Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s
by CharlieBarley

My 80s chart has an unashamed large quota of 80s pop in it. The 80s were a brilliant decade for both pop and indie. They were also the decade of my childhood so 80s pop is going to figure quite highly in any 80s chart of mine due to nostalgia. Still I hope there is enough indie and r'n'b music in there too to make it a balanced chart.

• Chart updated: 04/15/2022 17:45
• (Created: 11/13/2016 08:23).
• Chart size: 100 albums.

• Summary
• Composition
• Ratings
• Favourites
• Comments
• Your feedback

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

Sort by

• Overall Rank
• Num. Charts
• Avg. Rating
• Num. Ratings
• Release Date
• Title
• Artist

1. (=)

The Joshua Tree 

 U2

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

[First added to this chart: 11/13/2016]

Year of Release:

1987

Appears in:

1,864 charts

Rank Score:

18,347

Rank in 1987:

1

Rank in 1980s:

6

Overall Rank:

51

Average Rating:

 83 (2,459 votes)

Comments:

229

2. (=)

Disintegration 

 The Cure

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

[First added to this chart: 11/13/2016]

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

1,841 charts

Rank Score:

26,253

Rank in 1989:

2

Rank in 1980s:

4

Overall Rank:

30

Average Rating:

 86 (2,057 votes)

Comments:

152

3. (=)

The Stone Roses 

 The Stone Roses

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

[First added to this chart: 11/13/2016]

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

2,026 charts

Rank Score:

23,018

Rank in 1989:

3

Rank in 1980s:

5

Overall Rank:

33

Average Rating:

 86 (2,300 votes)

Comments:

203

4. (=)

Nebraska 

 Bruce Springsteen

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

[First added to this chart: 01/09/2018]

Year of Release:

1982

Appears in:

731 charts

Rank Score:

5,805

Rank in 1982:

5

Rank in 1980s:

37

Overall Rank:

285

Average Rating:

 80 (997 votes)

Comments:

54

5. (10) 5

Hounds Of Love 

 Kate Bush

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

[First added to this chart: 11/13/2016]

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

1,413 charts

Rank Score:

18,136

Rank in 1985:

1

Rank in 1980s:

7

Overall Rank:

53

Average Rating:

 85 (1,408 votes)

Comments:

103

6. (12) 6

Live "Under A Blood Red Sky" 
Live

 U2

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

[First added to this chart: 09/28/2021]

Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

163 charts

Rank Score:

561

Rank in 1983:

38

Rank in 1980s:

416

Overall Rank:

2,751

Average Rating:

 77 (315 votes)

Comments:

16

7. (5) 2

The Head On The Door 

 The Cure

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

[First added to this chart: 11/13/2016]

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

630 charts

Rank Score:

4,459

Rank in 1985:

7

Rank in 1980s:

51

Overall Rank:

377

Average Rating:

 82 (801 votes)

Comments:

42

8. (13) 5

The Lion And The Cobra 

 Sinéad O'Connor

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

[First added to this chart: 12/01/2020]

Year of Release:

1987

Appears in:

213 charts

Rank Score:

1,309

Rank in 1987:

24

Rank in 1980s:

208

Overall Rank:

1,310

Average Rating:

 78 (207 votes)

Comments:

6

9. (6) 3

Legend: The Best Of Bob Marley And The Wailers 
Compilation

 Bob Marley & The Wailers

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

[First added to this chart: 11/13/2016]

Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

526 charts

Rank Score:

3,387

Rank in 1984:

14

Rank in 1980s:

78

Overall Rank:

516

Average Rating:

 84 (1,032 votes)

Comments:

58

10. (7) 3

The Visitors 

 ABBA

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

[First added to this chart: 11/13/2016]

Year of Release:

1981

Appears in:

161 charts

Rank Score:

806

Rank in 1981:

29

Rank in 1980s:

309

Overall Rank:

2,037

Average Rating:

 74 (216 votes)

Comments:

13

• « prev
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• ...
• 9
• 10
• next »
• Goto Page: 

Total albums: 100. Page 1 of 10

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s composition

Country	Albums	%
	56	56%
	29	29%
	5	5%
	2	2%
	2	2%
	2	2%
	2	2%
Show all

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s chart changes

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s similar charts

Title	Source	Type	Published	Country
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	Ashmark	1980s decade chart	2018
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	Juneof44	1980s decade chart	2016
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	Pastiche	1980s decade chart	2024
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	tim0505	1980s decade chart	2025
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	PeterSmith	1980s decade chart	2022
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	Foxforce5	1980s decade chart	2025
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	JR	1980s decade chart	2024
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	mjbreuer	1980s decade chart	2016
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	SomethingSpecial	1980s decade chart	2025
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	bojolpif71	1980s decade chart	2015

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s similarity to your chart(s)

Other decade charts by CharlieBarley

Title	Source	Type	Published	Country
Top 38 Music Albums of the 2020s	CharlieBarley	2020s decade chart	2024
Top 100 Music Albums of the 2010s	CharlieBarley	2010s decade chart	2023
Top 100 Music Albums of the 2000s	CharlieBarley	2000s decade chart	2023
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s	CharlieBarley	1990s decade chart	2024
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	CharlieBarley	1980s decade chart	2022

CharlieBarley

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s ratings

Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 10 ratings for this chart.

Sort by

• Rating
• Date updated
• Member

Rating	Date updated	Member	Chart ratings	Avg. chart rating
90/100  !	06/17/2023 14:32	Tamthebam	649	85/100
85/100  !	09/08/2022 10:52	Larcx13	1,145	86/100
100/100  !	11/14/2021 22:22	Rhyner	1,457	99/100
80/100  !	11/03/2020 23:07	leniad	673	85/100
85/100  !	06/04/2020 05:34	matterhornrider	97	93/100

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 86.4/100, a mean average of 87.0/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 87.0/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 8.7.

• Related links:
• Top charts

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s comments

Showing all 2 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)

From CharlieBarley 11/03/2020 23:41 | #260157

I like greatest hits records

Some of them have as much character as a studio album.

Plus even Rolling Stone magazine included comps in its top 500, notably The Great Twenty Eight by Chuck Berry (which has been hotly debated over before in the forums).

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

Rating:  

80/100

From leniad 11/03/2020 23:08 | #260152

just 30 albums in common
why enter greatist hits records for this list friend?

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

Your feedback for Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s

Let us know what you think of this chart by adding a comment or assigning a rating below!