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: 1 hour ago).
"Imperial bedroom, is Elvis Costello's best album of the eighties. It's a wonderfully rich record featuring some great orchestration which is the icing on the cake to a lot of the tracks. Costello would try the same thing nine years later with, mighty like a rose, but where as on that record he th..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1982
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,156
Rank in 1982:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
""1984" is an album that will likely appeal to the inner-10 year old in everyone, (if that inner-10 year-old still exists, that is.) The garage band aspects that defined Van Halen's first five albums (with David Lee Roth, natch,) have been smoothed, but not eliminated - and the results are compell..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1984
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,150
Rank in 1984:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"One of their best albums! The combination of the the acid house and dance music in Ibiza with the signature New Order sound equals something magical. Favorites are well, the whole album! Probably the most cohesive album from them" Reply
Year of Release:
1989
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,130
Rank in 1989:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Cannot decide between this and Pornography. Both are masterpieces of the darkest and the most "goth" Cure period. Holy Hour against One Hundred Years, All Cats Are Gray against A Strange Day and so on..." Reply
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LedZep | 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:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,120
Rank in 1981:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"It's easily the best Sabbath album with Dio, and maybe even one of their overall best. It might even be Ronnie James Dio's best work. This and Holy Diver anyway. Ozzy being kicked out of Sabbath was the best thing ever. We got Blizzard of Ozz and this beautiful album out of it." Reply
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Jasonconfused | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 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:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,119
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Contains all of the controlled anger and expert songcraft of their later work, but presented in a rawer, less polished form. In a short 8 tracks, Come on Pilgrim covers enough territory musically to contain everything from the brash alt-rock that led to the alternative rock explosion of the ninet..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1987
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,111
Rank in 1987:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Along with, ray of light, like a prayer, is Madonna's best album. Usually with Madge, there are great singles but albums always tend to have a bit of filler on them. Not here. Having said that the singles are still the strongest songs; cherish, express yourself, and the title track are perfect po..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1989
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,092
Rank in 1989:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"One of the best things about Beatles albums is the way multiple voices on the separate songs come together in one album by one band. By that standard, Vol 1 is the most Beatley Post-Beatle album by any ex-Beatle. By the multiple-voices-one-album factor, it even exceeds Band on the Run ." Reply
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Listmeister | 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:
1988
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,089
Rank in 1988:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"One of the great rock debuts, boy, is full of energy, grit and ambition. It's an album from a band hungry for success, and they give it their all on this excellent record. The opener, I Wii follow, is fantastic, it's the first song of many that manages to blend the power of rock with an atmospher..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,086
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"The sound of depression had been done before. But never like this. This is the sound of a man fighting for his life with everything he's got. With bile. With rage. He doesn't want to die & he's pist as all hell at being sick. At being attacked by his own body, his own mind. He screams out for hel..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,085
Rank in 1981:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 1,000. Page 13 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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