Top 60 Music Albums of the 1980s
by 
Boltzmann 
The '80s saw the rise of dance-pop and hip hop which - needless to say - have had an everlasting impact on music. Meanwhile we saw rock split up: post-punk with their illusion of undergroundness, who realized shortly after the end of the '80s they were mainstream too all along; new wave who liked the sound of Joy Division a bit too much, and embraced their cheesiness very early on; hardcore punk and heavy metal that became almost indistinguishable after thrash was invented; and noise rock, which proved to be the only one that was actually interesting. The actual underground meanwhile was working on house and techno and everything that came from that. But that's another story for another decade.
First three are 10/10, 4-16 are 9/10, the rest 8/10, and the only ones of the decade that are.
- Chart updated: 07/02/2025 00:15
- (Created: 09/05/2018 23:05).
- Chart size: 60 albums.
There are 0 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 60 Music Albums of the 1980s has an average rating of 88 out of 100 (from 3 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
View the complete list of 58,000 charts on BestEverAlbums.com from The Charts page.
This chart is currently filtered to only show non compilation albums. (Remove this filter)
1. (=)
Safe Mode: On Certain images on this site may contain sensitive content and are flagged as 'unsafe'. BestEverAlbums.com does not display these images by default, but you may choose to show or hide these images from your profile page. If you choose to hide these images, you'll see an image with a warning message instead of the actual image. If you choose to show them, you'll see these images no differently than regular (safe) images.
[First added to this chart: 09/05/2018]
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,951
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
[First added to this chart: 09/05/2018]
Year of Release:
1988
Appears in:
Rank Score:
6,833
Rank in 1988:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
[First added to this chart: 12/27/2019]
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,554
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
[First added to this chart: 09/05/2018]
Year of Release:
1983
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,346
Rank in 1983:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
[First added to this chart: 03/09/2020]
[First added to this chart: 07/21/2024]
Year of Release:
1982
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,464
Rank in 1982:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
[First added to this chart: 09/05/2018]
Year of Release:
1984
Appears in:
Rank Score:
4,039
Rank in 1984:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
This album was the proof that hip hop was more than just a genre. It didn't need even the very fundamentals of all music that existed before - melody and harmony. The exception being rhythm of course. And together with some rhymes you have enough for a full-fledged hip hop album.
[First added to this chart: 08/25/2021]
Year of Release:
1985
Appears in:
Rank Score:
420
Rank in 1985:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Like it or not, but after this, everything was thrash or not-thrash.
[First added to this chart: 11/18/2019]
Year of Release:
1983
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,107
Rank in 1983:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
[First added to this chart: 12/16/2019]
Year of Release:
1989
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,593
Rank in 1989:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 57. Page 1 of 6
Don't agree with this chart? Create your own from the My Charts page!
Top 60 Music Albums of the 1980s composition
| Year | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 7 | 12% | |
| 1981 | 4 | 7% | |
| 1982 | 6 | 10% | |
| 1983 | 5 | 8% | |
| 1984 | 5 | 8% | |
| 1985 | 4 | 7% | |
| 1986 | 7 | 12% | |
| 1987 | 4 | 7% | |
| 1988 | 12 | 20% | |
| 1989 | 6 | 10% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| Prince | 5 | 8% | |
| Madonna | 4 | 7% | |
| Kate Bush | 3 | 5% | |
| Run-D.M.C. | 3 | 5% | |
| Metallica | 3 | 5% | |
| Eric B. & Rakim | 2 | 3% | |
| Pixies | 2 | 3% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 60 Music Albums of the 1980s chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 14 from 36th to 22ndHounds Of Love by Kate Bush |
| Up 11 from 43rd to 32ndUprising by Bob Marley & The Wailers |
| Up 9 from 45th to 36thLike A Virgin by Madonna |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 18 from 25th to 43rdSurfer Rosa by Pixies |
| Down 16 from 26th to 42ndDaydream Nation by Sonic Youth |
| Down 16 from 29th to 45thNothing's Shocking by Jane's Addiction |
Top 60 Music Albums of the 1980s similar charts
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 54 Music Albums of the 1980s |  Timestarter | 1980s decade chart | 2022 |  |
| Top 50 Music Albums of the 1980s |  joannajewsom | 1980s decade chart | 2018 |  |
| Top 50 Music Albums of the 1980s | acematt51090 | 1980s decade chart | 2017 |  |
| Top 50 Music Albums of the 1980s | marleykeys | 1980s decade chart | 2023 |  |
| Top 51 Music Albums of the 1980s | VanillaBean | 1980s decade chart | 2025 |  |
| Top 51 Music Albums of the 1980s |  Jackwc | 1980s decade chart | 2012 |  |
| Top 50 Music Albums of the 1980s |  Space-Dementia | 1980s decade chart | 2019 | |
| Top 50 Greatest Music Albums | rockthe80s | Overall chart | 2010 | |
| Top 50 Music Albums of the 1980s | 0129114 | 1980s decade chart | 2021 | |
| Top 45 Music Albums of the 1980s |  9999 | 1980s decade chart | 2018 | |
Top 60 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.
- Gain access to a Dark Mode theme.
- Help maintain the BEA database.
- Earn member points and gain access to increasing levels of functionality!
- ... And lots more!
Register now - it only takes a moment!
Other decade charts by Boltzmann
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 4 Music Albums of the 2020s | Boltzmann | 2020s decade chart | 2022 | |
| Top 68 Music Albums of the 2010s | Boltzmann | 2010s decade chart | 2024 | |
| Top 56 Music Albums of the 2000s | Boltzmann | 2000s decade chart | 2024 | |
Top 60 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.
N.B. The average rating for this chart will not be reliable as it has been rated very few times.
Showing all 3 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 03/29/2022 15:54 |  Larcx13 | 1,139 | 86/100 | |
| 03/10/2020 01:06 | DJENNY | 4,338 | 100/100 | |
| 10/05/2019 17:01 |  Rhyner | 1,452 | 99/100 |
Top 60 Music Albums of the 1980s favourites
Top 60 Music Albums of the 1980s comments
Be the first to add a comment for this Chart - add your comment!
Your feedback for Top 60 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.
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.
