Top 100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s
by New Music Express (1990) 
New Musical Express is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. These are their best albums of 1980s.
(Official website: https://www.nme.com)
View the complete list of 57,000 charts on BestEverAlbums.com from The Charts page.
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Top 100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s composition
| Year | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 6 | 12% | |
| 1981 | 3 | 6% | |
| 1982 | 7 | 14% | |
| 1983 | 1 | 2% | |
| 1984 | 3 | 6% | |
| 1985 | 7 | 14% | |
| 1986 | 6 | 12% | |
| 1987 | 5 | 10% | |
| 1988 | 8 | 16% | |
| 1989 | 4 | 8% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| The Smiths | 4 | 8% | |
| Dexys Midnight Runners | 2 | 4% | |
| Elvis Costello And The Attractions | 2 | 4% | |
| Echo & The Bunnymen | 2 | 4% | |
| Tom Waits | 2 | 4% | |
| Public Enemy | 2 | 4% | |
| Talking Heads | 1 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s similar charts
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 250 Meisterwerke aus 5 Jahrzehnten - 80er | Sounds (DE) | 1980s decade chart | 2009 |  |
| Die 50 besten Alben der 80er | Musikexpress.de | 1980s decade chart | 2003 | |
| Top 50 Music Albums of the 1980s | marleykeys | 1980s decade chart | 2023 |  |
| Top 50 Music Albums of the 1980s | F1Aaron | 1980s decade chart | 2021 | |
| Los 50 Mejores Discos de los 80 | Indie Hoy | 1980s decade chart | 2014 |  |
| Top 50 Music Albums of the 1980s |  RevolverCB72 | 1980s decade chart | 2023 |  |
| Top 50 Music Albums of the 1980s | C0NB9NN | 1980s decade chart | 2025 | |
| Top 50 Music Albums of the 1980s | BurndenAce | 1980s decade chart | 2025 |  |
| Die besten Alben der 80er | laut | 1980s decade chart | 2014 | |
| Top 50 Music Albums of the 1980s | willowen9 | 1980s decade chart | 2021 |  |
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Other 1980s decade charts
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The 100 Best Albums of the 1980s | FACT | 1980s decade chart | 2013 | |
| Top 100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s | New Music Express | 1980s decade chart | 1990 | |
| The 500 Greatest Albums Of The 1980s | Uncut | 1980s decade chart | 2024 | |
Other charts by New Music Express
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NME's Greatest Albums of The Decade: The 2010s | New Music Express | 2010s decade chart | 2019 | |
| Top 100 Greatest Albums of the 2000s | New Music Express | 2000s decade chart | 2009 | |
| Top 100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s | New Music Express | 1980s decade chart | 1990 | |
Top 100 Greatest 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.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 10 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 05/19/2022 15:47 | BenCatania1 | 1 | 85/100 |
| ! | 12/11/2020 07:57 |  pjohnsongolf | 272 | 89/100 |
| ! | 11/11/2020 13:04 |  Larcx13 | 1,145 | 86/100 |
| ! | 08/17/2020 20:12 | Chrispeater | 138 | 82/100 |
| ! | 07/27/2020 14:38 |  Timestarter | 114 | 90/100 |
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 79.9/100, a mean average of 74.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 74.5/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 18.9.
Top 100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s favourites
Top 100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s comments
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Pretty good but clearly missing Pixies and Metallica.
Although this is better than NME’s later lists – reflecting their origins as a leftist promoter of punk and post-punk music – it still very much hints at later flaws that would ruin the magazine’s effectiveness in later decades.
No metal – at a time when that genre was transforming Enriched World culture in exactly the direction NME’s original editors stood for – is the worst of these blindnesses. There are too many mediocre new wave pop bands, too.
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