genres (Music): Rock music, Gulf and western
  • Hot Water
    23
    1988
    88 votes
    • Artist: Jimmy Buffett
    • Tracks: Homemade Music, My Barracuda, L'Air de la Louisiane
    • Length (mins): 00:47:19
    • Genres (Music): Rock music, Gulf and western
    • Artist: Jimmy Buffett
    • Tracks: Waiting for the Next Explosion, Permanent Reminder of a Temporary Feeling, Flesh and Bone
    • Length (mins): 00:55:57
    • Genres (Music): Rock music, Gulf and western
    • Artist: Jimmy Buffett
    • Tracks: Ace, In the Shelter, Rockefeller Square
    • Label: Varèse Vintage Records
    • Genres (Music): Folk rock
    • Artist: Jimmy Buffett
    • Tracks: I Wave Bye Bye, I Want To Go Back To Cartagena (Bonus Track) [with Fanny Lu], Einstein Was a Surfer
    • Genres (Music): Soft rock, Country pop
  • Buffet Hotel
    27
    2009
    80 votes
    • Artist: Jimmy Buffett
    • Genres (Music): Pop rock
    • Artist: Jimmy Buffett
    • Tracks: Domicile, Public Relations, Fat Person Man
    • Length (mins): 01:05:29
    • Genres (Music): Rock music, Gulf and western
  • Rancho Deluxe
    29
    1975
    44 votes
  • 'Tis the SeaSon
    30

    'Tis the SeaSon

    2016
    31 votes
  • Calaloo
    31
    1998
    36 votes