Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s
by 
MadhattanJack 
- Chart updated: 5 days ago
- (Created: 07/20/2022 03:23).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
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Some of you reading this might assume that since my #1 Eighties album was recorded and released in 1980, I'm really more of a "Seventies guy." Nothing could be further from the truth! The problem, of course, is simply that musically, the Eighties started a year or two earlier than the decade itself did, chronologically speaking. So now that we've cleared that up, this really is the #1 Eighties album, and while I'd normally follow that by saying "hands down," in this case it's really better that you keep your hands up, where we can see them.
[First added to this chart: 08/31/2022]
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,523
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
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Average Rating:
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Most people would probably NOT tell you that this album should be the #1 Eighties album, probably because they're planning to tell you that a completely different album by a non-XTC band is the #1 Eighties album, and that this chart, which has XTC taking both of the top two spots, is "nonsense." Just remember, these people are not your friends! (Okay, maybe some of them are, but that doesn't mean you can trust them.) Simply put, "Skylarking" is more of a shiny Beatlesque baroque-pop affair than "Black Sea," which is more clangorous and cantankerish. Ultimately though, it doesn't matter — you'll need both of them. Trust me on that one.
[First added to this chart: 08/31/2022]
Year of Release:
1986
Appears in:
Rank Score:
4,401
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All the Robyn Hitchcock fans say this is his best album, and they're right. Interestingly though, while there is a song about fish ("Bass") and this is also the album with "The President" on it (track 5), there are hardly any insect references. We're still figuring that one out, but no matter — Robyn Hitchcock fans say it's the best, and Robyn Hitchcock fans are smart! Maybe a little too smart for their own good, if you get my drift.
[First added to this chart: 08/31/2022]
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Though this is one of the greatest guitar rock albums ever made, especially if you like effects pedals, I often wonder how much better the album would have done sales-wise if they'd just taken the trouble to look the word "anything" up in the dictionary.
[First added to this chart: 08/31/2022]
Year of Release:
1985
Appears in:
Rank Score:
523
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Rank in 1980s:
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Average Rating:
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For some reason, people seem to give this album the short shrift, ranking it below "Treasure" and "Heaven Or Las Vegas," and sometimes other Cocteau Twins albums too. Why would anyone do that? Maybe it depends on which one your hear first... also, once you realize the cover photo is just some blurry fingers, the whole package probably seems less impressive, at least on a surface level. Yeah, that explains everything.
[First added to this chart: 08/31/2022]
Year of Release:
1988
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,016
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I liked the Specials, and Fun Boy Three too, but I wasn't some sort of "huge fan" of any previous Terry Hall-fronted musical project. But then this came out, and I had to re-evaluate my entire life up to that point. These guys had recorded some of the best pop songs ever, and they didn't even win a Nobel Prize or the Eurovision Song Contest or anything. There's just no justice in the world! Not even during the Eighties! Anyway, during the re-evaluation process I discovered that life goes on and on and on and... well, you get the picture.
[First added to this chart: 08/31/2022]
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In terms of recording quality, "From the Lion's Mouth" is a huge step up from The Sound's previous album, "Jeopardy." As it happens, "Jeopardy" was intended as a demo, but when Kurova Records signed the band they initially had no money — despite being a Warner Brothers subsidiary label — and released the demo version just to get some product out the door. The band weren't happy about this, but between sales of "Jeopardy" and Echo & the Bunnymen's "Crocodiles" album (also on Kurova) they were able to scrounge up enough to hire producer Hugh Jones and Rockfield Studios for this album, and the rest is history. What's more, they knew it was history, which is why they chose Briton Riviere's 1872 painting "Daniel in the Lions' Den" for the album cover. Also, Kurova probably hadn't given them THAT much money, and that painting was probably public domain at that point. Money was fairly tight back in the Eighties, especially if you were trying to build a huge record collection full of pricey imports.
[First added to this chart: 08/31/2022]
Year of Release:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,042
Rank in 1981:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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Look, I never said "Treasure" was significantly "worse" than the Cocteau Twins album that's slightly higher on this list. Did I? Maybe I did, and I just forgot. Actually no, I wouldn't have forgotten something like that.
[First added to this chart: 08/31/2022]
Year of Release:
1984
Appears in:
Rank Score:
4,007
Rank in 1984:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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Putting aside all the musical brilliance involved and what-not, what everyone really wants to talk about here is the horse. Specifically, the Uffington White Horse, depicted on the album cover. It's on a big hill a few miles outside of Swindon, and if you go up there (you'll have to go on foot) you'll see that it's pretty big, as paleolithic hillside chalk carvings go. So you can't really see it properly unless you're in a helicopter, which kind of defeats ("de-feets" — get it? I'm such a clever person) the purpose of going up there on foot. What's more, XTC already recorded the song "Helicopter" on "Drums and Wires," two albums previous to this one, so... there's that. Come to think of it, maybe you should just listen to the thing and forget about all this horse-related stuff.
[First added to this chart: 08/31/2022]
Year of Release:
1982
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,576
Rank in 1982:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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To me, this is really the pinnacle of what we now rather dismissively call "Eighties pop" — new wave, synthpop, synthwave, whatever. You know, the "big puffy hair" stuff. A great record, but as for the Polaroids, well... things were different back then, because they didn't have smartphones or even digital cameras. In the Eighties, what the album title refers to may have been true, to some extent. I'll admit that I personally never saw a "gentleman" walking around with a Polaroid instant camera, taking pictures of anything, at any time, but that might have been simply because I studiously avoided places where "gentlemen" could be found. (I myself am not a "gentleman"; I'm more of a "total reprobate.") The title track on the album also says gentlemen "fall in love," and I never saw any of that either, though there were movies, books, and TV shows where they did. Probably still do, though I wouldn't know, since I always put down the book or walk out of the movie before that happens.
[First added to this chart: 08/31/2022]
Total albums: 100. Page 1 of 10
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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s composition
| Year | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 22 | 22% | |
| 1981 | 16 | 16% | |
| 1982 | 7 | 7% | |
| 1983 | 10 | 10% | |
| 1984 | 6 | 6% | |
| 1985 | 9 | 9% | |
| 1986 | 10 | 10% | |
| 1987 | 6 | 6% | |
| 1988 | 9 | 9% | |
| 1989 | 5 | 5% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| XTC | 6 | 6% | |
| Robyn Hitchcock And The Egyptians | 4 | 4% | |
| Cocteau Twins | 4 | 4% | |
| The Cure | 3 | 3% | |
| The Chameleons | 3 | 3% | |
| The Church | 2 | 2% | |
| The Smiths | 2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s chart changes
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Other decade charts by MadhattanJack
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 2020s | MadhattanJack | 2020s decade chart | 2025 | |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 2010s | MadhattanJack | 2010s decade chart | 2023 | |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 2000s | MadhattanJack | 2000s decade chart | 2025 | |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s | MadhattanJack | 1990s decade chart | 2023 | |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | MadhattanJack | 1980s decade chart | 2025 | |
MadhattanJack has created 4 other 1980s decade charts - click here to explore them all.
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s ratings
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Showing all 5 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 06/08/2023 21:40 |  sssvnnn | 2,865 | 83/100 |
| ! | 05/10/2023 18:32 |  RevolverCB72 | 81 | 83/100 |
| ! | 04/11/2023 21:02 |  Rhyner | 1,457 | 99/100 |
| ! | 03/25/2023 02:52 |  mickilennial | 715 | 77/100 |
| ! | 03/24/2023 10:08 |  Larcx13 | 1,145 | 86/100 |
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