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: 5 hours ago).
"I think the cover art is really more iconic than the album itself. While most of Daniel's work is brilliant I wouldn't call this his best. It's a little less mature than Yip/Jump and 1990, so I'm not really sure why it gets the most praise (maybe because Kurt Cobain constantly cited it as a favor..." [+] Reply
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louisjwyatt | 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:
1983
Appears in:
Rank Score:
778
Rank in 1983:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"I grew my fringe because of this album. It's great cover is a nod towards the Velvet Underground's first album." Reply
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lancashirearab | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +8 votes (8 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:
769
Rank in 1982:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"I heard "The Gun" originally in the film Rock N Rolla and I'm glad I did it helped me discover Lou who is now one of my favorite artists. This album is one of his best solo works. The songs blend together as Lou seems to describe his life at that point in time." Reply
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Brandon8 | 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:
1982
Appears in:
Rank Score:
766
Rank in 1982:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"With this album, Genesis had finally tipped the scale in favor of pop: they were now more pop than prog, and fans weren't too pleased. I actually like the new direction: every song on here is shamelessly catchy and none of them blow me away musically, but I can still tell that this band that coul..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
765
Rank in 1981:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Billed as The Costello Show, king of America, is Elvis Costello's Americana album. Costello had tried to capture an authentic stateside sound on his country covers LP, almost blue, but where as that album sounded forced and phony, king of America, sounds real and lived in. It features probably Co..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1986
Appears in:
Rank Score:
765
Rank in 1986:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"By any means, no other ensembles in the history of recorded music have individually or collectively had a larger imprint on pop culture than the members of Toto. As individuals, the band members can be heard on an astonishing 5000 albums, which has had a huge impact of the sound of pop and rock m..." [+] Reply
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calsper | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +8 votes (8 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:
764
Rank in 1982:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"A very messy album. Really, it's just a hotchpotch album of songs written for highlander, a meant to be stand alone single and a few hastily written new tracks. Again, like all their later albums the singles are the best songs. One vision, the title track are very good but who wants to live forev..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1986
Appears in:
Rank Score:
761
Rank in 1986:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"I stood right up in the heart of hell and proclaimed this album a second masterpiece by VF. While some listeners may be turned off by the over religious overtones of some of the songs, I found the music to be eclectic, apoplectic, eccentric, energetic, and affecting. I disagree with previous rate..." [+] Reply
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TheDude85 | 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:
1984
Appears in:
Rank Score:
757
Rank in 1984:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"U2 were not really ready to record a follow up to, boy, as they had no songs, but since they had to, they winged it. It was written on the fly, in the studio, and although there is a lot of energy, is does sound a little short on something. Gloria, is a great opener, and, I fall down, is fine, bu..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
755
Rank in 1981:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"For the sake of disclosure, I lived in Boston in the early 80s when MoB was paying it's dues as a club band playing in such club dives as the Rat, Cantones, the Underground & the Channel. I saw at least 100 shows by MoB from 1979 until their final show in 1983 at the Bradford Ballroom. MoB was si..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1982
Appears in:
Rank Score:
754
Rank in 1982:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 1,000. Page 33 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.
