Credit: Far Out / Pink Floyd
October 24th, 2026 · 11:00pm BST
The members of Pink Floyd didn’t agree on a whole lot.
As such, you won’t be surprised to hear that the band isn’t uniform on which of their albums is the best. Different minds put forward different LPs for different reasons, but the majority of nominations centre around the psychedelic pioneers discovering what kind of sound they definitely wanted to go for.
What was that sound? Well, after Syd Barrett left the band and Pink Floyd found themselves in a bit of a creative slump, they needed to put their heads together and really work out what kind of music they wanted to make. After a few failed attempts at decent songs, the idea of writing singles was a non-starter, and the band realised they wanted to make great-sounding albums that contained an entire narrative, taking what people knew as concept albums to a whole other level.
One of the first albums where this kind of attitude was fully realised was Dark Side of the Moon. Released in 1973, this is the record that Nick Mason and other band members cite as their all-time favourite. It’s not just that it sounds good, but it’s a complete album, one where each member was firing on all cylinders and (for the most part) people’s creative mindsets were aligned.
“I’d choose Dark Side – it’s the most complete album,” said Mason. “There’re lots of others I like, but Dark Side has a lovely mix of everyone contributing to it. It’s got some great songs, and [the now-departed] Roger [Waters]’ lyrics are extraordinary.”
Concept albums can be a pretty extraordinary thing. They take the listener on a journey that standard, run-of-the-mill records simply aren’t capable of. There is a storyline woven throughout, and a sound that carries all the way through the album. When you listen to Dark Side of the Moon, you aren’t listening for just a song or two; this is a whole experience, one that sees you strap in for the duration.
And therein lay the problem with originally promoting the record. This is the early ‘70s, and so convention dictates that if you want to sell records, you need to put out a couple of singles and get the public buying what you’re selling. Pink Floyd, however, felt as though putting out a single was selling the album short. They wanted people to listen to the album from start to finish, front to back, not just chuck on one song and then call it a day.
Further reading: From The Vault
With this in mind, the band decided not to release any singles in the build-up to release day. This was a controversial decision, and one that originally bit the band in the arse. Sure, they broke the top 100, but the LP as a whole only got to number 95. It seems that without a single thing to originally grab people’s attention, very few members of the public were bothered about going out into the world and buying this LP.
Oh, how things change. Dark Side of the Moon was initially an album that people didn’t bother purchasing, and now, they can’t afford to stop printing them. Plenty of people who start record collections in the modern age ensure that the conceptual masterpiece is one of the first 12” albums on their shelves.
To this day, the classic concept album has sold 50,000,000 copies, and it doesn’t look as though that number is going to go down anytime soon.
