I’m identifying the best three albums by my fifty favorite rock bands of all time. This blog is for #1 – Led Zeppelin, a legendary rock-n-roll band.

Criteria for selecting the best three albums

First, Greatest Hits albums are not permitted. Second, no live albums. It is definitely worth noting that Led Zeppelin is a legendary band live in concert. Third I will include an honorable mention album or two for the top 25. This is my number one band, so you may see something a little bit special for this list.

Led Zeppelin’s albums ranked by ChatGPT

Let’s look at what artificial intelligence has to say about this list. According to ChatGPT below are the top five Led Zeppelin albums based on sales and critical acclaim.

Well looky there – artificial intelligence listed the right five albums, although not in the correct order. Bravo, happy to see that ChatGPT loves and knows Led Zeppelin.

Popular releases for this band

Let’s look at Spotify data. According to that musical streaming platform below are Led Zep’s five most popular albums. You’ll notice two changes. Led Zeppelin III and Mothership. Led Zep III probably because of the popularity of “The Immigrant Song” and Mothership is a Greatest Hits collection of awesomeness.

The third-best album by this band is Physical Graffiti

The third-best album by Led Zeppelin is Physical Graffiti, an incredible double LP. This double album is full of killer tracks like “Custard Pie”; “The Wonton Song”, “Ten Year Gone”, “Kashmir”, and “As I Lay Dying”. E I’m convinced that if you took the best hits off this album and made it a single record it would be one of the best rock and roll records of all time.

The second-best album by Led Zeppelin

The second-best album by Led Zeppelin is their Untitled album AKA Led Zeppelin IV. Talk about awesome songs. It opens with “Black Dog”, and “Rock and Roll” and also includes “Stairway to Heaven”. That’s just side one. I want to say something here. If Led Zeppelin 4 is your second best album you are an unparalleled killer rock and roll band.

Honorable mention albums for this band

Here are the honorable mention albums for Zeppelin. First up is Led Zeppelin I. You know you’re in for a rock and roll journey when you drop the needle on “Good Times Bad Times”. It includes some blues, “Dazed and Confused”, and what some people believe to be the start of heavy metal with “Communication Breakdown”. The other honorable mention album is Houses of the Holy. Once again, an epic album cover and so many great songs on this record like “Dy’er Maker”, “Over the Hills”, and my favorite Led Zep song of all time “The Ocean”.

The third honorable mention album for this band

Doing something a little different for my number one band. Here is another honorable mention album, Led Zeppelin III. I’m including this record because I don’t want anybody to go why in the hell did he skip Led Zep 3? It is a really good album that opens with “The Immigrant Song” and then takes you on an acoustic journey that demonstrates why Jimmy Page is the greatest rock guitarist ever.

The best album by Led Zeppelin

The best album by Zeppelin is Led Zeppelin II. Why choose this record as their best? Simply put, it is end-to-end rock and roll excellence. Let’s take a look at side two to see what this album includes – “Heartbreaker”, “Living Loving Maid”, “Ramble On”, and “Moby Dick”. Just when you want to catch your breath they hit you with “Bring It on Home”. John Bonham’s drumming on this album is incredible.

There you have it – the three best Zeppelin albums. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

I am Doug Keating and this is my letter to my sons.