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: 1 hour ago).
"One of those unforgettable records from the mid 80's. Great tracks include What's Love and Better Be Good to Me. Turner's career restarted with a vengeance thanks to this one and it was fun watching that." Reply
Year of Release:
1984
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Rank Score:
752
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"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
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Rank Score:
752
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"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
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Rank Score:
751
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"This is TMBG at their smart and quirky best. Lincoln is more consistent than most of their albums though IMO "Don't Let's Start" is still their best song. If you want to try them out then this is the album. Their sound is not for everyone." Reply
Year of Release:
1988
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Rank Score:
746
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"These kids are no joke. This is some of the most powerful punk ever recorded." Reply
Year of Release:
1989
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Rank Score:
745
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"Nice songs, nice voice. My preference goes to "love is a stranger" & "sweet dreams"." Reply
Year of Release:
1983
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Rank Score:
743
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"It's an Australian golden gem full of memories and mystery. It says so much about Australia particularly Western Australia were David McComb grew up . its very much in the same class as a Tim Winton novel It's a masterpiece" Reply
Year of Release:
1986
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Rank Score:
741
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"Having conquered synth pop with their two previous LPs, the duo decided dance music was next in their sites. Introspective is House music the whole family can dance along to. Their classic pop brilliance is still there, but it's lengthened out and doused in a healthy dose of acid-influenced synth..." [+] Reply
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DeusExMackia | 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:
1988
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Rank Score:
740
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"This is the ablum that started industrial rock (and from which Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age and Soundgarden got their badass sound). That's a pretty monumental achievement. It's rough and brusque, relentlessly so. One of the most underrated works on this site." Reply
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poppmusic | 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:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
739
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"I don't care what the average person says, this is a masterpiece." Reply
Year of Release:
1986
Appears in:
Rank Score:
730
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Total albums: 1,000. Page 34 of 100
Best Albums of the 1980s composition
| Year | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 120 | 12% | |
| 1981 | 119 | 12% | |
| 1982 | 107 | 11% | |
| 1983 | 96 | 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% | |
| 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 | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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 |
412 | 41% | |
 |
391 | 39% | |
 |
40 | 4% | |
 |
29 | 3% | |
 |
22 | 2% | |
 |
20 | 2% | |
 |
12 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
