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).
Best albums by year or decade
Decade:
Year:
1980s decade summaryThe best artists of the 1980s were The Smiths, Prince, The Cure, Pixies, Talking Heads, U2, Metallica, Kate Bush, R.E.M. and The Stone Roses.
View chart at point in time
 Show this chart as it was on the following date
Share this chart
Collector's summary (top 1,000) Help The maximum rank used by the Collector's Summary is configurable from your profile (top 1,000 is currently selected). Log in or register to discover the great albums that are missing from your music collection!
Sort Sort by
Year of Release:
1984
Appears in:
Rank Score:
470
Rank in 1984:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"After having one of the most productive years of his song writing career, releasing a ton of classic songs willy-nilly as non-album singles, b-sides and eps, Weller suffered extreme writers block. The resulting album, Cafe Blue, was scraped together from jam sessions and pointless re-recorded ver..."  [+]  Reply
- kickerofelves | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help 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:
469
Rank in 1984:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Okay, when I first got this I would only ever listen to Soup Is Good Food. But as the months go by each song has opened itself up to me (apart from Goons Of Hazard). And this is a hugely diverse album indeed! This Could Be Anywhere proves Jello as a sheer talented songwriter. A different type of ..."  [+]  Reply
- | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help 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:
467
Rank in 1985:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Gotta say, this is a really solid album. Probably Motley Crue's best and their most perfect blend of heavy metal and glam metal. Motley Crue will always remain a dumb band, but they've got some good hard rocking tunes."  Reply
- kingofstorm | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help 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:
466
Rank in 1983:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"A classic album in the style of David Bowie and Roxy Music. The vocals are wonderfully over the top and the songs bring on air of theatricality which is a perfect fit for the style of the songs. Sulk, is a great album which should be more widely known."  Reply
- garycottier | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help 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:
465
Rank in 1982:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Year of Release:
1986
Appears in:
Rank Score:
464
Rank in 1986:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"This album is a lot better than people give it credit for... Some of Weller's most beautiful songs in "Ghosts" and "Carnation," and "Town Called Malice" is an all-time classic. There's not really any useless songs on this, and he's trying a lot of new styles, most of which turn out fairly well."  Reply
- Sandinistar | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help 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:
464
Rank in 1982:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"The album where the Cult reached the big time, but with some sacrifice to the originality of the sound they had created. The first side is much better than the second and contains the four hits."  Reply
- Highhopes | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help 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:
464
Rank in 1989:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"One would think this kind of slick, perfectionist production and The Ramones would be a terrible fit, but it's a surprisingly good combination. Spector really taps into the band's "pop" side without diluting them at all. Love this album !"  Reply
- Decurso | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help 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:
462
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"While this is still an artist finding his groove, there is a ton of ambition in a few tracks, notably Red Army Blues, which begins with layered acoustic guitar and moves through a seven minute epic lyric. The title track closer is a beauty that completely prefigures everything he accomplished on ..."  [+]  Reply
- jhuik | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help 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:
460
Rank in 1984:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 1,000. Page 49 of 100

Best Albums of the 1980s composition

Recognised  Decade Charts (2020s)
1. 100 Best Albums of the 2010s: Staff Picks by Billboard (2019)
2. The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s by Pitchfork (2019)
3. Top 50 Albums of the 2010s by The Wild Honey Pie (2019)
4. BrooklynVegan's Top Albums of 2010s by BrooklynVegan (2020)
5. The 50 best albums of the decade – 2010 to 2019 by Independent (2019)
6. The Needle Drop's Top Albums Of The 2010s by The Needle Drop (2019)
7. All The Best Albums Of The 2010s, Ranked by Uproxx (2019)
8. The A.V. Club's 50 best albums of the 2010s by The A.V. Club (2019)
9. Gorilla vs. Bear Albums of the 2010s by Gorilla vs. Bear (2019)
10. NME's Greatest Albums of The Decade: The 2010s by New Music Express (2019)
11. Top 100 Albums of the Decade by Crack Magazine (2019)
12. 100 Best Albums of the 2010s by Rolling Stone (2019)
13. The 101 Best Albums of the 2010s by Spin (2020)
14. The 100 Best Albums Of The 2010s by Stereogum (2019)
15. The 50 Best Albums of the Decade by Deep Cuts (2019)
16. Tiny Mix Tapes 2010s: Favorite 100 Music Releases of the Decade by Tiny Mix Tapes (2019)
17. Die besten Platten 2010-2019 by Spex (2019)
18. Top 100 Albums of the 2010s by Consequence of Sound (2019)
19. BEST OF 2011 - 2020: Die besten Alben des Jahrzehnts by laut (2020)
20. Los 30 mejores discos de la década de 2010 by Esquire España (2023)