John Mayer Tier List (real)

It was necessary and appropriate to start with a ranking of all of John Mayer’s albums to date, so here’s the tier list. Detailed thoughts to follow, from worst to best.

C Tier:

Room for Squares:

I understand that this is the album that a lot of people think of when they think of John Mayer music. While it certainly wasn’t the case for me, I can get that and get behind it. As an early 2000s rock album, it hits the right notes of what John’s persona shaped up into. But I want to talk about it more musically than culturally. Whispery vocals are present throughout the entire record, alongside some pretty subtly creative guitar work. To be frank, I find myself exhausted of the tones here as I get to the middle/two-thirds mark, and either end up skipping through portions of it, or just changing to a different album. I really do enjoy the foundations this album sets, establishing John’s ability with acoustic and electric guitars, with lots of creative riffing and melodies. I think his guitar work surpasses his vocals and even more than that, his songwriting. Overall, it’s a good start with some nice catchy bops and lots of “soft feely boi” vibes. 6/10

Inside Wants Out:

This EP-turned-album has the tightest tracklist of any of his works, and it’s honestly an impressive feat. There are some great songs in here and the vibe here is really consistent and well connected from song to song. Unfortunately, that doesn’t keep it from feeling like a weaker album because of the lack of variety, unique instrumentation, compelling lyrics, and lively vocals. I genuinely prefer these versions of songs that also show up in Room for Squares, but the rest of them just don’t really scratch the itch of what I like about his music. 6.5/10

B Tier:

Heavier Things:

This is where things start to pick up! In a lot of ways, this feels like a bridge between what I deem “early era” Mayer and middle era Mayer. A lot of the songs feel like links between Room For Squares and Continuum, which is essentially what this album does tonally. You can start to see some more poetic writing that surpass the “I’m sad and in love“ vibe of the earlier songs. Split Screen Sadness jumps out to me as my favorite example of this. John’s ability to paint pictures in your mind with not only descriptive lyrics, but musical themes really begins to grow here. I like this album more every time I listen to it, 7/10

Battle Studies:

This was one of my first Mayer albums I listened to and I really liked it at first, and then unlike Heavier Things, I have liked it less every time I listen to it. This album has like 3 great songs, and honestly, I skip about half of the tracklist every time I listen to it. Edge of Desire will always be a top 5 Mayer song for me, especially after hearing how different it is live on acoustic. I find the order of these tracks to be generally pretty unsatisfying. In my opinion, Mayer albums have an inverse bell curve of bangerism. There are usually some of the best songs near the start and end of the album, with the least interesting songs in the middle. Battle Studies embodies this perhaps better than any other of his albums. 7/10

Paradise Valley:

I really didn’t like Paradise Valley when I first heard it. I thought it was Born and Raised, but just not as good. I’ve found it to age pretty well and really grow on me. Badge and Gun has really caused a deeper emotional response than I ever gave it credit for. Paradise Valley is interesting to me because of just how hard its hits can hit, but how the non-hits really feel so mid and filler-y. It falls out of A tier for having filler that I really don’t enjoy, but it makes it to high B tier because of how crazy good the hits actually are. Wildfire so perfectly captures the vibe of summer starting, and On The Way Home similarly encapsulates the vibe of summer ending equally as well. This is one of the best bookended albums of his, but we’ll get to the other contenders soon! 7.5/10

A Tier:

Sob Rock:

I love Sob Rock. It feels like such a revival of John’s career and writing, showing that not only does he have another album in him, he’s got a full well of ideas, thoughts, feelings, and metaphors to write about in new ways. This album injected so much new life into his public perception, role at this phase of his life, and his love for writing music. After The Search for Everything, I and many others wondered if we were looking at the twilight of his career, but he really proved us wrong.

Doing an 80s themed album that so perfectly blends his style with nostalgia is not only perfect for the spike of 80s nostalgia we are experiencing right now, but also a great concept of treating it like it’s an album you heard but just forgot, as if it’s retconning your memories. I love it, it shows what’s to really be loved about the way he looks at writing. Sob Rock bears the tightest tracklist since Inside Wants Out, with a couple songs that are not quite as good as the majority, and others that stand significantly above the rest. It’s really a comfort album that is very easy to put on and casually enjoy, as well as sit and really dig into the lyrics, meanings, and motifs. I love Sob Rock and am so thankful for the domino role it plays in some of my favorite music of all time. 9/10

S Tier:

Continuum:

It’s kind of illegal to not put Continuum in S tier. I can think of few albums that are more sensational summations of an artist’s style, displaying all the things that people enjoy about it. It is a ubiquitous icon of mid-2000s rock of the specific genre John lives in. The guitar solos, the cheeky, descriptive and compelling writing, the shift in vocal style, the very clear influences (namely of Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn) all swirl together into one of the greatest pop-rock albums of all time.

Without a doubt, one of the most tremendous boons to this album being such a sonic masterpiece is that you can actually hear every bit of the instrumentation at any given moment because of just how well this album is mixed. From the punch intro of Vultures to the slowly mournful fading solo of Slow Dancing In A Burning Room, everything you want is there for you to pick out and focus on. There’s nothing to say about Continuum that hasn’t already been said, but there is no way this album is overrated. 10/10 absolute tone setter

Born & Raised:

I think this is my most listened to Mayer album, and honestly, I don’t know where to start with expressing what I feel about it. This album was incredibly significant for John’s career, arguably even more than Continuum. This is a masterpiece and I will have many more thoughts to express and articulate on this later. I’ve never heard an album that connected with me more regarding the idea of starting over where you are and moving forward to live the life that you need to live and being true to the person you are, not who you want people to think you are, and not even who you want to think you are. Every beat hits when and where it needs to and I am addicted to this album. 10/10

The Search for Everything:

The most important album John ever wrote. My second favorite album of all time. It takes a special album for me to feel like it is just part of me, but that’s an honor this album shares with one other album. The emotional beats on this album hit harder than any other and I am so in love with the perspective on introspection, love, self-awareness, loss, and the beauty and joys of life. 11/10

Closing Thoughts:

I will be writing full, in-depth reviews for each of these albums to explain everything I really feel and think, especially about the more important ones. New album review each month. Thanks for not reading!