The 80 Best Albums of the 1980s
by Paste (2012)

Founded in 2002 and based in Atlanta, GA, USA, Paste (PasteMagazine.com) is an online culture magazine that covers music, movies, TV, comedy, games, books, comics, drinks and politics. These are their best albums of 1980s.
(Official website: https://www.pastemagazine.com | Original URL Warning: The address at the original source was valid at the time the chart was added, but may have changed afterwards. )

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View the complete list of 57,000 charts on BestEverAlbums.com from The Charts page.

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1.

Doolittle 

 Pixies

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Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

2,547 charts

Rank Score:

31,409

Rank in 1989:

1

Rank in 1980s:

2

Overall Rank:

18

Average Rating:

 88 (2,963 votes)

Comments:

293

2.

The Queen Is Dead 

 The Smiths

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Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

2,489 charts

Rank Score:

33,555

Rank in 1986:

1

Rank in 1980s:

1

Overall Rank:

16

Average Rating:

 88 (2,928 votes)

Comments:

265

3.

Thriller 

 Michael Jackson

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Year of Release:

1982

Appears in:

1,650 charts

Rank Score:

16,306

Rank in 1982:

1

Rank in 1980s:

8

Overall Rank:

66

Average Rating:

 82 (2,177 votes)

Comments:

162

4.

Born In The U.S.A. 

 Bruce Springsteen

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Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

931 charts

Rank Score:

7,839

Rank in 1984:

4

Rank in 1980s:

25

Overall Rank:

195

Average Rating:

 78 (1,341 votes)

Comments:

82

5.

London Calling 

 The Clash

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Year of Release:

1979*

Appears in:

2,827 charts

Rank Score:

30,584

Rank in 1979:

1

Rank in 1970s:

6

Overall Rank:

21

Average Rating:

 87 (3,168 votes)

Comments:

261

6.

Lifes Rich Pageant 

 R.E.M.

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Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

516 charts

Rank Score:

3,533

Rank in 1986:

8

Rank in 1980s:

72

Overall Rank:

484

Average Rating:

 80 (765 votes)

Comments:

47

7.

Graceland 

 Paul Simon

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Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

1,141 charts

Rank Score:

10,854

Rank in 1986:

3

Rank in 1980s:

16

Overall Rank:

119

Average Rating:

 81 (1,358 votes)

Comments:

81

8.

Remain In Light 

 Talking Heads

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Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

2,039 charts

Rank Score:

27,564

Rank in 1980:

1

Rank in 1980s:

3

Overall Rank:

26

Average Rating:

 87 (2,304 votes)

Comments:

196

9.

The Joshua Tree 

 U2

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Year of Release:

1987

Appears in:

1,871 charts

Rank Score:

18,345

Rank in 1987:

1

Rank in 1980s:

6

Overall Rank:

52

Average Rating:

 83 (2,467 votes)

Comments:

229

10.

Purple Rain 
Soundtrack

 Prince And The Revolution

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Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

1,445 charts

Rank Score:

15,983

Rank in 1984:

1

Rank in 1980s:

9

Overall Rank:

72

Average Rating:

 83 (1,668 votes)

Comments:

132

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Total albums: 80. Page 1 of 8

The 80 Best Albums of the 1980s composition

Country	Albums	%
	45	56%
	25	31%
	3	4%
	3	4%
	2	3%
	2	3%

The 80 Best Albums of the 1980s similar charts

Title	Source	Type	Published	Country
Top 75 Music Albums of the 1980s	ProfessorSquid	1980s decade chart	2019
Top 73 Music Albums of the 1980s	RFNAPLES	1980s decade chart	2013
Top 70 Music Albums of the 1980s	lightmyway	1980s decade chart	2012
Top 50 Greatest Music Albums	rockthe80s	Overall chart	2010
Top 70 Music Albums of the 1980s	Taric	1980s decade chart	2012
Top 51 Music Albums of the 1980s	Jackwc	1980s decade chart	2012
Top 50 Music Albums of the 1980s	Mr.Music	1980s decade chart	2013
Top 50 Music Albums of the 1980s	dazatoth	1980s decade chart	2013
Top 60 Music Albums of the 1980s	Necharsian	1980s decade chart	2013
Top 62 Music Albums of the 1980s	kramerfan86	1980s decade chart	2013

The 80 Best Albums of the 1980s similarity to your chart(s)

Other 1980s decade charts

Title	Source	Type	Published	Country
Top 100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s	New Music Express	1980s decade chart	1990
The 500 Greatest Albums Of The 1980s	Uncut	1980s decade chart	2024
100 Best Albums of the Eighties	Rolling Stone	1980s decade chart	1989

Other charts by Paste

Title	Source	Type	Published	Country
The 100 Best Albums of the 2010s	Paste	2010s decade chart	2019
The 50 Best Albums of the Decade (2000-2009)	Paste	2000s decade chart	2009
The 90 Best Albums of the 1990s	Paste	1990s decade chart	2012

The 80 Best Albums of the 1980s ratings

Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 26 ratings for this chart.

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Rating	Date updated	Member	Chart ratings	Avg. chart rating
75/100  !	12/11/2020 08:01	pjohnsongolf	272	89/100
75/100  !	11/11/2020 13:07	Larcx13	1,138	86/100
85/100  !	08/17/2020 12:20	Chrispeater	138	82/100
100/100  !	07/27/2020 14:40	Timestarter	114	90/100
80/100  !	01/25/2020 05:20	Timbo1564	36	73/100

Rating metrics: Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some charts can have several thousand ratings)
This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 78.7/100, a mean average of 76.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 76.1/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 14.6.

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The 80 Best Albums of the 1980s comments

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Rating:  

85/100

From Johnnyo 10/12/2017 11:25 | #199415

Great chart

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

85/100

From GandalfORiley345 05/02/2014 02:24 | #110544

I´m not really sure about London Calling, first because it´s better than Bruce and Michael and second, it´from the 70s,but after i think it´s good

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

80/100

From sonicdiscourse 03/18/2014 23:56 | #106715

What nutso42 said.

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)

Rating:  

85/100

From Antonio-Pedro 10/27/2013 00:10 | #89342

This Chart wasnt the best but it wasnt the worst either

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)

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