Best Albums of the 1980s

« View best albums of the 1970sView best albums of the 1990s »

Listed below are the best albums of the 1980s as calculated from their overall rankings in over 53,000 greatest album charts.

Best albums by year or decade

Decade:

Year:

1980s decade summary

Year	Albums The number of albums from each year featuring in the greatest album charts.	Score Total rank score for each year (made up of the total rank score from all albums in that year)	Top Ranked Album The top ranked album from each year and where it ranks in the overall chart.
1980	2,135	193,508	Remain In Light (27th)by Talking Heads
1981	2,176	120,335	Moving Pictures (156th)by Rush
1982	2,140	148,040	Thriller (77th)by Michael Jackson
1983	2,154	135,378	Murmur (144th)by R.E.M.
1984	2,155	170,496	Purple Rain (81st)by Prince And The Revolution
1985	2,167	143,949	Hounds Of Love (58th)by Kate Bush
1986	2,285	169,784	The Queen Is Dead (17th)by The Smiths
1987	2,490	162,092	The Joshua Tree (52nd)by U2
1988	2,570	151,504	Daydream Nation (69th)by Sonic Youth
1989	2,599	197,396	Doolittle (18th)by Pixies
Total	22,871	1,592,483

The best artists of the 1980s were The Smiths, Prince, Pixies, The Cure, Talking Heads, U2, Metallica, Kate Bush, R.E.M. and The Stone Roses.

View chart at point in time

Share this chart

Collector's summary (top 1,000)Log in or register to discover the great albums that are missing from your music collection!

Sort by

991.

Beat Happening

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

61 charts

Rank Score:

191

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

991

Overall Rank:

6,736

Average Rating:

73 (75 votes)

Comments:

992.

Don't Tell A Soul

The Replacements

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

56 charts

Rank Score:

191

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

992

Overall Rank:

6,737

Average Rating:

71 (98 votes)

Comments:

993.

Theatre Of Pain

Mötley Crüe

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

55 charts

Rank Score:

191

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

993

Overall Rank:

6,740

Average Rating:

64 (108 votes)

Comments:

994.

Skyscraper

David Lee Roth

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

42 charts

Rank Score:

191

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

994

Overall Rank:

6,741

Average Rating:

73 (56 votes)

Comments:

995.

Blue Blood

X Japan

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

17 charts

Rank Score:

190

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

995

Overall Rank:

6,745

Average Rating:

74 (30 votes)

Comments:

996.

Tonight

David Bowie

Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

102 charts

Rank Score:

190

Rank in 1984:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

997.

The New Order

Testament

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

59 charts

Rank Score:

190

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

997

Overall Rank:

6,764

Average Rating:

77 (68 votes)

Comments:

998.

Batman™ (Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Soundtrack

Prince

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

74 charts

Rank Score:

190

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

998

Overall Rank:

6,771

Average Rating:

68 (116 votes)

Comments:

999.

Twitch

Ministry

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

29 charts

Rank Score:

190

Rank in 1986:

Rank in 1980s:

999

Overall Rank:

6,773

Average Rating:

72 (41 votes)

Comments:

1000.

Jimi Plays Monterey (Original Motion Picture Sound Track)
Live soundtrack

Jimi Hendrix

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

46 charts

Rank Score:

190

Rank in 1986:

Rank in 1980s:

1,000

Overall Rank:

6,777

Average Rating:

81 (56 votes)

Comments:

« prev
1
2
3
...
98
99
100
next »
Goto Page:

Total albums: 1,000. Page 100 of 100

Best Albums of the 1980s composition

Year	Albums	%

1980	117	12%
1981	123	12%
1982	110	11%
1983	96	10%
1984	102	10%
1985	81	8%
1986	94	9%
1987	86	9%
1988	92	9%
1989	99	10%

Artist	Albums	%

The Cure	10	1%
Rush	8	1%
Depeche Mode	8	1%
Iron Maiden	8	1%
R.E.M.	7	1%
Talking Heads	7	1%
U2	7	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	415	42%
	386	39%
	41	4%
	27	3%
	23	2%
	22	2%
	12	1%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	968	97%
Yes	32	3%

Live?	Albums	%
No	977	98%
Yes	23	2%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	987	99%
Yes	13	1%

« View best albums of the 1970sView best albums of the 1990s »

If you enjoy our site, please consider supporting us by sparing a few seconds to disable your ad blocker.

A lot of hard work happens in the background to keep BEA running, and it's especially difficult to do this when we can't pay our hosting fees :(

We work very hard to ensure our site is as fast (and FREE!) as possible, and we respect your privacy.

Popular Charts
1. 100 Best Albums - 2024 Edition by Apple Music (2024)
2. The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time by New Music Express (2013)
3. The Top 100 Albums by VH1 (2001)
4. The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time by Rolling Stone (2020)
5. 200 Greatest Albums of All Time by Uncut (2016)
6. Virgin All-Time Top 1000 Albums by Virgin (2000)
7. Top 100 Albums by ABC (2006)
8. The Definitive 200 by National Association of Recording Merchandisers (2007)
9. The 100 Greatest Albums Of All Time by Absolute Radio (2012)
10. Greatest 100 Albums of All Time by The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums with NME (2006)
11. Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by Melody Maker (2000)
12. Die 100 besten Platten des Jahrhunderts by Wiener (1999)
13. The Greatest Rock Albums by uDiscoverMusic (2015)
14. Die 100 Alben des Jahrhunderts by Spex (2000)
15. 100 Greatest Albums Ever by Q (2006)
16. Die 20 besten Alben der Geschichte by Musikexpress.de (2011)
17. The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time by Consequence of Sound (2022)
18. Mojo Readers: The 100 Greatest Albums Ever Made by Mojo (1996)
19. Die 100 besten Alben der Musikgeschichte by radioeins (2019)
20. Greatest Albums Of All Time by Hartbeat! (1996)