Let‘s do a ranking of all of SCANDAL‘s studio albums from least to best.

I would mostly be interested in seeing yours, rather than presenting mine, but it kinda wouldn‘t be fair. I‘m wondering if others see big differences in quality among these albums, because I really don‘t. Honestly, all 5-star albums for me so far.    
Impossible to rank, I'll hate this list tomorrow.

＃10  Encore Show (Yes, I do count it)
Despite being a compilation of leftovers, it has plenty of really interesting stuff on it. Seems like some of their most progressive (therefore potentially confusing) songs ended up not making their respective albums, although some should have. But even after god-knows-how-many listens I still don't remember which song is which.

 ＃9  YELLOW
It's painful to have to rank it so low, as I believe this is the ultimate feel-good album. But most of it is kinda slow, which is not really this band's domain. And LOVE is my least favorite album cut of theirs. Why they didn't use Life is a Journey will forever be a mystery, since this album could have really benefited from a couple more energetic songs.

＃8  BEST★SCANDAL 
An album full of absolute classics. Trust me, I probably love all of these songs as much as most of you. But as a whole, it's not really as interesting as their later stuff. Not much variety, all of it basically mimics 70's classic rock. Still brilliant.

＃7  HONEY
The guitar work on this is absolutely magical. I love the technical style of hard rock they went with, but it is a shame that they didn't follow it throughout the whole album. Short Short and Mado Wo Aketara are really disrupting the continuity. I don't really mind that they tried something different as well, but there should have been a bit more of it. This way it is a bit awkward. The whole thing could have definitely been longer.

＃6  Queens are trumps
Number six seems way too low for this. I have no complaints. Wide range of styles - it contains both some of their heaviest (the title track) and some of their poppiest stuff (Kill The Virgin - my favorite). All great songs, but maybe not as many of my personal favorites compared to the following albums on my list.

＃5  TEMPTATION BOX
Another album full of classics, but this time with many more of my faves. Didn't make it higher mostly for the less interesting slower songs - Namida no Regret is pretty generic and Houkago 1H kinda cheesy, but of course I like them too.

＃4  HELLO WORLD
Their switch to autorship has not affected the quality of their music at all. Each girl gets to shine here and they all give it their best. I must admit though, that among my favorites on this are the songs they didn't write. Totally get why it's a lot of people's favorite, I still love these next few even more.

＃3  BABY ACTION
Definitely their most underrated album. So many interesting arrangements (a bit more keyboards, even a brass section at one point). Especially the singles are absolutely killer, but the deep cuts have a lot to offer as well. And the two ballads are absolutely epic.

＃2  STANDARD
Brilliant heavy riffing and catchy melodies throughout. Some could argue that it's a bit samey, but it's all in a style that I enjoy a lot and that really fits them. High energy, lots of fun. Give me more of this in the future, please. 

＃1  Kiss from the darkness
Each song is completely different and completely amazing. They decided to experiment a bit more with different sounds and the result is very cool. Like most of you, not a fan of the unnecessary autotune, but the songs are absolutely killer anyway. A great balance between old and new, with each member injecting it with a bit of their personality in spots. It's basically like their White Album, but unfortunately a lot shorter.

Honestly, from what we‘ve heard from MIRROR so far, can‘t see it making it higher than ＃9 on my list. Seems like it won't be very rocking, but I sure hope to be proven wrong. Give me yours!

Their best album and their two worst are easy choices. Inbetween it's a lot harder.


#10  Baby Action
Even though it some of my favorites (Tokyo Skyscraper and Sono Toki Sekai wa Kimi Darake no Rain), it has too much filler songs that don't stand out. The opening song is probably one of their worst songs (IMO).

#9 Standard
Again two of my alltime favorites (Kagen no Tsuki and Kimi to Mirai to Kanzen Douki), but again a lot of filler, and again a poor opener.

#8 Honey
Overall a good albujm, but too few songs that stand out. Got to say that everytime I listen to it, I think "it's better than I thought."

#7 Kiss From the Darkness
Another album with a poor opening, but has higher tops. Except from AMDKJ, Laundry Laundry and Shaisuukeiki Kimi not many stand out

#7 Yellow
Bit the same as Honey, but overall a bit better. And more variety.

#6 Encore Show
The leftovers are great!

#4 Queens are Trumps
And once more an opening song I don't particularly like. But it does have Bright, which is in my top 5. It's one of their songs where I always hit repeat. And I'm probably one of the few who really like Taiyou Scandalous and Pinheel Surfer. Harukaze is my most underrated Scandal song. It's a song I never think of as one of their best, and I seldom pick it to specifically listen to, but whenever it pops up I think it is actually very good.

#3 Temptation Box
Classic album. The choreography in their live performance of Shoujo M is hilarious (in a good way).

#2 Best Scandal
Again, lots of classics

#1 Hello World
IMO by far their best album. It's got my all time favorite: Image.  The sequence of Onegai Navigation, Runner's High, Hon Wo Yomu, Kan Beer, is probably the best on any of their albums.

Here's how I would rank the albums.

10. Yellow
While I love Morning Sun and Heaven na Kibun and like a few other songs (Stamp, Love Me Do...), most of the album feels somewhat dull to me. One thing that could improve it, is if they replaced any of the following three: Konya wa Pizza Party, Sisters, Love - with Life is a Journey, my favorite song sung by Tomomi. Or just put it on the album in addition to all other songs. That would make it better, than...

9. Temptation Box
Again, not many songs that I really love. Obviously there's Shunkan Sentimental, and my personal favorite is Sayonara My Friend, but other songs are just average to me at best. It even features what I consider my least favorite song sung by Mami - Shoujo M.

8. Encore Show
While not really a regular album, it has some interesting songs.

7. Queens Are Trumps
It has some great tunes (Koe, Rising Star, Harukaze), but also some of my absolutely least favorite Scandal songs (Pin Heel Surfer, Kill the Virgin).

6. Kiss from the Darkness
The first album released since I started listening to Scandal. My greatest disappointment is in the absence of Mami's lead vocals. I also find the overuse of autotune in certain songs too much to handle. Favorite songs include Masterpiece, Fuzzy, Ceramic Blue and A.M.D.K.J.

5. Baby Action
Sono Toki Sekai wa Kimi Darake no Rain was the first Scandal song, upon hearing which I instantly thought: "I love this!". (It was not the first song I heard, but I had to repeatedly listen to some previous songs to see, if I liked them at least a bit).

4. Standard
Bad opening, but then it starts picking up. My favorite trio is Orange Juice, Metronome and Weather Report. It's also another album, that could be improved by including one b-side, namely 24 Jikan Plus No Yoake Mae. And you can put it instead of any of the following: Brand New Wave or Kimi to Mirai to Kanzen Douki. But even then I still wouldn't prefer this album over...

3. Honey
I like the overall style on this album. Opening song, Platform Syndrome, is one of my most favorite Scandal songs ever, and it's PV is my favorite by Scandal. The only songs that I don't really like are Short Short and Mado wo Aketara, the latter mainly because of the "baby baby baby oooh" in bridge. Removing the former song entirely and at least those parts from latter song could make me prefer Honey over...

2. Best Scandal
A fine record. I don't have much other to say about this album.

1. Hello World
After spending their previous career largely relying on other people to compose music for them, Scandal finally took over as their own songwriters, and they did an excellent job at it here, which, sadly, they haven't yet repeated quality-wise. Not to this extent (Honey came close, though). My favorite tunes include Onegai Navigation, Runners High and Oyasumi, but the rest of the album is also great.

I had to think hard on this one.

10 Honey
While no bad album to listen to, I can't think of one song that stand out for me.

9 Temptation Box
Stand out song, Shunkan Sentimental.


8 Encore Show
stand out song, Midnight Television.

7 Baby Action
Stand out songs, Pride and  Nanka Buttobase


6 Yellow
Stand out song, Heaven Ha Kibun.


5 Standard
For me there not many weak songs on this one, plus I think this their best Album cover. Stand out song, Awanitsumorino Genkidene, 


4 Hello World
Same as Standard, quite strong group of songs in which you don't need to skip a track,  Stand out Songs Onegi Navigation and Kan Biiru


3 Best Scandal
I agreed what the others have posted, Stand out song, Yumemiru Tsudasa


2 Kiss From The Darkness
Quite strong Album with some weak tracks, I think when they do Laundry Laundry Live it sound better than Album. Stand out songs, Fuzzy Tsuki and Shaisuukeiki Kimi 


1 Queens are Trumps
With some of my tops fave songs on this one, stand out songs Koe and Bright.

It's always hard to rank albums for me, and their positions tends to change with time... but I'll try!
I also love all their albums, last place is still amazing. 

#10 YELLOW
I love it as a whole, but it's the weakest individually, not many "outstanding" songs. Still really solid and the best option if I need something relaxing.

#9 HELLO WORLD
In general a bit weaker than yellow for having 3 songs I don't enjoy that much (the most of all albums), but has Onegai navigation and Hon wo yomu, both songs has been in my "top 5" at one point.

#8 Kiss From the Darkness
I thought "oh no, this is the worst album" after the first few playthroughs, but after I heard "you go girl" some days later, I changed my mind. It's a super solid album and has great variety. Laundry laundry became one of my favourite songs ever.

#7 STANDARD
A standard album really, I would recommend this to any non-scandal fan

#6 Queens are trumps
If this album had a better ending, it would go straight to the top 3. I like Right here but doesn't keep up with the ridiculously good first half of the album.

#5 BEST SCANDAL
So many iconic songs, but Anata ga mawaru and 3xRing are my favourites. I had a hard time distinguishing songs for some months, like you say because it's the least varied. Expected for being their first release, still impressive for a debut. 

#4 ENCORE SHOW
I always counted this one because I discovered the band in 2016 and wasn't going to hear the singles if I had a compilation of them, I thank their decision to release it. Full of hidden gems, it's so sad that they never play some of my favourites live (hikare never left my top 3 and apparently was the first song they wrote completely, why they didn't follow this path if they were able to create a masterpiece like this???)

#3 BABY ACTION
Every new song is completely different from the previous one (maybe with the exception of pride+haruka, the part I like the least), and I absolutely love that. One piece is the perfect ending.

#2 TEMPTATION BOX
A song away from perfection: I never liked Namida no regret. Incredible opening and closing tracks.

#1 HONEY
Sometimes being shorter is a virtue. It's perfect from start to end, good in quality and variety, can't get bored of it.

I'm not re-reading this, so I'm sorry if I made some english mistakes 

I really can't rank their albums as much as you guys do. All of their albums are unique. It mostly depends on my mood, whether I want at the moment, more rock or something quieter. I just tell the best one according to my feelings. This is Hello World. This album is a new beginning because they started writing their songs on their own. And it is also an album with very strong songs with vocals from each member.

I hope more folks contribute to this one.  It is interesting to see how everyone ranks the albums and their reasons why.  Whether we all agree or disagree, it really shows how diverse the fan base is in what we love about Scandal's music.

The only challenge I really had in making my list was how to place the ones between 5 and 8.  They are all so close together in strengths and weaknesses, and quite frankly they can be a bit interchangeable depending on my mood whenever I listen to them in full.


10. KISS FROM THE DARKNESS
No surprise if anyone's read anything else I've written on this one.  Conceptually, the album is all over the place.  It feels more like a compilation than a fully-realized studio album.  When it rocks, it rocks; but there are too many tunes in that sappy-emotive electronic world that would bore me away from the album if it were not recorded by Scandal.  And lastly, too much auto-tune.

9. YELLOW
This was the first release since I became a fan in which I was disappointed upon first listen.  It is too mid-tempo throughout, and the most rocking songs are a 104 second instrumental and the weird one about pizza.  It is a well-sequenced album, with some really good songs.  My favorites being the two aforementioned rockers, "Suki Suki," "Sunday Drive" and "Happy Birthday."  Honorable mention is "Sisters" is the kind of dance-oriented songs I enjoy from them.  Great live song.

Overall this album would rank higher if the English version of "Your Song" was left off and used as a B-side for one of the singles; and "Flashback No. 5" took its place.  I would also have included "Life As A Journey" as the album closer.

8. BABY ACTION
Now it starts getting a little hard to rank.

I often think of this album as their "lost record" since I tend to forget it even exists.  Part of this may be due to a lack of these songs being featured live (or at least in live videos to be found on YouTube).  The singles are good on this one, but my favorites are the non-singles that I am sure they will never again play live (with the exception of "Burn"): "Sonotoki Sekaiwa Kimidarakeno Rain" and "Apple Tachinodengon." 

7. TEMPTATION BOX
This one used to rank higher for me primarily for the first three songs, "Hi-Hi-Hi," "Aitai" and "Helo! Hello!" but in trying to rank this against QAT I had to do a song vs. song comparison, and this one has the weaker tunes, "Shojo M" being one of them.  I don't know why Mami was chosen to sing this one; it sounds like a Rina song to me.
 
6. QUEENS ARE TRUMPS
I admit I was not an immediate fan of "Pinheel Surfer" and I'm still a little on the fence about "Kill The Virgin, but both are musically quite interesting to my ears, and "PS" is tops on my list of catalog songs they need to resurrect in a live setting.

Overall, this album rocks a bit harder than BABY ACTION and TEMPTATION BOX, and I'm giving that the edge.  The only thing that really disappoints me on this album is that Mami doesn't play the lead guitar on the title track.  

5. ENCORE SHOW
It almost feels sacrilegious to put a compilation album this high up, but even though this is a collection of B sides and odds/ends it still sounds more cohesive as a final album than KFTD.  If I were a fan from the very beginning and had purchased every single they released, I would have loved this album when it came out since so many of these tunes would have been familiar.  As it is, I love it because there isn't a single song that I dislike, and this may be the only album where every single song is up-beat.  "Happy Collector" is one of my all-time favorite tunes.  "Hoshinofuruyoruni" is one of their best rockers.  They should consider playing this entire album live. 

4. BEST SCANDAL
Pretty bold to name your first album "Best," but they backed it up with some great tunes.  This one is Scandal at their most "garage rockiest."  If we were discussing any other band, this album would rank higher, but the last three are pretty darn good in my book.

3. STANDARD
This is their best balance of rockers with dance tunes.  Whatever they have in mind for MIRROR, based on the early songs, I am hoping it is more like STANDARD than KFTD.  The only negative on this one is the opening song, "Brand New Wave."  If they had switched this out with "24 Jikan Plus no Yoakemae," and opened the album with "Over Drive" then I would have a tough time deciding on my #2.   As it is, "Orange Juice" is one of my favorites and the one-two punch of this with "Metronom" is awesome.  "Awanaitsumorino Genkidene" is my favorite single.  This is the only tune I hope to never leave their live set.

2. HONEY
This is their best open-to-closer studio rock album (ENCORE SHOW not counting).  I could not stop playing it when this one came out.  Aside from being so enjoyable and upbeat, listening on repeat, ""Koisuru Universe" goes so smoothly into "Platform Syndrome" it was really tough to ever hit "stop" on my player.  

Not a bad song on this one, but "Madowoaketara" is the weak one.  Since they included "Take Me Out," it would have been terrific to have included "Freedom Fighters."  Anyone who saw Scandal live on this tour knows how well "Freedom Fighters" fit in with the rest of the HONEY new tunes.  

1. HELLO WORLD
This is the record I give to a newbie to get a sense of the band.  It is diverse, it rocks when it needs to, and the ballads are excellent.  A couple key points that make this number 1 for me:
* It's the last album to feature shared vocals (which is a signature sound for the band)
* It has songwriting contributions from every member
* It has a lead vocal song from every member
* "Onegai Navigation" is such an awesome rocker (my #1 favorite) that I disliked all of YELLOW when it came out
* For me "Departure" is their prettiest melody with or without an orchestra
* "Your Song" was so good they had to re-record it in English
* Even the Rina song is really good, especially live ("Oyasumi"), but she should figure out how to do it with live drums
* Talk about drums: "Image" is a monster
* Until HONEY came out, this was the definitive Mami-guitar record.  Her solos throughout this album are some of her best.
*"Winter Song" is the weak link on this album, but only because it's on this album.  Put it on any of the ones that came before it and it's a much stronger song.  This means, there isn't a song on HELLO WORLD that I will skip.
* Lastly, they had so many good tunes for this album they had to leave off "Rainy," which for me is their best non-album track

It is indeed very cool how different these lists are turning out to be. Here's a couple of observations I have made so far (some could be useful to those, who don't want to read everything):

1) The most popular album is HELLO WORLD.
2) The least popular album seems to be YELLOW. (+ We all clearly want Life is a Journey on there.)
3) ENCORE SHOW is considered a full-fledged album by everyone and so far I am the only person here to rank it below all of their proper studio albums. (That's actually cool!)
4) People mostly prefer stuff from before they started writing their own songs, which is pretty sad, yet understandable. It's the faster heavier rockers that gather the most attention. (Well, MIRROR really doesn't have a chance to become very popular, does it?) 
5) And lastly; we gathered here on what I like to think of as the forum for top 1% of SCANDAL's biggest fans. That's why it really caught me off guard when I saw, that quite a few people (not just in this thread) have some mean things to say about a significant part of this band's catalogue. 
Pretty shocking!    Just kidding, it's okay. We all have different tastes. And it wonderfully illustrates the variety in their music, even if it's not what people like the most about this discography.

Keep the lists coming. I totally expect most people to ignore this thread, as it requires lots of thinking and writing, but even if you're like @Meph1766 and think all their albums are pretty much equal, write it down anyway, that also counts as a ranking. (You DO have a favorite tho, come on.) 

I'm gonna go out of a whim here and not include Encore Show on the list. I really enjoy the album, great songs full with some of my favorites, but if I'm going to include that might as well include all the other compilations albums, maybe do a ranking of Scandal compilations album haha

#9 BABY ACTION
not a bad album, and there are alot of fun songs up here, but as a whole its very weak, too processed, too cutesy and i get a little tired of it have way through lol 

#8 KISS FROM THE DARKNESS
I hate to put on such a low ranking, especially since its their most recent album, but i wasnt too blown away by this album. I absolutely enjoy the singles, but the rest of the album is meh or it took me a while to actually like, Neon Tokyo Escape is the only one I throughly enjoy at first listen. 

#7 TEMPTATION BOX
 To me, its similiar to Baby Action, just with a bit more rockers. Tracks, like Aitai, Playboy pt 2, girlism, HIHIHi, and Shunkan are songs i'll never get tired of listening to, but the other ones are meh to me. The reason is so low on this list is mostly because I enjoy the rest of the later albums on this list compare to this one. 

#6 Queens are Trumps
Love the "rock forward" approach of this album, besides Pin Heel Surfer, there's  not one song I want to kick to the curb. I do like Right Here, but it doesn't' help as a closing track lol. It's number 7 cuz I just listen to this album a bit less compare to the next albums on this list.

#5 HELLO WORLD
Really like the concept of this album, love the idea of this being a "preview" of Scandal writing their own songs, every band member solo song is great, but Oyasumi is a least favorite but I have grown to like it a lot. Onegai Navigation is my favorite of the album, with it also being the shortest of the album haha. Whats funny is that I don't care for Winter Story as is,  but come winter and Christmas time its the best thing since slice bread 

#4 YELLO
I Really love the concept of this album, every song is great for a different mood, it's also great for parties.  Heaven na Kibun is the heaviest on the album but also my personal favorite, I like the idea that this song is place between very upbeat tunes. This album also holds their best rock ballad in my opinion "Chiisan Honoo". Though I do find Sunday Drive a bit repitive and Sisters meh, they're both not bad songs and a really fun. 

#3 BEST SCANDAL
Vintage rock SCANDAL are so good , i love almost very song on this album, very guitar driven, fun, sassy, moody, and somewhat nostalgic. Yumemiru Tsubasa is the only song that took me a long time to actually like, but it's a nice breathy song. Anata Ga Mawaru is the best song that Scandal has ever not written lol

These last two albums, were EXTREMELY hard to rank against each other, they switch places from time to time so take these with a grain of salt

#2 STANDARD
the first time i listen to this album when it came out, I was literally blown away, I absolutely enjoy every song on this album with the exception of Brand New Wave, poor opening song, but great guitar solo lol
Kagen no Tsuki and Over Drive are the single that I listen to the least but i do actually like both of them. My only gripe with this album is that the mixing is atrocious, which is sad because these songs deserve so much better sound engineering, and the fact that 24 Jikan plus no yoake mae is not on here is a LITERAL CRIME that still hurts my feelings to this day.  Also STANDARD (the song) is one of the best fully composed SCANDAL song ever!

#1 HONEY
The only album where every single song i really enjoy, like REALLY enjoy. From beginning to finish, it kinda makes up for the short album tracklist IMO. I love that they put Futari on here, and Take Me out and Over are platinum tier songs on this album, while everything else is gold tier. Though the song that I listen to the least is OhNo! love the fast part punk vibe, but it's the kind of song that has too much going on but also too little going on haha

List will change once MIRROR comes out, but something tells me it wont get past #7

Judging by my results from SCANDAL song sorter, I think I have to revise my album rank list as well.

I took my results and removed all songs, which are not on any album. That means I was left with 127 songs (including the ones on Encore Show). Then I did two rating systems: point rating and star rating.

For point rating, I assigned opposite number of points to where the song ranked on my list. So my favorite (Koe) got 127 points, while least favorite (Pin Heel Surfer - Scandal in the House got excluded for not appearing on any of the albums I take into account) got only one point. Then I added up points for each song for every album, and then divide the result by the number of songs on that album.

For star rating, I split the songs by groups, which I would rank with 5 stars, 4.5, 4 etc. until 0 stars. Then, again, I added up stars for every song on every album and divide the result by the number of songs.

I actually consider results by star rating as main ones. I only considered results by points, if I got the same "star-based" result for two albums.

So here it is (I won't be including actual scores):

10. Temptation Box
9. Yellow

Seems I actually do prefer Yellow over Temptation Box even without Life Is a Journey. But I'd still want it to be there. Maybe putting it instead of Love or Sisters could make the album rank higher than some of the next.

8. Kiss from the Darkness
7. Encore Show
6. Baby Action
5. Queens Are Trumps

I got the exactly same star-based result for both Baby Action and Queens Are Trumps, so point-based results spoke in favor of Queens Are Trumps. As for that album getting much better results than before, I guess it's thanks to Koe.

And the following four remained on the same spot.

4. Standard
3. Honey
2. Best Scandal
1. Hello World

Hello World actually turned out "worse" than Best Scandal by point-based results, but since I decided to rank them mainly by star-based results, it remained on first place.

Instead of ranking per album, I'll be mentioning my most and least favorite albums by SCANDAL:

Yellow happens to be the best-produced album released by the band. The music and lyrical theme pertain to their experiences abroad. I also love their attempt to play hard rock (I consider grunge a branch of hard rock) through the track "Heaven Na Kibun".

Mirror happens to be my new second favorite simply because it is their most experimental. I've never heard of a decent concept album for a while until Mirror was released. It's a quintessential progressive pop album.

I know this is an unpopular opinion but, I consider Honey as the worst album they've released. Their "back to the roots" pop-punk sounds too forced and the album's concept was trying too hard to please everyone.

Temptation Box is as bad as Honey for me. Their musical direction at the time was so confusing. Although, Temptation Box has the best-looking album cover in all SCANDAL's catalog.

Now that Mirror is out and had listened to the songs a few times already here is my top 10 (will go bottom to top):

10. Baby Action (Surprisingly my personal favorite song from the band, BURN, is in this album as well)
9. Queens Are Trumps
8. Temptation Box
7. Standard
6. BEST SCANDAL
5. Mirror
4. Kiss from the Darkness
3. Hello World
2. Honey
1. Yellow - this is the only album in which I cannot pick a favorite song, cause I loved all of it especially Heaven no Kibun, that song is so nostalgic 'cause I used to listen to Grunge music.

Like I said in topic for Mirror, regardless of whether I count the basic album (10 songs) or full version (12 songs), it ends up as my second least favorite album by Scandal. So I'm just going to put two more hypothetical places, where the album could have been under other circumstances (keeping the other albums sorted as they are, of course).

My order as it is now:

If Spice was included, but not Living in the City:

If Spice was included instead of One More Time (frankly, one of my least Scandal songs):

Here are my latest ranking of SCANDAL studio albums from worst to best.
I didn't include Scandal, Scandal Show, and Encore Show since these are compilation albums.

10. Honey
9. Temptation Box
8. Queens are Trumps
7. Best Scandal
6. Kiss from the Darkness
5. Baby Action
4. Mirror
3. Standard
2. Hello World
1. Yellow

Since we have a new album since I made my original list, here is my update.  

As with my last posting, I do include ENCORE SHOW because it is entirely a compilation of songs that never appeared on an album.  Quite frankly, if it were pared down to the best ten songs it would probably be in my Top 3.

1. HELLO WORLD
2. HONEY
3. STANDARD
4. BEST SCANDAL
5. ENCORE SHOW
6. QUEENS ARE TRUMPS
7. TEMPTATION BOX
8. BABY ACTION
9. YELLOW
10. MIRROR
11. KISS FROM THE DARKNESS

This was interesting for me to think through, because I generally don't listen to studio recordings of a song or album once I have a live recording. So since I mostly listen to concerts, I'm always getting a mixture across albums and lose track of what song is on what album; instead, I mostly recognise general eras. Also, unlike most people here, in the case of SCANDAL I started with Mirror and then worked my way backwards through their history, so I've actually had more time with the newer music than with the old stuff. As a result, the old songs are actually fresher to me, as I haven't played those albums totally to death yet.

Don't hold me to this forever, but I think currently my ranking is:

#10 Hello World. I'm happy to listen to any track on Hello World when they come up on shuffle, but the only tracks I purposefully pick out are Departure, Graduation, and Oyasumi. It's a totally fine album, but all the others are better than "fine"; I don't have any particular criticisms of Hello World, it's just that the standards here are very high.

#9 Kiss from the Darkness. I might be ranking this lower simply because when I started listening to SCANDAL, these were the songs which they were playing the most live (e.g. both the 2020 stream show and the 15th anniversary concert), so I got more than my fill early on. AMDKJ and Tonight are A-tier songs I still love as much today as I did the first time I heard them, and recently I've begun to appreciate Fuzzy and Tsuki again, but the rest I need a long break from; though I still recognise that the first time I heard the album it totally blew me away.

#8 Standard. I enjoy every song on it, especially Brand New Wave and Hachigatsu, but every album is good and this one just... happens to end up eighth. 

#7 Temptation Box. This is probably the most consistent album prior to Mirror. I'd say there are seven tracks which I'd really want to see live—Aitai is easily in my top 5 SCANDAL songs and Everybody Say Yeah is probably their best live song, other than maybe Koe?—which is more than most, and it gets bonus points for Tomomi's first bass (mini)solo in Hi-Hi-Hi. Of course, there's no ignoring the importance of Shunkan Sentimental.

#6 Yellow. Everything on Yellow is brilliant, but also, it's an incoherent mess; I don't know who decided that Konya wa Pizza Party and Heaven na Kibun would be put next to each other, but they were either a genius or insane. As much as I enjoy each song individually, and love the album on shuffle, I really don't like playing it in the intended track order. For that reason it just misses the top half of my ranking. But I've got to stress, I think Chiisana Honoo is hands-down their best song, in every way: writing, construction, performance, production; everything. If that had been on Hello World instead then I'd probably swap Yellow and Temptation Box around, but Yellow is where Chiisana Honoo ended up, so here we are with Yellow on top.

#5 Queens are trumps. I'm one of the seemingly few people who gets a kick out of Pin Heel Surfer, I absolutely adore Bright (massively underrated), and then there's the title track, Harukaze, Rock'n Roll... but c'mon, we know only one song really matters here. Koe is going to be on the setlist 'till they retire. If someone was putting together a Best Of compilation, Shunkan Sentimental would be the first song and Koe would be second.

#4 Best★SCANDAL. Most of this album either was a single or has become a concert staple, and for good reason. I just wish Kimi to Yoru to Namida was played as often live as the rest of this album is. It may not actually be their 'best' album as the name claims, but it sure makes a good case for it.

#3 Honey. This one for me is all about Mami's guitar. Platform Syndrome, Take Me Out, Over, Electric Girl, Midnight City, Koisuru Universe... she pushed herself on this album and it paid off. Usually I can play guitar for hours before getting tired, but I've tried to play along with Honey and by about halfway through Take Me Out my wrist is wrecked. Mami's left hand may not blitz the fretboard, but her tremolo strumming is world-class, and Honey is her peak.

#2 Baby Action. When I started writing this, I didn't expect to put this so high, but here we are. As I was skimming through each album to refresh, it hit me how much exactly how much I absolutely love Burn, Haruka, Pride, and one piece. Burn might be my favourite solo and overall ~vibe~; Pride is probably my favourite bassline (and the preceding Tokyo Skyscraper is no slouch); Haruka is probably my favourite of their pure pop tracks; and then you've got one piece as an almost proto-Chiisana Honoo, in that it's the big power ballad that could easily be the ender for every concert. Of course, there's the insane fun (or maybe just insanity) of Scandal Nanka Buttobase and its video. Baby Action may not be the most meaningful album of the lot, but it's probably the most fun.

Which leaves, somewhat predictably...

#1 Mirror. I love every track, and I love them equally—which is something I can't really say about any other album by anyone—and I think there's a more purposeful feel to the songs as a collection than the other albums. I love SCANDAL's variety, but in the rare times when I do want to hear a studio album start-to-finish, I prefer Mirror's cohesiveness over something like the tonal whiplash of Yellow. Mirror is the album which I most wish I'd made myself. While most of my absolute favourite songs are spread across the others, as an overall, total package, I think Mirror is very easily the best album.

This is not counting compilations, format/regional bonus tracks, single B-sides, etc. Though even if I did, Mirror would still come out on top because I love Living In The City as much as the rest of the album.

All that said, if Line Of Sight and Vision are any indication then the next album could easily top them all. And if Dobondobondo ever release an album, well, all bets are off...

It is difficult to rank the studio albums. They are all good and songs are all too good.

My ranking is : 

10. Yellow : Good album but I don't have any songs that stand out for me like SCANDAL BABY, KOE, AMDKJ, Image or SHUNKAN SENTIMENTAL. 

9. Baby Action : Good album with Love Survive or Pride

8. Standard 

7. Honey : 

6. Mirror : Ivory, song of MAMI makes the difference between the albums ranked behind MIRROR.

5. Temptation Box : This album contains Shunkan Sentimental,  the first song that got me interested in SCANDAL. 

4. Queens are trumps - Kirifuda wa Queen - : Koe, one of my favorite song and my favorite song of MAMI is in this album and there is HARUKAZE that I discovered while watching BLEACH.

3. Best SCANDAL : This album contains the most iconic song of SCANDAL : SCANDAL BABY. 

2. Hello World : Image, Departure, Your Song, Yoake no Ryuuseigun.

1. Kiss from the darkness : AMDKJ, Masterpiece, Fuzzy, Ceramic Blue, Kinenbi. This album is full of very powerful, very rocking songs.

If they had made an album with SCANDAL BABY,  KOE and AMDKJ, this album will be first in my ranking.
 
I am waiting for the new album with Line of Sight and Highlight no naka de bokura zutto. I hope there will be a new song sung by MAMI that will have the same aura as KOE. If so, the top 5 may well change.

This is very difficult, but I'm going to try. I want to put the 11 studio albums they currently have and the 3 best albums, for the total of a Top14 xD

Still, I must add first of all that their cover mini album "R-GIRL's ROCK!" I think it's wonderful too.
Now let's get to the topic 

14.- SCANDAL SHOW > Just a compilation album, the only notable thing about it is that "SCANDAL no Theme" was on the album, which already existed before if I'm not mistaken, but it was'nt on any other album before.
13.- SCANDAL > It's still another compilation album even if it is bigger and better. It also adds two new songs that I love, "FREEDOM FIGHTERS" and "HELLO".
12.- BEST★SCANDAL > A great album, full of rock and my favorite song ever, for me the best song ever created, SCANDAL BABY. But in general it's one of the ones that currently contributes the least to me.
11.- ENCORE SHOW > B-side song compilations are rare. It's the best thing this album has, besides adding the song PLAYBOY to the album for the first time after so many years of that song existing.


TOP 10


10.- TEMPTATION BOX > I really love this album, it has so many great songs, some still last to this day in many of their live shows, but for me it is another one that currently no longer gives me much, although it has songs that I like a lot.
9.- BABY ACTION > My relationship with this album is complicated. It has some songs that I love, but it also has others that I have heard a couple of times and rarely repeat.
8.- STANDARD > The same thing happens to me as with BABY ACTION, it has songs that I love, but others that I find somewhat more indifferent. Of course, STANDARD is one of my favorite songs by the band.
7.- Kiss from the darkness > I really like this album, but the transition of his career towards the new label "her" is noticeable. What I like least is that  you can't listen YOU GO GIRL! on spotify. I really like the song.
6.- Queens are trumps -Kirifuda wa Queen- > I don't know why so many people ignore this album. Even if they love Koe, few mention this album when talking about the band. I love it, it has wonderful songs and another of my super favorites from the band is Welcome home.


TOP 5


5.- MIRROR > Fight me!! MIRROR is a really good album. It's less rock, yeah, more experimental, yeah, but it's full of feelings no matter where you look at it. Especially about feelings about a time that was very hard for everyone like the pandemic time. It has songs that I connect with very well, perhaps because I had a really bad time at that moment and the music made me able to endure day after day. I really love MIRROR.
4.- YELLOW > The "Happy Rock" album xD It was the first physical album I bought from them. I really like it a lot, it has a happy and fresh sound, it's one of the albums that cheers me up the most when I listen to it.


TOP 3


3.- HONEY > A carefree album, full of rock and songs about love (and heartbreak too) with force. My sister gave it to me on one of my birthdays in physical copy so it also shines on my shelf. An album to enjoy in many ways, shaking your head or just enjoying the sound.
2.- LUMINOUS > For me, this album is the culmination of almost 18 years of SCANDAL. I like it in all its forms, the songs... Since it came out I can't stop listening to it every day.
1.- HELLO WORLD > One of the best SCANDAL albums for me. It has wonderful songs, beautiful and perfect songs. I owe my life to this album, it was the only thing I listened to at a horrible time in my life and life was what listening to it constantly gave me. Especially connected to the Runners High and Place of Life songs.


And... The end!! The truth is that it's difficult to make rankings of this style, but it was good to do it xD You know, without bad feelings, this is a personal opinion