Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s
by Larcx13

All my lists have been edited so that only albums I've listened to are on the charts.

Top Artists:

The Replacements
Kino
Soda Stereo
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Husker Du
Pixies
Titas
Gil Scott-Heron
Gregory Isaac
Aquarium

• Chart updated: 11/02/2025 03:45
• (Created: 06/23/2020 13:34).
• 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. (=)

Let It Be 

 The Replacements

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

[First added to this chart: 06/23/2020]

Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

833 charts

Rank Score:

7,509

Rank in 1984:

5

Rank in 1980s:

26

Overall Rank:

207

Average Rating:

 82 (939 votes)

Comments:

74

2. (=)

Группа Крови [Gruppa Krovi] 

 Кино [Kino]

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

[First added to this chart: 10/17/2025]

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

42 charts

Rank Score:

298

Rank in 1988:

62

Rank in 1980s:

689

Overall Rank:

4,678

Average Rating:

 76 (50 votes)

Comments:

3

3. (=)

In Step 

 Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

[First added to this chart: 11/15/2021]

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

117 charts

Rank Score:

679

Rank in 1989:

28

Rank in 1980s:

353

Overall Rank:

2,349

Average Rating:

 79 (130 votes)

Comments:

5

4. (=)

Pleased To Meet Me 

 The Replacements

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

[First added to this chart: 07/02/2020]

Year of Release:

1987

Appears in:

263 charts

Rank Score:

1,407

Rank in 1987:

23

Rank in 1980s:

196

Overall Rank:

1,229

Average Rating:

 79 (327 votes)

Comments:

15

5. (=)

Doolittle 

 Pixies

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

[First added to this chart: 07/09/2020]

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

2,542 charts

Rank Score:

31,652

Rank in 1989:

1

Rank in 1980s:

2

Overall Rank:

18

Average Rating:

 88 (2,950 votes)

Comments:

293

6.

Signos 

 Soda Stereo

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

A-

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

77 charts

Rank Score:

418

Rank in 1986:

50

Rank in 1980s:

534

Overall Rank:

3,521

Average Rating:

 79 (88 votes)

Comments:

6

7. (6) 1

Tim 

 The Replacements

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

[First added to this chart: 12/31/2020]

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

511 charts

Rank Score:

3,908

Rank in 1985:

8

Rank in 1980s:

64

Overall Rank:

440

Average Rating:

 81 (568 votes)

Comments:

38

8. (7) 1

3 Feet High And Rising 

 De La Soul

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

[First added to this chart: 07/09/2020]

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

562 charts

Rank Score:

3,998

Rank in 1989:

6

Rank in 1980s:

60

Overall Rank:

425

Average Rating:

 78 (608 votes)

Comments:

37

9. (8) 1

Paul's Boutique 

 Beastie Boys

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

[First added to this chart: 07/09/2020]

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

867 charts

Rank Score:

6,593

Rank in 1989:

4

Rank in 1980s:

30

Overall Rank:

245

Average Rating:

 82 (1,043 votes)

Comments:

54

10. (9) 1

It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back 

 Public Enemy

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

[First added to this chart: 06/23/2020]

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

860 charts

Rank Score:

7,024

Rank in 1988:

4

Rank in 1980s:

29

Overall Rank:

227

Average Rating:

 80 (1,011 votes)

Comments:

60

• « 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	%
	61	61%
	14	14%
	6	6%
	6	6%
	4	4%
	3	3%
	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	xhitmanx	1980s decade chart	2025
Top 96 Music Albums of the 1980s	elo269megv	1980s decade chart	2019
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	TheNowhereGuy	1980s decade chart	2020
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	Manso	1980s decade chart	2021
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	dougcummings	1980s decade chart	2025
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	iamthewalrus	1980s decade chart	2022
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	saltysurprise	1980s decade chart	2020
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	Kettwig	1980s decade chart	2019
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	Droophus	1980s decade chart	2020
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	conallmalone	1980s decade chart	2021

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

Other decade charts by Larcx13

Title	Source	Type	Published	Country
Top 83 Music Albums of the 2020s	Larcx13	2020s decade chart	2025
Top 100 Music Albums of the 2010s	Larcx13	2010s decade chart	2025
Top 100 Music Albums of the 2000s	Larcx13	2000s decade chart	2025
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s	Larcx13	1990s decade chart	2025
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	Larcx13	1980s decade chart	2025

Larcx13

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s ratings

Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 17 ratings for this chart.

Sort by

• Rating
• Date updated
• Member

Rating	Date updated	Member	Chart ratings	Avg. chart rating
90/100  !	10/22/2024 19:45	seb7	115	91/100
100/100  !	10/22/2024 13:45	HoldenM	480	95/100
90/100  !	03/31/2024 17:02	dihansse	309	84/100
90/100  !	07/28/2023 16:04	Johnnyo	2,555	80/100
90/100  !	07/28/2023 09:14	DommeDamian	1,004	89/100

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 is rated in the top 2% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 90.1/100, a mean average of 92.6/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 92.6/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 6.7.

• Related links:
• Top charts

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s favourites

Showing all 1 members who have added this chart as a favourite

seb7

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s comments

Showing all 7 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)

Rating:  

90/100

From seb7 10/22/2024 19:45 | #305732

specific but interesting and very cool!

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

90/100

From Johnnyo 07/28/2023 16:04 | #298378

Very good list.

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

90/100

From Keatownrodriguez 03/26/2022 16:58 | #283429

This is my kind of 80s heavy list

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

From johnd6213 04/15/2021 13:23 | #268564

Terrible list
And where is Thriller?

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -2 votes (0 helpful | 2 unhelpful)

Rating:  

100/100

From buzzdainer 12/04/2020 19:26 | #261965

For someone who didn't love the eighties, you've managed to pull together an excellent list of albums from that decade. I feel like the discussion begins with Doolittle, but it's also gratifying to see Double Nickels on the Dime getting its due here as well.

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

100/100

From desh79 11/13/2020 19:57 | #260766

Nice to see Dead Kennedys at No.1. Lots of other great stuff, too - De La Soul, PE, Pixies, NWA, Eric B & Rakim... love it.

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

90/100

From 0129114 06/30/2020 16:59 | #254825

Honestly not a bad list dude, lots of excellent rap, rock, metal, punk records etc... HOWEVER!! I know for a FACT that this list would change if you went and listened to the freaking PIXIES!!!!! Other than that, you really should look into the Smiths, Talking Heads, The Cure, Stone Roses, Sonic Youth, Joy Division, Michael Jackson, Kate Bush, Prince, Paul Simon, Beastie Boys, Dire Straits, U2, Tom Waits, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman, Def Leppard, Kraftwerk, DE LA SOUL, Tom Petty lmao, Peter Gabriel, The Police...etc etc. For real though, just listen to the fucking pixies please

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 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!