Third is the third album by American rock band Big Star. The sessions started at Ardent Studios in September 1974. Though Ardent created promotional, white-label test pressings for the record in 1975, a combination of financial issues, the uncommercial sound of the record, and lack of interest from singer Alex Chilton and drummer Jody Stephens in continuing the project prevented the album from ever being properly finished or released at the time of its recording. It was eventually released in 1978 by PVC Records.

Big Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee in 1971 by Alex Chilton, Chris Bell, Jody Stephens (drums), and Andy Hummel (bass). They have been described as the "quintessential American power pop band", and "one of the most mythic and influential cult acts in all of rock & roll". In its first era, the band's musical style drew influence from 1960s pop acts such as the Beatles and the Byrds, producing a style that foreshadowed the alternative rock of the 1980s and 1990s. Before they broke up, Big Star created a "seminal body of work that never stopped inspiring succeeding generations" according to Rolling Stone. Three of Big Star's studio albums are included in the Rolling Stone list of the Top 500 Albums of All-Time.