Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s
by
Romanelli 
- Chart updated: 10/28/2025 21:15
- (Created: 12/04/2011 20:38).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
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Produced By PAUL SIMON
1. The Boy In The Bubble
2. Graceland
3. I Know What I Know
4. Gumboots
5. Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes
6. You Can Call Me Al
7. Under African Skies
8. Homeless
9. Crazy Love Vol. II
10. That Was Your Mother
11. All Around The World or The Myth Of Fingerprints
By 1985, Paul Simon was considered done. It had been 10 years since Still Crazy After All These Years, and his last 2 albums, the soundtrack to his disastrous film One Trick Pony and Hearts And Bones, had gone nowhere. In 1986, he came from nowhere with his masterpiece, Graceland. Refreshed by African music, Simon puts forth his best overall collection of songs. Using mostly African musicians, the album has a completely different feel from anything that was mainstream at the time, and shows that he really was at his best when working with exotic rhythms ("El Condor Pasa" from the Simon & Garfunkel days is evidence that he excelled with this). Every track is stunning work and shows the true genius of Simon. One of the very best albums of the 1980's.
Not without controversy. The last track features Los Lobos, who have claimed for years that they wrote the song and that Simon stole it from them. Simon says that there was nothing said to him by anyone until the album was a hit, and then they suddenly wanted credit. No lawsuit that I know of has ever been filed. Oh, well. It's still a damn fine album. [First added to this chart: 12/06/2011]
Produced By MORRISSEY & JOHNNY MARR
1. The Queen Is Dead
2. Frankly, Mr. Shankly
3. I Know It’s Over
4. Never Had No One Ever
5. Cemetry Gates
6. Bigmouth Strikes Again
7. The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
8. Vicar In A Tutu
9. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
10. Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others
The Smiths were probably the greatest band of the eighties, and The Queen Is Dead was their finest album. Led by the strange, unusual and pompous singer Morrissey and the excellent guitar work of Johnny Marr, the band hit their creative peak on their third album, before things got weird and they started hating each other. Morrissey’s flair for the dramatic, Marr’s hugely underrated guitar work, and the band’s ease with utilizing strings and winds make their best batch of songs exceptional. And there is some really great stuff here. “The Boy With The Thorn In His Side”, “Frankly Mr. Shankly”, “Cemetry Gates” and “Bigmouth Strikes Again” may not have been hits here in the US, but that’s more a testament to how misguided the American music tastes were at the time than anything negative about the quality of The Queen Is Dead. In short, a lot of us were missing out. Big time.
Remember…this was 1986. Pretty much everything, especially from England, was buried in plastic beats and synthesizers. The Smiths were different. They were a very guitar based band, and their songwriting was light years ahead of their contemporaries. On The Queen Is Dead, everything about this band was working on all cylinders. Hard to believe that they would be gone for good just a year later, but they were. The rooms got too small for Morrissey and Marr to be in together. They haven’t made any music together since 1987, but the magic of The Queen Is Dead lives on. There is not a weak track on this, not a wasted note, not a bad lyric, or a piece of it that you’d want done differently. This is the shining moment of a great band that was only here for a short time. The Smiths were the class of a decade, and their legacy lives with this extraordinary album. Must have! [First added to this chart: 10/15/2012]
Produced By DANIEL LANOIS & PETER GABRIEL
1. Red Rain
2. Sledgehammer
3. Don't Give Up
4. That Voice Again
5. In Your Eyes
6. Mercy Street
7. Big Time
8. We Do What We're Told (Milgram's 37)
9. This is The Picture (Excellent Birds)
After leaving Genesis, Peter Gabriel released four solo albums called Peter Gabriel. Not big on album titles, he called his 5th album So (to be followed by Us and Up). So is where Gabriel finally got everything right. Mixing his maturing songwriting with world beats and his strong political sense, he found his way to three memorable hits ("Sledgehammer", "Big Time", and the beautiful "In Your Eyes"). And the rest isn't bad, either. "Red Rain" is powerful. "Mercy Street" and "We Do What We're Told" are in no way filler. And lastly, he fills it out with not one but two excellent duets: with Kate Bush on "Don't Give Up" and Laurie Anderson on "This Is The Picture".
So is the high mark of Gabriel's career. Since, he has released only two albums of new songs (plus one album of covers and one that is orchestral reworkings of previously released songs). But he was on the mark here. Too bad the songs dried up so quickly. [First added to this chart: 12/15/2011]
Produced By EMORY GORDY JR & TONY BROWN
1. Guitar Town
2. Goodbye's All We've Got Left
3. Hillbilly Highway
4. Good Ol' Boy (Gettin' Tough)
5. My Old Friend The Blues
6. Someday
7. Think It Over
8. Fearless Heart
9. Little Rock 'N' Roller
10. Down The Road
From the opening track of his debut album on, it was clear that Steve Earle was not going to be your typical country artist. And he's been proving that ever since. Earle has more twang than the most Southern of rock bands, and enough rock and roll to make his contemporaries in the country community cringe. Earle's songs are about real life, and his songs cut deep.
"My Old Friend The Blues" "Think It Over", "Good Ol' Boy (Gettin' tough)" and the title track are what made, and have always made him since, simply great. Guitar Town is a fine debut album, and a good starting point for a career that only got better and better. [First added to this chart: 12/06/2011]
Produced By TODD RUNDGREN
1. Summer's Cauldron
2. Grass
3. The Meeting Place
4. That's Really Super, Supergirl
5. Ballet For A Rainy Day
6. 1000 Umbrellas
7. Season Cycle
8. Earn Enough For Us
9. Big Day
10. Another Satellite
11. The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul
12. Dear God
13. Dying
14. Sacrificial Bonfire
XTC was always an underrated band flying under the radar, mainly because of their inability to tour to promote their albums (Andy Partridge has terrible stagefright). On Skylarking, they got everything right. This is easily their best work, a beautiful stream of songs that showcases all the best things about the band. Partridge and Colin Moulding do their best Lennon-McCartney impersonation with the songwriting, and the continuity of the music, implemented by producer Rundgren, makes this a non stop beautiful ride. Everything goes right for the band...they even got a bona fide hit in the surprising "Dear God".
XTC never matched Skylarking, although they made some great records (and some great misses). Former Tubes drummer Prairie Prince plays on this (XTC had been without an official drummer for years). This is their best work, and unlike anything else in their catalog. Oh...and "Grass" is one great tune to chill out to as well! [First added to this chart: 12/11/2011]
Produced By BOB MOULD & GRANT HART
1. Crystal
2. Don’t Want To Know If You Are Lonely
3. I Don’t Know For Sure
4. Sorry Somehow
5. Too Far Down
6. Hardly Getting Over It
7. Dead Set On Destruction
8. Eiffel Tower High
9. No Promise Have I Made
10. All This I’ve Done For You
Husker Du was important on so many levels. Previously known for punk and hardcore music, Candy Apple Grey, their fifth album, finds the band slowing things down some and bringing to the public (but not inventing) what people would later call indie rock. This was an album plagued with internal fighting between Bob Mould and Grant Hart, the pressure of not selling out with their new major label deal with Warners, and the larger new audience that the deal included. There was pressure for a hit, which they didn’t get (although Hart’s “Sorry Somehow” was close). Also, their last three albums had been pretty unbeatable, so there was that pressure as well. And while they didn’t reach the heights of Zen Arcade or Flip Your Wig or New Day Rising, they did a pretty fine job of dealing with it all. Candy Apple Grey is not Husker Du’s best album, but it’s still a fine effort, and an important chapter in their history.
Remember…when you listen to this, that this was the mid 1980’s. This music was not yet popular. And Husker Du was never a hit machine. But what they were was a three piece wall of sound that made very listenable and entertaining music. Candy Apple Grey falls in line just after the band’s peak, and they would be gone after their next album (Warehouse: Songs And Stories) due to infighting and problems with their label. But Husker Du was one of the best and most interesting bands of the decade. And highly influencial. This album is an important part of the legacy the band left behind, and is well worth hearing more than just once. This is the older brother of bands like Nirvana and Soul Asylum and Pixies, and their place in history is solid. This is not their best work, but this is not an inferior effort by any means. If you see this (or any of their other albums) available, do yourself a favor and snatch it up. [First added to this chart: 06/28/2024]
Produced By DON DIXON
1. Strangers When We Meet
2. Listen To Me Girl
3. Groovy Tuesday
4. Cigarette
5. I Don’t Want To Lose You
6. Time And Time Again
7. Behind The Wall Of Sleep
8. In A Lonely Place
9. Blood And Roses
10. Crazy Mixed-Up Kid
11. Hand Of Glory
12. Alone At Midnight
13. White Castle Blues
14. Mr. Eliminator
The Smithereens came out of New Jersey in 1986 with their debut album, Especially For You. After having been rejected by pretty much every label in music, they found one that was interested. Enigma Records signed them and paired the band with former R.E.M. producer Don Dixon, and they were off and running. The breakout hit here is the excellent “Blood And Roses”, but there’s more to this debut than just that song. The Smithereens were a great band, led by Pat DiNizio, that was alternative but with one foot in more traditional rock and roll. Dinizio proves to be an ace songwriter, and guitarist Jim Babjak turned out to be quite the secret weapon. The band had a long and fruitful career, but their best moments were in the eighties and early to mid-nineties.
With The Smithereens, it’s always, more than anything, the songs. Outside of “Blood And Roses”, they also scored a hit with “Behind The Wall Of Sleep” (DiNizio and myself both understand the value of a hot female bass player). Also of note are “Strangers When We Meet” and “In A Lonely Place” (which features a then little known Suzanne Vega). Especially For You is a very promising debut…one on which The Smithereens would deliver upon repeatedly for the next decade. DiNizio died in 2017, but the rest of the band continues on by utilizing various guest vocalists. This is one of the bands that the cool kids were digging in the eighties and nineties, and this album is an important part of their legacy. Definitely worth at least a listen or two. [First added to this chart: 04/15/2024]
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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s composition
| Year | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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|
| 1980 | 14 | 14% | |
| 1981 | 7 | 7% | |
| 1982 | 11 | 11% | |
| 1983 | 7 | 7% | |
| 1984 | 8 | 8% | |
| 1985 | 5 | 5% | |
| 1986 | 10 | 10% | |
| 1987 | 11 | 11% | |
| 1988 | 14 | 14% | |
| 1989 | 13 | 13% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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|
| U2 | 3 | 3% | |
| Talking Heads | 3 | 3% | |
| Bruce Springsteen | 3 | 3% | |
| R.E.M. | 3 | 3% | |
| X (US) | 3 | 3% | |
| The Cure | 2 | 2% | |
| The Jesus And Mary Chain | 2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
Up 2 from 33rd to 31stPleased To Meet Me by The Replacements |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
Down 1 from 31st to 32ndThis Is The Voice by Agent Orange |
Down 1 from 32nd to 33rdSurfer Rosa by Pixies |
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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s ratings

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| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
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80/100 | 02/06/2025 15:30 | BorderFreeAndrew | ![]() | 81/100 |
85/100 | 01/31/2025 14:12 | ![]() | 85/100 | |
70/100 | 01/23/2022 16:11 | ![]() | 95/100 | |
80/100 | 10/22/2020 01:13 | leniad | ![]() | 85/100 |
85/100 | 09/05/2020 14:13 | MasterOfPuppets | ![]() | 91/100 |
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This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 83.9/100, a mean average of 81.4/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 83.2/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 13.4.
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Nice to see Adam Ant's "Friend or Foe" so high (a seriously underrated album), along with several other forgotten classics that tend to be ignored when most people make an 80's chart.
Respect
some solid picks m8.
It is nice to see an 80s chart as chart of the day for a change. And what a pathetic decade it was if even someone like you who obviously knows a lot of stuff cannot come up with better records than these. TW are okay but as no. 1? The first decent LP enters at place 23, in my opinion.
Really like your notes!!
I love your take on the eighties! I really appreciate your #1 pick, as supergroups tend to be written off as inferior to the works of their individual members--an assumption that the Traveling Wilburys blew out of the water. Full Moon Fever, Disintegration, Doolittle, and The River are all great albums, too. Also really nice to see Blue Earth in your top ten, as I've been a huge fan of the Jayhawks for many years and love that album. Excellent work overall, especially on your notes!
Great albums I guess some I wouldn't play so much. We have quite a few similar choices
Interesting number one pick.
Nice chart!
Good choice at #1.
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