Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s
by Mother Nature's Son

My favourite albums of the 1980s.

• Chart updated: 10/19/2019 17:15
• (Created: 09/01/2013 16:41).
• Chart size: 100 albums.

There are 4 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s has an average rating of 86 out of 100 (from 9 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.

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19. (=)

The Final Cut 

 Pink Floyd

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Maybe a little unfortunate to call it "The Final Cut" since it actually sounds like songs from "The Wall" that didn't make the final cut. The biggest difference compared to "The Wall" is the high number of slow ballads and sparser use of David Gilmour's solos. On the other hand, Roger Waters seems to have become even more the focal point of the band. It gets a little too drowsy here and there, but otherwise quality music as you know Pink Floyd (Roger Waters). Thanks for now, Roger!

Favourite tracks: "The Post War Dream", "The Gunner's Dream" & "The Final Cut" [First added to this chart: 09/15/2013]

Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

403 charts

Rank Score:

2,265

Rank in 1983:

11

Rank in 1980s:

115

Overall Rank:

772

Average Rating:

 71 (1,025 votes)

Comments:

72

22. (=)

The Amazing Kamikaze Syndrome 

 Slade

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Slade are ready to explode in awesome 80s way! "Run Runaway" is such a great Scottish rocker and is probably the greatest song ever with use of fiddle and bagpipes. Yeah, Slade rule more than O.K.!

Favourite tracks: "Run Runaway" & "My Oh My" [First added to this chart: 09/24/2013]

Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

20 charts

Rank Score:

229

Rank in 1983:

89

Rank in 1980s:

863

Overall Rank:

5,805

Average Rating:

 70 (35 votes)

Comments:

2

27. (=)

Secret Messages 

 Electric Light Orchestra

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Full of secret messages and mysterious backmasking, "Secret Messages" is a pleasantly enjoyable successor to "Time". As an album, it's not quite as succesful in terms of songwriting with a couple of songs that sound a tad too straightforward and formulaic, but it's not much behind either. A bit of a shame that we didn't get to hear it as it was originally planned, as a double album including a still unreleased ELO track with the intriguing song title "Beatles Forever".

Favourite tracks: "Secret Messages", "Loser Gone Wild" & "Take Me on and On" [First added to this chart: 09/17/2013]

Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

73 charts

Rank Score:

452

Rank in 1983:

45

Rank in 1980s:

500

Overall Rank:

3,299

Average Rating:

 70 (131 votes)

Comments:

8

30. (=)

Let's Dance 

 David Bowie

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Let's dance, at the request of David Bowie. Unusually commercial and danceable, but even this kind of stuff David Bowie does quite well!

Favourite tracks: "Modern Love" & "Let's Dance" [First added to this chart: 11/12/2015]

Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

537 charts

Rank Score:

2,629

Rank in 1983:

9

Rank in 1980s:

103

Overall Rank:

665

Average Rating:

 75 (827 votes)

Comments:

50

46. (=)

Mummer 

 XTC

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A wonderland of eclectic songwriting. Compared to previous albums, XTC experiment with quite a few new interesting sounds resulting in what might be their most atmospheric albums at this point.

Favourite tracks: "Love on a Farmboy's Wages" & "Deliver Us from the Elements" [First added to this chart: 04/06/2016]

Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

86 charts

Rank Score:

321

Rank in 1983:

62

Rank in 1980s:

645

Overall Rank:

4,390

Average Rating:

 74 (120 votes)

Comments:

1

47. (=)

Deep Sea Skiving 

 Bananarama

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So young at heart that you probably should keep it at secret if you listen to this in your 20s or anything beyond that age! This is teen music to the core, mostly concerned about boy trouble, I guess. Also, it was very much recorded in the 80s. Listen to it anyway because of how fun, delightful and impossibly catchy it is!

Favourite tracks: "Young at Heart" & "Wish You Were Here" [First added to this chart: 02/14/2018]

Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

19 charts

Rank Score:

41

Rank in 1983:

290

Rank in 1980s:

3,065

Overall Rank:

23,513

Average Rating:

 68 (22 votes)

Comments:

1

48. (=)

War 

 U2

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U2 at war. Quite possibly their most passionate political album, a punchy U2 fighting for their cause. However, I'm pretty sure I know "Sunday Bloody Sunday" from a superior version found on YouTube, the album version here feels stale compared to that one! Pretty great album anyway.

Favourite tracks: "Sunday Bloody Sunday" & "Surrender" [First added to this chart: 10/10/2013]

Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

774 charts

Rank Score:

5,380

Rank in 1983:

5

Rank in 1980s:

43

Overall Rank:

319

Average Rating:

 79 (1,201 votes)

Comments:

82

81. (=)

An Innocent Man 

 Billy Joel

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Billy Joel is just an innocent man who happens to write some darn fine tunes. Here he pays tribute to good ol' American music from the late 50s and early 60s. A quality retro time!

Favourite tracks: "The Longest Time" & "Uptown Girl" [First added to this chart: 05/03/2015]

Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

199 charts

Rank Score:

1,003

Rank in 1983:

27

Rank in 1980s:

264

Overall Rank:

1,691

Average Rating:

 74 (241 votes)

Comments:

17

90. (=)

Pipes Of Peace 

 Paul McCartney

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"Tug of War" is naturally followed by "Pipes of Peace" (with a song called "Tug of Peace" on it). Guest star Stevie Wonder is replaced with Michael Jackson, in 1983, the year after MJ's big "Thriller" album. So, yes, some might say say say he (Paul McCartney) became a bit of a sellout with this album and that the album itself isn't that strong either, but I say it isn't so bad actually and has multiple gems on it.

Favourite tracks: "Say Say Say" & "Average Person" [First added to this chart: 04/28/2014]

Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

75 charts

Rank Score:

238

Rank in 1983:

84

Rank in 1980s:

827

Overall Rank:

5,618

Average Rating:

 68 (119 votes)

Comments:

8

Total albums: 9. Page 1 of 1

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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s composition

Year	Albums	%
1980	11	11%
1981	7	7%
1982	12	12%
1983	9	9%
1984	11	11%
1985	8	8%
1986	12	12%
1987	12	12%
1988	8	8%
1989	10	10%

Artist	Albums	%
Queen	5	5%
Barbra Streisand	4	4%
Paul McCartney	4	4%
XTC	4	4%
Goombay Dance Band	3	3%
U2	3	3%
Julian Lennon	3	3%
Show all

Country	Albums	%
	49	49%
	30	30%
	6	6%
	5	5%
	4	4%
	3	3%
	1	1%
Show all

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s chart changes

Biggest fallers
Down 1 from 95th to 96th Sun Of Jamaica by Goombay Dance Band
Down 1 from 96th to 97th Notorious by Duran Duran
Down 1 from 97th to 98th Crowded House by Crowded House

New entries
Till I Loved You by Barbra Streisand

Leavers
Duran Duran by Duran Duran

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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s ratings

Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 9 ratings for this chart.

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Rating	Date updated	Member	Chart ratings	Avg. chart rating
90/100	12/16/2018 19:45	NSPE	350	77/100
100/100	07/15/2016 19:23	buzzdainer	669	90/100
90/100	07/01/2016 08:33	Leonard	341	88/100
70/100	03/31/2015 18:58	sssvnnn	2,852	83/100
100/100	02/12/2015 06:21	serpico	155	80/100

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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s comments

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Rating:  

100/100

From buzzdainer 07/15/2016 19:27

Outstanding chart! Doolittle, Graceland, and The Stone Roses are all excellent albums that never seem to get old. I had sort of forgotten about Enya's Watermark album until I saw your chart--that's one I'd like to give a fresh listen. Thanks for providing so much fodder for discovery here!

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Rating:  

100/100

From serpico 02/12/2015 06:24

¡Gran selección de discos! Me encanta ver tantos discos de Queen, la verdad que todos los discos que sacaron en los 80's me parecen buenos. También incluiste a Depeche Mode y Kate Bush, grandes elecciones también.

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Rating:  

85/100

From JasonZaia 02/10/2015 23:43

Great chart! Very cool to see Queen's 'A Kind of Magic'! - a great album!

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Rating:  

100/100

From NowhereMan 07/25/2014 21:25

Full marks for top spot.

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