Best Albums of the 1980s
Listed below are the best albums of the 1980s as calculated from their overall rankings in over 59,000 greatest album charts. (Chart last updated: 6 hours ago).
"The only noteworthy thing in the previous comment is : "it's possibly their best"." Reply
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CellarDoor | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (6 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:
1988
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,298
Rank in 1988:
Rank in 1980s:
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Average Rating:
Comments:
"They absolutely nail Sweet Thing...it's a good album but a little too inconsistent to be great." Reply
Year of Release:
1988
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,291
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Rank in 1980s:
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Average Rating:
Comments:
"Like most of the albums of Genesis' pop phase, this one is quite inconsistent. The good songs can stand up to the band's prog staples, but the bad songs are lightyears behind even the worst songs on Nursery Crime through A Trick of the Tail. "Mama" is one of Genesis' best tracks. It's eerie, ener..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1983
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,291
Rank in 1983:
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Comments:
"The Cult was one of my favorite rock bands of the eighties, with Ian Astbury's Jim Morrison-like persona and Billy Duffy's scorching work on the guitar leading the charge. The Cult managed to weave together New Wave eighties vocal stylings, the loudness and grittiness of metal, and the New Age my..." [+] Reply
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buzzdainer | 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:
1985
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,284
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Comments:
"For about two years in the early 80s the only two albums I listened to were "Private Parts" by Robert Ashley and this album "Colossal Youth" by Young Marble Giants. Alison's voice was so sublimely melancoly and her pristine voice was the perfect musical vehicle for Stuart's dark existential lyric..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,282
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
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Comments:
"I like Phil Collins but like many in the 80's got sick of seeing him as he inundated the album charts with solo albums, Genesis work, on other artists records, movies (Buster), Live Aid (both UK and US), etc. you get the drift. I haven't recovered from this saturation decades later. I only own th..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,279
Rank in 1981:
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Comments:
"This one is no more "pop" than the previous two albums, but it probably "feels" more poppy because it rolls out all of the mid 80s cliches: glossy production, over-the-top keyboards, etc. Plus, half of the album is on regular radio rotation, so we just associate it with "pop". It's certainly more..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1986
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,270
Rank in 1986:
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Comments:
"Billy Joel adds a little more rock to his usual brand of pop, relying much less on piano than previous albums. As a pop/rock answer to the punk rock of the time ("it's still rock and roll to me"!), it's a solid album, with a very good first half which falls apart a bit in the 2nd." Reply
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paladisiac | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 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:
1,253
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"just listen to "Rags And Bones" and "Oh No! Bruno!" , then you will understand why you should listened to this brilliant punk album." Reply
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cartoken | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 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:
1989
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,249
Rank in 1989:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Sylvian, surrounded by a wealth of musical talent, makes his most accomplished album. Top quality." Reply
Year of Release:
1987
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,249
Rank in 1987:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 1,000. Page 22 of 100
Best Albums of the 1980s composition
| Year | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 121 | 12% | |
| 1981 | 119 | 12% | |
| 1982 | 107 | 11% | |
| 1983 | 95 | 10% | |
| 1984 | 101 | 10% | |
| 1985 | 88 | 9% | |
| 1986 | 91 | 9% | |
| 1987 | 89 | 9% | |
| 1988 | 97 | 10% | |
| 1989 | 92 | 9% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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| The Cure | 10 | 1% | |
| The Smiths | 8 | 1% | |
| Rush | 8 | 1% | |
| Iron Maiden | 8 | 1% | |
| Depeche Mode | 7 | 1% | |
| R.E.M. | 7 | 1% | |
| Talking Heads | 7 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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412 | 41% | |
 |
392 | 39% | |
 |
40 | 4% | |
 |
29 | 3% | |
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22 | 2% | |
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19 | 2% | |
 |
12 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
