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	2,127	194,313	Remain In Light (27th)by Talking Heads
1981	2,159	120,261	Moving Pictures (154th)by Rush
1982	2,132	148,219	Thriller (77th)by Michael Jackson
1983	2,130	135,718	Murmur (142nd)by R.E.M.
1984	2,140	171,004	Purple Rain (81st)by Prince And The Revolution
1985	2,140	143,740	Hounds Of Love (59th)by Kate Bush
1986	2,269	170,372	The Queen Is Dead (17th)by The Smiths
1987	2,470	162,350	The Joshua Tree (52nd)by U2
1988	2,563	151,793	Daydream Nation (69th)by Sonic Youth
1989	2,584	197,610	Doolittle (18th)by Pixies
Total	22,714	1,595,380

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.

Caifanes

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

47 charts

Rank Score:

192

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

991

Overall Rank:

6,714

Average Rating:

79 (34 votes)

Comments:

992.

Theatre Of Pain

Mötley Crüe

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

55 charts

Rank Score:

191

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

992

Overall Rank:

6,720

Average Rating:

64 (108 votes)

Comments:

993.

Skyscraper

David Lee Roth

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

42 charts

Rank Score:

191

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

993

Overall Rank:

6,723

Average Rating:

73 (55 votes)

Comments:

994.

The New Order

Testament

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

60 charts

Rank Score:

191

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

994

Overall Rank:

6,727

Average Rating:

77 (68 votes)

Comments:

995.

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

Jimi Hendrix

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

46 charts

Rank Score:

191

Rank in 1986:

Rank in 1980s:

995

Overall Rank:

6,735

Average Rating:

81 (56 votes)

Comments:

996.

Twitch

Ministry

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

29 charts

Rank Score:

191

Rank in 1986:

Rank in 1980s:

996

Overall Rank:

6,742

Average Rating:

72 (41 votes)

Comments:

997.

Tonight

David Bowie

Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

102 charts

Rank Score:

191

Rank in 1984:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

998.

Kings Of Metal

Manowar

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

27 charts

Rank Score:

191

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

998

Overall Rank:

6,746

Average Rating:

71 (61 votes)

Comments:

999.

Filigree & Shadow

This Mortal Coil

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

62 charts

Rank Score:

191

Rank in 1986:

Rank in 1980s:

999

Overall Rank:

6,749

Average Rating:

75 (66 votes)

Comments:

1000.

Vun Drinne Noh Drusse

BAP

Year of Release:

1982

Appears in:

17 charts

Rank Score:

190

Rank in 1982:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

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	122	12%
1982	111	11%
1983	96	10%
1984	102	10%
1985	80	8%
1986	95	10%
1987	86	9%
1988	93	9%
1989	98	10%

Artist	Albums	%

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

Country	Albums	%

	416	42%
	385	39%
	41	4%
	27	3%
	23	2%
	23	2%
	12	1%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	967	97%
Yes	33	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.

Best Albums of 1977
1. Rumours by Fleetwood Mac
2. Animals by Pink Floyd
3. Marquee Moon by Television
4. Low by David Bowie
5. Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols by Sex Pistols
6. Aja by Steely Dan
7. The Stranger by Billy Joel
8. "Heroes" by David Bowie
9. Exodus by Bob Marley & The Wailers
10. The Clash by The Clash
11. Trans Europa Express by Kraftwerk
12. Pink Flag by Wire
13. My Aim Is True by Elvis Costello
14. Out Of The Blue by Electric Light Orchestra
15. Talking Heads: 77 by Talking Heads
16. Lust For Life by Iggy Pop
17. Rocket To Russia by Ramones
18. Bat Out Of Hell by Meat Loaf
19. Suicide by Suicide
20. The Idiot by Iggy Pop