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: 3 hours ago).
"Underrated and overshadowed by You're Living All Over Me, but in reality it's just as good as it." Reply
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Pegasus | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Year of Release:
1988
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,151
Rank in 1988:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"After 6 rather disappointing studio albums in the 80's he left Geffen records and returned to Reprise and a great return to form with this album. Great album there are elements of rock, folk, country everything Neil Young is good at." Reply
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Tamthebam | 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:
1989
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,149
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Comments:
"Considered a classic, Songs About Fucking certain contains a half hour of noisy madness. I think I may need a few more listen in the future to understand more of this band since they are a well known act in the noise rock community. But I think this this album is cool to listen if you wanna liste..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1987
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,129
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Comments:
"I really like this a lot for its darkness. However I can understand why more ppl prefer Treasure and Heaven or Las Vegas, me myself included. I can't really tell which one of the three I love more. It just depends on the everyday mood I'm in. Treasure is more like a dark and gloomy dream with hop..." [+] Reply
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ilovelctr | 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:
1983
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,129
Rank in 1983:
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Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"If we consider the context in which this album was made it is a miracle to have Learning to Fly, Sorrow, One Slip, Dogs of War and On the Turning Away gathered in "Momentary Lapse". In my opinion they are good songs and reflect a great change in Pink Floyd's way to compose and record new stuff. S..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1987
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,128
Rank in 1987:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"An essential piece of post-disco and art pop. For an album that is essentially a collection of covers, it feels incredibly personal and cohesive, combining excellent variation within its sound with brilliant execution and good structure. Jones cements herself here as one of the most interesting a..." [+] Reply
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DeusExMackia | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +7 votes (7 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:
1,128
Rank in 1981:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"I was disappointed when this album was first release: it's so electronic! Not heavy at all! Where's the guitar?!? I felt like my favorite band had betrayed me. As the years went by, though, I began to see the great strengths of this album. There is some stellar songwriting, lots of great layering..." [+] Reply
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Fischman | 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:
1982
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,115
Rank in 1982:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"One of the few albums where I like the second half more than the first. Of course, "Lucretia my Reflection" and "This Corrosion," are the hits, but from "Flood II" onward it's all frosty darkwave to match the album art. Recommended for a moonlit winter stroll." Reply
Year of Release:
1987
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,114
Rank in 1987:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"I never understood why this album is rated so low when it has the highest average track rating of all the JP records." Reply
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DaVGManiac | 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:
1984
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,112
Rank in 1984:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"My favorite female record ever. A singer songwriter record, with softly spoken words about loving someone till it hurt them, with bitter sweet pain, songs about feeling solitude, about being in a violent relationship." Reply
Year of Release:
1987
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,097
Rank in 1987:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 1,000. Page 24 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 | 92 | 9% | |
| 1987 | 89 | 9% | |
| 1988 | 97 | 10% | |
| 1989 | 91 | 9% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| The Cure | 10 | 1% | |
| Iron Maiden | 8 | 1% | |
| The Smiths | 8 | 1% | |
| Rush | 8 | 1% | |
| Depeche Mode | 7 | 1% | |
| R.E.M. | 7 | 1% | |
| Talking Heads | 7 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
 |
412 | 41% | |
 |
392 | 39% | |
 |
40 | 4% | |
 |
29 | 3% | |
 |
22 | 2% | |
 |
19 | 2% | |
 |
12 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Best Artists of the 2010s | |
|---|---|
| 1. Kendrick Lamar | |
| 2. Kanye West | |
| 3. Tame Impala | |
| 4. Arcade Fire | |
| 5. Beach House | |
| 6. Frank Ocean | |
| 7. Sufjan Stevens | |
| 8. The National | |
| 9. Radiohead | |
| 10. Nick Cave |
