The ever popular rank threads again. In this case instead of choosing 5 or 10 albums you love or hate, how about ranking all of the Prince albums you have heard from best to worst. You don't have to rank every album made, just the ones you have listened too, and you can rate them if you like.

Its up to you to decide what is a Prince album and what isn't (Eg Exodus, Kamasutra, New Powersoul, Slaughterhouse). Just be interesting to see what everyone thinks of his albums.

Mine

Awesome Classics

1. Sign o the times 10/10

2. 1999 10

3. Parade 10

4. Dirty Mind 9.5

5. Purple Rain 9.5

6. The Gold Experience 9.5

7. Lovesexy 9

8. Controversy 9

Very Good

9. ATWIAD 8.5

10. Lotusflow3r/MPLSOUND 8.5

11. Crystal Ball 8

12. 3121 8

13. Black Album 8

14. Hits Bsides 8

15. Diamonds and Pearls 8

Good

16. Chaos and Disorder 7.5

17. Prince 7.5

18. Musicology 7

19. For You 7

20. Come 7

21. 20 Ten 7 (A grower for me, last year I gave it a 5)

22. Emancipation 7

23. Planet Earth 7

Average

24. Graffiti Bridge 6.5

25. The Vault- Old friends for sale 6.5

26. One Night alone 6

27. Batman 6

Meh!

28. Rave un 2 joy fantastic 5

29. Ultimate Prince 5

30. N.E.W.S 4

31. Exodus 4

32. The Truth 4

33. Lovesymbol 4

Oh Dear!

34. Kamasutra 3 (Instrumental music so can't give an 0)

35. Indigo Nights 3

Crap

36. NewPowersoul 2

37. The Rainbow Children 0

Havent Heard: Slaughtehouse, C note, Chocolate Invasion, The War, Xpectation, Goldnigga

[Edited 9/24/13 22:35pm]

Prince albums,

from best album to worst:

01. Purple Rain (10)
02. Sign "☮" The Times (10)
03. 1999 (10)
04. Lovesexy (10)
05. Parade (10)
06. Around The World In A Day (10)
07. The Gold Experience (10)
08. Dirty Mind (10)
09. Controversy (9.5)
10. Diamonds & Pearls (9)
11. Love Symbol Album (9)
12. Come (9)
13. Black Album (9)

14. The Rainbow Children (8)
15. Graffiti Bridge (8)
16. Prince (8)
17. For You (8)
18. Batman (8)
19. Crystal Ball (8)
20. Emancipation (8)

21. LotusFlower / MPLSound (7)
22. 20Ten (7)
23. Musicology (7)
24. Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic (7)
25. The Truth (7)
26. Chaos & Disorder (7)

27. Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic (6)
28. The Vault... Old Friends 4 Sale (6)
29. The Chocolate Invasion (6)
30. Slaughterhouse (6)

31. 3121 (5)
32. Planet Earth (5)
33. Newpower Soul (4)
34. One Nite Alone... Piano (3)
35. N.E.W.S. (2)
36. One Nite Alone... Live (2)
37. Indigo Nights (2)
38. Kamasutra (0)

I love the Prince singles:

The Hits / B-sides (10)
Ultimate Prince (10)
The Very Best Of Prince (10)

Great as well:
Exodus (8)

[Edited 9/24/13 19:02pm]

top 5

1. The Rainbow children

2. Dirty Mind

3. Parade

4. Purple Rain

5. Prince 1979

worst

3121

Lotusflower

N.E.W.S

Planet earth

The one he's gonna release in 2014

1. Sign O' the Times (10)

2. Parade (10)

3. Lovesexy (10)

4. Dirty Mind (10)

5. Around the World in a Day (10)

6. 1999 (10)

7. Purple Rain (10)

8. Controversy (9)

9. The Gold Experience (9)

10. Crystal Ball/The Truth (9)

11. The Black Album (9)

12. Graffiti Bridge (8)

13. Love Symbol (8)

14. Diamonds & Pearls (8)

15. 3121 (8)

16. Lotusflower/MPLSound (8)

17. 20Ten (8)

18. Musicology (8)

19. Planet Earth (8)

20. Batman (8)

21. Emancipation (7)

22. Prince (7)

23. Chaos & Disorder (7)

24. Come (6)

25. For You (6)

26. The Chocolate Invasion (6)

27. The Rainbow Children (5)

28. Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic (5)

29. The Slaughterhouse (4)

The B-Sides/The Vault Old Friends 4 Sale are exempt from ranking, but the former would get a 10, the latter a 6.

These scores are kind of relative within the Prince-verse. Also, they change from time to time.

[Edited 9/25/13 2:48am]

Here's my list, excluding "best of" / live stuff, which imo cannot be easily (or sensibly?) ranked...

The all-time classics:

Sign "O" the Times 10/10

Parade 10/10

Purple Rain 10/10

The great:

1999: 9/10

Around the World... 9/10

Dirty Mind 8,5/10

The Rainbow Children 8/10

... so here we have effectively the 80's "golden age" + TRC, the odd one out of his post-1990, subpar-to-mediocre production...

The good:

The Vault - Old Friends 4 Sale 7,5/10

Lovesexy 7,5/10

Prince 7/10

Controversy 7/10

The Black Album 7/10

... pretty much rounds up the early era + another odd one out, "OF4S" - one of the above-average incursions into jazz...

The average:

3121: 6,5/10

Musicology 6,5/10

For You 6,5/10

C-Note 6/10

Planet Earth 6/10

Crystal Ball 6/10 (note on this one: it's just too mixed in terms of quality, it has some great stuff and some pretty awful things too, so I'll settle for 'average')

Xpectation 6/10

... luckily, quite a bit of the 2000's stuff is here - meaning above the "decency" threshold.

The bad:

Diamonds & Pearls 5/10

Batman 5/10

NEWS 5/10

The Gold Experience 5/10

Lotusflow3r / MPLSound 4,5/10

The Chocolate Invasion 4,5/10

Come 4,5/10

The Slaughterhouse 4/10

Emancipation 4/10

The ugly:

Kamasutra 3/10

20ten 3/10

Graffiti Bridge 3/10

The "Love Symbol" album 3/10

Chaos & Disorder 2/10

New Power Soul 0/10

Rave Un2 the JF 0/10

Yep, you may say I'm not a fan of the 1990's...

[Edited 9/25/13 6:38am]

My ranking:

1. Parade 10/10

2. Lovesexy 10/10

3. Purple Rain 10/10

4. Sign O The Times 9/10

5. Love Symbol 9/10

6. Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic 9/10

7. Come 9/10

8. The Black Album 8/10

9. Chaos & Disorder 8/10

10. Emancipation 8/10

11. Dirty Mind 8/10

12. 1999 8/10

13. The Gold Experience 8/10

14. Planet Earth 8/10

15. MPLSoUND 8/10

16. Lotus Flow3r 7/10

17. The Rainbow Children 7/10

18. Crystal Ball 7/10

19. One Nite Alone 7/10

20. Graffiti Bridge 7/10

21. New Power Soul 6/10

22. Controversy 6/10

23. 20Ten 6/10

24. Around The World In A Day 6/10

25. Diamonds & Pearls 6/10

26. Batman 5/10

27. Musicology 5/10

28. 3121 4/10

29. Prince 4/10

30. For You 3/10