Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s
by 
sssvnnn 
- Chart updated: 11/15/2025 09:15
- (Created: 08/13/2013 01:59).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 13 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s has an average rating of 87 out of 100 (from 32 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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Buy album 
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 08/12/2013]
Year of Release:
1985
Appears in:
Rank Score:
11,689
Rank in 1985:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 08/12/2013]
Year of Release:
1982
Appears in:
Rank Score:
803
Rank in 1982:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 08/12/2013]
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
27,535
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 08/12/2013]
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 08/12/2013]
Year of Release:
1983
Appears in:
Rank Score:
8,055
Rank in 1983:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 08/12/2013]
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 08/12/2013]
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 08/12/2013]
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 08/12/2013]
Year of Release:
1989
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,509
Rank in 1989:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 08/12/2013]
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,721
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 100. Page 1 of 10
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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s composition
| Year | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 19 | 19% | |
| 1981 | 18 | 18% | |
| 1982 | 8 | 8% | |
| 1983 | 9 | 9% | |
| 1984 | 12 | 12% | |
| 1985 | 5 | 5% | |
| 1986 | 6 | 6% | |
| 1987 | 6 | 6% | |
| 1988 | 9 | 9% | |
| 1989 | 8 | 8% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| John Cale | 5 | 5% | |
| Tuxedomoon | 3 | 3% | |
| The Cure | 3 | 3% | |
| Tom Waits | 3 | 3% | |
| Talking Heads | 3 | 3% | |
| Kevin Coyne | 3 | 3% | |
| U2 | 2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| |
40 | 40% | |
 |
27 | 27% | |
| |
14 | 14% | |
 |
4 | 4% | |
 |
4 | 4% | |
 |
3 | 3% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 4 from 30th to 26th Words For The Dying by John Cale |
| Up 3 from 25th to 22nd Killing Time by Massacre |
| Up 2 from 27th to 25th Synchronicity by The Police |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 5 from 29th to 34th Brilliant Trees by David Sylvian |
| Down 4 from 24th to 28th Nerves by Kastrierte Philosophen |
| Down 3 from 26th to 29th Live In New Orleans by Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly |
| New entries |
|---|
| Nude Ants by Keith Jarrett |
| Leavers |
|---|
| This Is Mecolodics by Universal Congress Of |
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s similar charts
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | platus | 1980s decade chart | 2015 |  |
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | sssvnnn | Overall chart | 2024 | |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s |  jnfbn | 1980s decade chart | 2020 |  |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | jdizzle123456 | 1980s decade chart | 2025 | |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s |  greatson | 1980s decade chart | 2020 |  |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | thekrauter | 1980s decade chart | 2022 | |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | Juneof44 | 1980s decade chart | 2016 |  |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | maxjelbart | 1980s decade chart | 2020 |  |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s |  unwound | 1980s decade chart | 2012 | |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | weston | 1980s decade chart | 2024 |  |
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Other decade charts by sssvnnn
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 70 Music Albums of the 2020s | sssvnnn | 2020s decade chart | 2025 | |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 2010s | sssvnnn | 2010s decade chart | 2023 | |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 2000s | sssvnnn | 2000s decade chart | 2025 | |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s | sssvnnn | 1990s decade chart | 2025 | |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | sssvnnn | 1980s decade chart | 2025 | |
sssvnnn has created 4 other 1980s decade charts - click here to explore them all.
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 32 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 03/11/2025 07:29 | MarkusN | 5 | 84/100 |
| ! | 04/07/2022 11:15 |  Cytoma | 171 | 90/100 |
| ! | 09/30/2020 18:25 | leniad | 673 | 85/100 |
| ! | 08/05/2020 13:17 |  Larcx13 | 1,145 | 86/100 |
| ! | 07/13/2020 15:08 | jnfbn | 310 | 96/100 |
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 87.0/100, a mean average of 87.3/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 87.3/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 9.6.
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s favourites
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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s comments
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From 
Paule 08/20/2019 21:51 | #241458
Paule 08/20/2019 21:51 | #241458
Great! Tuxedomoon gettin love :)
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
ForegroundNoise 08/20/2019 09:44 | #241432
ForegroundNoise 08/20/2019 09:44 | #241432
I already left a rating around a year and a half ago but since this is chart of the day I'll leave a comment too.
Brilliant chart, with great diversity of genre and inclusion of non-English speaking countries (no doubt helped by your own nationality).
Given the creativity of charts like your 'Strange Girls' I suppose I expected nothing less - add some notes as to why these are your favourites of the 80s and I'd happily raise my score to a perfect rating!!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
Boltzmann 03/03/2018 08:12 | #209983
Boltzmann 03/03/2018 08:12 | #209983
Listening to that album of Tom Waits, I can understand this can be someone's all-time favorite. It's raw, weird and conceptual. Sadly, I'm not that someone, but I can enjoy the fact you are. I can see you've put a lot of personality in this chart, maybe a bit more variation in genres might make it better. But then again, I don't know half of these albums.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From Ulf 03/02/2018 19:36 | #209942
Good with some Tom Waits my dude.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From SamNassiri98 03/02/2018 14:46 | #209915
Love seeing Remain in Light so high! Seventeen seconds is definitely an underrated record as well.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From vancevisuals 05/05/2017 13:54 | #190328
the few albums we have in common, I like a lot (New York, Discipline in particular)
'I Advance Masked' was a nice choice. 'Bewitched" would have been a good one also
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
Liedzeit 05/05/2017 11:53 | #190325
Liedzeit 05/05/2017 11:53 | #190325
I have a problem with Tom Waits and Police. Apart from this, excellent. I know it is silly to rate the quality of a chart by the number of albums "in common" but it always warms my heart to see Kevin Coyne appreciated.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From platus 05/05/2017 09:40 | #190321
Excellent chart. I like it!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
buzzdainer 07/11/2016 15:20 | #171103
buzzdainer 07/11/2016 15:20 | #171103
Excellent eighties chart! Remain in Light and Rain Dogs are such fantastic albums. Enjoy some of the selections that didn't make my chart too, such as Seventeen Seconds.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From skrapoel 07/21/2014 15:27 | #117247
14 matches to my 80s list! And some were unique and surprising like Ambitious Lovers and Fela's Black President.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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