Best Albums of the 1980s

« View best albums of the 1970sView best albums of the 1990s »

Listed below are the best albums of the 1980s as calculated from their overall rankings in over 53,000 greatest album charts.

Best albums by year or decade

Decade:

Year:

1980s decade summary

Year	Albums The number of albums from each year featuring in the greatest album charts.	Score Total rank score for each year (made up of the total rank score from all albums in that year)	Top Ranked Album The top ranked album from each year and where it ranks in the overall chart.
1980	2,135	193,508	Remain In Light (27th)by Talking Heads
1981	2,176	120,335	Moving Pictures (156th)by Rush
1982	2,140	148,040	Thriller (77th)by Michael Jackson
1983	2,154	135,378	Murmur (144th)by R.E.M.
1984	2,155	170,496	Purple Rain (81st)by Prince And The Revolution
1985	2,167	143,949	Hounds Of Love (58th)by Kate Bush
1986	2,285	169,784	The Queen Is Dead (17th)by The Smiths
1987	2,490	162,092	The Joshua Tree (52nd)by U2
1988	2,570	151,504	Daydream Nation (69th)by Sonic Youth
1989	2,599	197,396	Doolittle (18th)by Pixies
Total	22,871	1,592,483

The best artists of the 1980s were The Smiths, Prince, Pixies, The Cure, Talking Heads, U2, Metallica, Kate Bush, R.E.M. and The Stone Roses.

View chart at point in time

Share this chart

Collector's summary (top 1,000)Log in or register to discover the great albums that are missing from your music collection!

Sort by

671.

Telephone Free Landslide Victory

Camper Van Beethoven

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

70 charts

Rank Score:

307

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

671

Overall Rank:

4,556

Average Rating:

77 (88 votes)

Comments:

672.

Red Sails In The Sunset

Midnight Oil

Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

69 charts

Rank Score:

306

Rank in 1984:

Rank in 1980s:

672

Overall Rank:

4,562

Average Rating:

72 (88 votes)

Comments:

673.

Long Distance Voyager

The Moody Blues

Year of Release:

1981

Appears in:

68 charts

Rank Score:

306

Rank in 1981:

Rank in 1980s:

673

Overall Rank:

4,566

Average Rating:

74 (77 votes)

Comments:

674.

The Innocents

Erasure

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

82 charts

Rank Score:

305

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

674

Overall Rank:

4,576

Average Rating:

72 (80 votes)

Comments:

675.

Forever Young

Alphaville

Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

93 charts

Rank Score:

304

Rank in 1984:

Rank in 1980s:

675

Overall Rank:

4,581

Average Rating:

74 (96 votes)

Comments:

676.

Key Lime Pie

Camper Van Beethoven

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

65 charts

Rank Score:

304

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

676

Overall Rank:

4,585

Average Rating:

75 (67 votes)

Comments:

677.

Storm Front

Billy Joel

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

83 charts

Rank Score:

304

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

677

Overall Rank:

4,590

Average Rating:

72 (129 votes)

Comments:

678.

Restless And Wild

Year of Release:

1982

Appears in:

63 charts

Rank Score:

302

Rank in 1982:

Rank in 1980s:

678

Overall Rank:

4,603

Average Rating:

76 (70 votes)

Comments:

679.

Diver Down

Van Halen

Year of Release:

1982

Appears in:

106 charts

Rank Score:

302

Rank in 1982:

Rank in 1980s:

679

Overall Rank:

4,604

Average Rating:

72 (204 votes)

Comments:

680.

You Are What You Is

Frank Zappa

Year of Release:

1981

Appears in:

53 charts

Rank Score:

302

Rank in 1981:

Rank in 1980s:

680

Overall Rank:

4,611

Average Rating:

74 (104 votes)

Comments:

« prev
1
...
67
68
69
...
100
next »
Goto Page:

Total albums: 1,000. Page 68 of 100

Best Albums of the 1980s composition

Year	Albums	%

1980	117	12%
1981	123	12%
1982	110	11%
1983	96	10%
1984	102	10%
1985	81	8%
1986	94	9%
1987	86	9%
1988	92	9%
1989	99	10%

Artist	Albums	%

The Cure	10	1%
Rush	8	1%
Depeche Mode	8	1%
Iron Maiden	8	1%
R.E.M.	7	1%
Talking Heads	7	1%
U2	7	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	415	42%
	386	39%
	41	4%
	27	3%
	23	2%
	22	2%
	12	1%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	968	97%
Yes	32	3%

Live?	Albums	%
No	977	98%
Yes	23	2%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	987	99%
Yes	13	1%

« View best albums of the 1970sView best albums of the 1990s »

If you enjoy our site, please consider supporting us by sparing a few seconds to disable your ad blocker.

A lot of hard work happens in the background to keep BEA running, and it's especially difficult to do this when we can't pay our hosting fees :(

We work very hard to ensure our site is as fast (and FREE!) as possible, and we respect your privacy.

Email Address
Forgotten passwords and other site notifications are sent to the email address saved on your profile. If you've changed your email address recently, please remember to update it on your profile page. (If you can't remember your password, and your email address is out of date, please contact us for assistance getting back into your account).