Best Albums of the 1980s
Listed below are the best albums of the 1980s as calculated from their overall rankings in over 58,000 greatest album charts. (Chart last updated: 2 hours ago).
"One of the most interesting records from their incredible discography. There are still a few traces of their noisy beginnings, but not that much actually. There are melodies here. And damn great ones. This may not be the most instantly rewarding of their indie period, but with time, it clearly be..." [+] Reply
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drakonium | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +6 votes (6 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
1986
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,253
Rank in 1986:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Best album by a long way by Simple Minds. I can’t find anything bad about it’s a superb sounding album. One of the best albums ever made its beautiful" Reply
Year of Release:
1982
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,237
Rank in 1982:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Combat rock, is really the 'last' proper Clash album, and looking at the contents of the box set a few years ago, it seems the band agrees with this. If you take out, should i stay or should i go, and, rock the casbah, it would be an incredibly frustrating album. The rest is fine, but it's clear ..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1982
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,234
Rank in 1982:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"A medular album, you can notice how Argentine rock and Latin Rock in general change after this album." Reply
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Helios | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
1983
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,212
Rank in 1983:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"It's hard to find good 80s music outside of the obvious. This, however, is exactly the sort of thing I hope to uncover when digging a little deeper into the Dark Decade." Reply
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ProfessorSquid | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +7 votes (8 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
1983
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,211
Rank in 1983:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"I would like to inform all of you of a key fact, that apparently everyone is missing. Not only is The Final Cut far and away the best album in Pink Floyd's discography, it is one of the greatest albums of all time. Waters digs into the past, revealing the scars in his country and civilization, st..." [+] Reply
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JulianR | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +9 votes (9 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
1983
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,202
Rank in 1983:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Cohen returns with a gem. The first four tracks are pure perfection. This adds to his canon as much as his first three albums do. Don't dismiss Cohen as simply a 60s songwriter. His later work has nuggets of perfection as well." Reply
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junodog4 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
1988
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,194
Rank in 1988:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
118.
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"Great album. Nothing's shocking, still sounds utterly unique today. It's funky, punky, and atmospheric. It's cinematic and intimate all at the same time. Personally, I just prefer follow up, ritual de lo habitual, but this is still a superb record in it's own right. This is the kind of record tha..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1988
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,162
Rank in 1988:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"After Psychocandy created some controversy regarding the sound of TJAMC, Darklands counterbalances and shows the critics and the public that the band was also capable of writing strikingly beautiful songs without necessarily recurring to the "Noise Rock" aesthetic." Reply
Year of Release:
1987
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,161
Rank in 1987:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"One of the greatest hard rock albums ever!! For those that like hard rock, metal, or punk...you should listen to this album, rock out, and make it part of your collection. Lemmy is an anomaly (a true rock legend)...he's still lives the fast life and plays incredibly loud, blistering, fast hard ro..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,158
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 1,000. Page 12 of 100
Best Albums of the 1980s composition
| Year | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 119 | 12% | |
| 1981 | 119 | 12% | |
| 1982 | 107 | 11% | |
| 1983 | 96 | 10% | |
| 1984 | 100 | 10% | |
| 1985 | 87 | 9% | |
| 1986 | 92 | 9% | |
| 1987 | 87 | 9% | |
| 1988 | 98 | 10% | |
| 1989 | 96 | 10% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| The Cure | 10 | 1% | |
| Iron Maiden | 8 | 1% | |
| Depeche Mode | 8 | 1% | |
| The Smiths | 8 | 1% | |
| Rush | 8 | 1% | |
| U2 | 7 | 1% | |
| The Fall | 7 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
 |
414 | 41% | |
 |
392 | 39% | |
 |
40 | 4% | |
 |
27 | 3% | |
 |
22 | 2% | |
 |
20 | 2% | |
 |
12 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
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We work very hard to ensure our site is as fast (and FREE!) as possible, and we respect your privacy.
