in "the village voice"s 1982 pazz & jop critics' poll, "avalon" was voted the 11th best album of the year. in 1989, the album was ranked no. 31 on "rolling stone" magazine's list of "the 100 greatest albums of the 1980s". in 1993, "entertainment weekly" included the cd as no. 25 in their 100 greatest cds a love-it-or-loathe-it guide to the essential disc library. in 2000 it was voted number 187 in colin larkin's "all time top 1000 albums". in 2003, the album was ranked number 307 on "rolling stone" magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. "avalon" is the highest entry of four roxy music albums that made the list ("siren" at #371, "country life" at #387 and "for your pleasure" at #394 being the others); however, it was dropped from the 2012 revision, as well as "country life". in 2012, "slant magazine" listed the album at no. 45 on its list of "best albums of the 1980s".