#53 The Wall by Pink Floyd

The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time

2025 Album Rank

53

2011 Album Rank

36

Total Points

1062

Year Released

1979

Billboard 200 Chart Peak

1

Weeks at #1

15

RIAA Sales Certification

23,000,000 (Multi Platinum)

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The Wall Album Details

Released on November 30, 1979, The Wall is Pink Floyd's sprawling rock opera about alienation, trauma, and psychological breakdown. Conceived primarily by Roger Waters, the album tells the story of Pink, a rock star who constructs a metaphorical wall to shield himself from emotional pain, only to find that it imprisons him. The double album's music shifts from orchestral grandeur to punk aggression to introspective melancholy, held together by theatrical flourishes and seamless production.

Featuring iconic songs like Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2, Comfortably Numb, and Hey You, The Wall became a commercial juggernaut and cultural touchstone. It sold over 30 million copies worldwide and spawned a feature film and some of the most elaborate stage productions in rock history. More than a concept album, The Wall is a cautionary tale of fame's isolating power and the psychological scars left by war, loss, and repression.

Interesting Facts about The Wall

• The concept for The Wall was inspired by Roger Waters' growing discomfort with the band's massive stadium shows. After spitting at a disruptive fan during a 1977 concert, he began imagining a wall between the band and its audience.
• Producer Bob Ezrin played a key role in shaping the album's structure and accessibility. He pushed for Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2 to have a disco beat and children's chorus, elements Waters initially resisted but later accepted.
• The three parts of Another Brick in the Wall represent different traumas in Pink's life: the death of his father, the cruelty of the education system, and the disintegration of personal relationships.
• Comfortably Numb features one of David Gilmour's most celebrated guitar solos. The song was born from a musical idea Gilmour had been developing for a solo project before it was reworked for the album.
• Much of the tension between Waters and the rest of the band during this period stemmed from creative control. Keyboardist Richard Wright was fired during the sessions but continued as a salaried musician during the tour.
• Run Like Hell and In the Flesh portray Pink's descent into fascistic hallucinations, where he imagines himself as a dictator wielding control over a hateful mob, a commentary on authoritarianism and the loss of identity.
• The spoken lines in One of My Turns and Nobody Home were derived from real band experiences on tour, including Waters' own feelings of disconnection in hotel rooms across the world.
• The wall was physically constructed onstage during live performances of the album. By the end of the first act, the band would be hidden completely behind a massive wall of cardboard bricks.
• Alan Parker directed the 1982 film adaptation of The Wall, with Bob Geldof starring as Pink. The film added new visual metaphors and featured animation by Gerald Scarfe, whose grotesque caricatures were already central to the album's artwork.
• The album ends with Outside the Wall, a quiet and cryptic epilogue that loops back to the album's opening phrase, suggesting the story is cyclical, and the wall is never truly gone.

The Wall Tracklist

1. In the Flesh
2. The Thin Ice
3. Another Brick in the Wall (Part 1)
4. The Happiest Days of Our Lives
5. Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) - Reached #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart
6. Mother
7. Goodbye Blue Sky
8. Empty Spaces
9. Young Lust
10. One of My Turns
11. Don't Leave Me Now
12. Another Brick in the Wall (Part 3)
13. Goodbye Cruel World
14. Hey You
15. Is There Anybody Out There?
16. Nobody Home
17. Vera
18. Bring the Boys Back Home
19. Comfortably Numb
20. The Show Must Go On
21. In the Flesh
22. Run Like Hell
23. Waiting for the Worms
24. Stop
25. The Trial
26. Outside the Wall

Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) Music Video

• Next Album: #52. What's the Story Morning Glory? by Oasis
• Previous Album: #54. Off the Wall by Michael Jackson