Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s
by Johnnyo

The rules; I must own the album + no greatest hits or best ofs. The occasional compilation allowed

Chart updated: 06/29/2025 14:45
(Created: 12/06/2011 21:49).
Chart size: 100 albums.

There are 11 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 19 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.

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

Share this chart

Collector's summaryLog in or register to discover the great albums that are missing from your music collection!

Sort by

1. (=)

Live At Raji's
Live

The Dream Syndicate

[First added to this chart: 12/26/2011]

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

29 charts

Rank Score:

159

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

2. (=)

Document

R.E.M.

[First added to this chart: 12/26/2011]

Year of Release:

1987

Appears in:

698 charts

Rank Score:

4,616

Rank in 1987:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

368

Average Rating:

80 (933 votes)

Comments:

3. (=)

Doolittle

Pixies

[First added to this chart: 12/26/2011]

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

2,542 charts

Rank Score:

31,772

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

88 (2,949 votes)

Comments:

293

4. (=)

The Joshua Tree

[First added to this chart: 12/26/2011]

Year of Release:

1987

Appears in:

1,859 charts

Rank Score:

18,277

Rank in 1987:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

5. (=)

[First added to this chart: 12/26/2011]

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

88 charts

Rank Score:

343

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

613

Overall Rank:

4,148

Average Rating:

74 (78 votes)

Comments:

6. (=)

Rattle And Hum

[First added to this chart: 05/23/2012]

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

328 charts

Rank Score:

1,400

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

200

Overall Rank:

1,237

Average Rating:

72 (641 votes)

Comments:

7. (=)

Medicine Show

The Dream Syndicate

[First added to this chart: 12/26/2011]

Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

71 charts

Rank Score:

304

Rank in 1984:

Rank in 1980s:

666

Overall Rank:

4,601

Average Rating:

72 (64 votes)

Comments:

8. (=)

The Stone Roses

[First added to this chart: 12/26/2011]

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

2,021 charts

Rank Score:

23,181

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

86 (2,297 votes)

Comments:

203

9. (=)

Freedom

Neil Young

[First added to this chart: 02/06/2012]

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

279 charts

Rank Score:

1,132

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

234

Overall Rank:

1,502

Average Rating:

77 (326 votes)

Comments:

10. (=)

Maria McKee

[First added to this chart: 12/26/2011]

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

41 charts

Rank Score:

108

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

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

Total albums: 100. Page 1 of 10

« View previous chartView next chart »

Don't agree with this chart? Create your own from the My Charts page!

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s composition

Year	Albums	%

1980	8	8%
1981	1	1%
1982	3	3%
1983	4	4%
1984	14	14%
1985	13	13%
1986	14	14%
1987	11	11%
1988	16	16%
1989	16	16%

Artist	Albums	%

The Dream Syndicate	6	6%
U2	5	5%
R.E.M.	4	4%
Giant Sand	4	4%
Bruce Springsteen	3	3%
The Waterboys	2	2%
The Police	2	2%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	60	60%
	22	22%
	5	5%
	5	5%
	4	4%
	3	3%
	1	1%

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	98	98%
Yes	2	2%

Live?	Albums	%
No	92	92%
Yes	8	8%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	97	97%
Yes	3	3%

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s chart changes

Biggest climbers
Up 45 from 97th to 52nd Tracy Chapman by Tracy Chapman
Up 31 from 82nd to 51st Viva Santana! by Santana
Up 30 from 80th to 50th Jimi Plays Monterey (Original Motion Picture Sound Track) by Jimi Hendrix

Biggest fallers
Down 17 from 38th to 55th Listen Like Thieves by INXS
Down 9 from 72nd to 81st The Jimi Hendrix Concerts by Jimi Hendrix
Down 8 from 49th to 57th Synchronicity by The Police

New entries
The Blues Brothers: Music From The Soundtrack by The Blues Brothers
Pretenders by Pretenders
Explosions In The Glass Palace by Rain Parade
¡Cuacha! by Sidewinders

Leavers
Lucinda Williams by Lucinda Williams
Come On Pilgrim by Pixies
Let It Be by The Replacements
Steady On by Shawn Colvin

Title	Source	Type	Published
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	JeffN999	1980s decade chart	2022
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	Kettwig	1980s decade chart	2019
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	matterhornrider	1980s decade chart	2025
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	pdapperens	1980s decade chart	2014
Die 100 besten Alben der 1980er Jahre	Popkultur.de	1980s decade chart	2022
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	Ashmark	1980s decade chart	2018
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	Madrocker	1980s decade chart	2019
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	craab	1980s decade chart	2025
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	imacgill	1980s decade chart	2025
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	junodog4	1980s decade chart	2023

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

Not a member? Registering is quick, easy and FREE!

Why register?

Join a passionate community of over 50,000 music fans.
Create & share your own charts.
Have your say in the overall rankings.
Post comments in the forums and vote on polls.
Comment on or rate any album, artist, track or chart.
Discover new music & improve your music collection.
Customise the overall chart using a variety of different filters & metrics.
Create a wishlist of albums.
Help maintain the BEA database.
Earn member points and gain access to increasing levels of functionality!
... And lots more!

Title	Source	Type	Published
Top 100 Music Albums of the 2020s	Johnnyo	2020s decade chart	2025
Top 100 Music Albums of the 2010s	Johnnyo	2010s decade chart	2025
Top 100 Music Albums of the 2000s	Johnnyo	2000s decade chart	2025
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s	Johnnyo	1990s decade chart	2025
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	Johnnyo	1980s decade chart	2025

Johnnyo has created 4 other 1980s decade charts - click here to explore them all.

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s ratings

Average Rating:

87/100 (from 19 votes)

Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 19 ratings for this chart.

Sort by

Rating	Date updated	Member	Chart ratings	Avg. chart rating
80/100 !	11/24/2023 08:29	DommeDamian	1,003	89/100
90/100 !	09/12/2023 22:17	Larcx13	1,144	86/100
100/100 !	08/11/2021 11:48	TheDude85	43	95/100
100/100 !	04/17/2021 20:22	Rhyner	1,454	99/100
90/100 !	04/01/2020 11:25	desh79	1,278	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 87.0/100, a mean average of 87.6/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 87.6/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 9.1.

Please log in or register if you want to be able to leave a rating

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s favourites

Showing all 4 members who have added this chart as a favourite

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 11 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Maximum Rated First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)

Rating:

80/100

From

DommeDamian 11/24/2023 08:29 | #300122

Cool with Dream Syndicate

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

From Johnnyo 08/13/2019 11:14 | #241115

Good to see that there’s another dream syndicate fan out there dihansse. Live at Raji’s is one of the finest live albums of all time.

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

Rating:

95/100

From

dihansse 08/12/2019 16:59 | #241096

Great chart, of course especially your number one which is one of the best live albums ever. But also many recs...

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

Rating:

80/100

From

ForegroundNoise 07/21/2019 15:05 | #240080

Nice chart!! Would be great to see some non-English language stuff creeping in ...

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

Rating:

80/100

From

greatson 07/01/2014 06:34 | #115744

Great chart with a lot rare picks I like (Lloyd Cole, Giant Sand, Bruce Cockburn, John Hiatt, Cris Cacavas...maybe more of them should appear in my chart)

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

Rating:

100/100

From TheRealTruth 11/15/2012 05:03 | #55043

Good diversity, great to see Warren Zevon included. I felt that your #62-65 slots were an afterthought used to cram in the folk chicks.

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

Rating:

100/100

From ecwashere 10/23/2012 22:50 | #53251

Kings X, Lone Justice, Waits, Young & Zevon! What a fantastic chart. Only minus is R.E.M. I will ignore the R.E.M albums and give you a full score.

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

From Johnnyo 07/12/2012 16:22 | #46306

Every Dream Syndicate album is a gem. There are actaully a few more including another really tasty live album which might get added @ a later date. Green On Red will soon be added & yes, I have to have @ least a couple of Giant Sands as well. Good call lacashirearab.

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

Rating:

85/100

From

lancashirearab 06/16/2012 09:56 | #44535

I never knew the Dream Syndicate had so many albums and I had totally forgotten about Danny & Dusty. Surely you can get up to 100 by adding some Green on Red albums or something by Giant Sand.

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

Rating:

75/100

From

junodog4 04/06/2012 03:27 | #39514

Interesting! Neil Young's Freedom is fantastic.

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

Please log in or register if you want to be able to add a comment

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!

If you enjoy our site, please consider supporting us by sparing a few seconds to disable your ad blocker.

A lot of hard work happens in the background to keep BEA running, and it's especially difficult to do this when we can't pay our hosting fees :(

We work very hard to ensure our site is as fast (and FREE!) as possible, and we respect your privacy.

Best Ever Artists
1. The Beatles
2. Radiohead
3. Pink Floyd
4. David Bowie
5. Bob Dylan
6. Led Zeppelin
7. The Rolling Stones
8. Arcade Fire
9. Nirvana
10. The Velvet Underground
11. Neil Young
12. Kendrick Lamar
13. Miles Davis
14. The Smiths
15. The Beach Boys
16. R.E.M.
17. Kanye West
18. Pixies
19. Bruce Springsteen
20. Jimi Hendrix

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s by Johnnyo

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s composition

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s chart changes

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s similar charts

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

Other decade charts by Johnnyo

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s ratings

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s favourites

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s comments

Your feedback for Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s
by Johnnyo