About BandRank

How the ranking works

Every band starts at an ELO score of 1000, the same kind of rating used in chess. When two bands meet, the winner gains points and the loser drops, and beating a higher-rated band is worth more than beating a lower-rated one. A single vote moves a band by at most 32 points.

Voting needs a free account, and each account has one vote per pair of bands. Voting again on the same pair replaces your earlier vote, and you can undo a vote. Scores are only ever changed on the server, never in your browser.

The leaderboard lists every band by ELO score and can be filtered by genre. Rankings come only from BandRank votes, so they show the community's taste, not an objective truth.

What you can do here

Every band has its own page with a bio, its must-hear albums, its ELO score, its win/loss/tie record and its place on the leaderboard. You can browse them all in the band directory.

Your votes build your personal Top 10, you can mark albums you've heard as liked or disliked, and Discover suggests bands and albums based on how you vote.

The Battle of the Day is one public matchup a day that anyone can vote on, no account needed. It starts at midnight Berlin time, and its votes don't change the main rankings.

Which bands are on BandRank

BandRank covers Rock, Metal and Folk. Bands are grouped under those three parent genres, plus subgenres. The test is whether a band's sound or aesthetic is rooted in rock, even if it also draws heavily from other genres.

Anyone with an account can suggest a band. Every submission is reviewed by hand before it appears, following the community guidelines.

Where the information comes from

Most band bios come from Wikipedia, and each band page links to its source. Band and album artwork comes from TheAudioDB, with some album covers from the Cover Art Archive (MusicBrainz). ELO scores, records and album verdicts come from BandRank users.

Get in touch

Questions, corrections or a missing band? Email info@thedepthsmusic.com or see the contact page.