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: 4 hours ago).
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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.
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"This is a really interesting album - I like how it plays around with different tones and sounds in a way that almost sounds like noise rock filtered through a post-punk lens. Unfortunately, all the chaos results in very few songs that work, and the ones that are interesting outstay their welcome ..."  [+]  Reply
- babyBlueSedan | 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:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
284
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Comments:
"This is the ultimate night time album. It helps you breathe deeply. At least for me it does. No other ambient work gives me a physical reaction like this one. Absolutely out of body experience."  Reply
- CompassCharlatan | 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
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Rank Score:
284
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"All perfectly serviceable songs, no real lows, but the main problem with the album is that there isn’t a really brilliant song on here that blows your socks off. The closest to brilliance here would be the opener and the closer which are both great."  Reply
- Crumpet | 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:
1987
Appears in:
Rank Score:
284
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Share your opinion and help others discover this album. The top-voted comments are showcased in our aggregate charts!
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
283
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Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Few albums seamlessly blend with nature and become a natural part of the sounds around you. The birdsongs. The crickets chirping in the long grasses. The wind rustling through the trees. THIS does. It never seems a bit out of place. Even the birds munching at my birdseeder seem at peace with it a..."  [+]  Reply
- Repo | 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:
282
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726.
The Whole Story 
Compilation
"This album is part of my personal top 100 (which you can check out here) and normally I tried to include regular albums but sorry, here I had to choose a Greatest Hits album because none of the regular albums really stand out (maybe apart from 'The Kick Inside") and in reality Kate Bush's career ..."  [+]  Reply
- dihansse | 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:
1986
Appears in:
Rank Score:
282
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"If you don't like metal this album isn't for you. If you do, it's essential. Personally this is my favorite Slayer album, and one of my favorite thrash albums. So many great riffs, and the drumming is amazing. Production quality is a little low, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing, it adds to ..."  [+]  Reply
- Ben4 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 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
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Rank Score:
280
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Year of Release:
1984
Appears in:
Rank Score:
280
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Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Share your opinion and help others discover this album. The top-voted comments are showcased in our aggregate charts!
Year of Release:
1983
Appears in:
Rank Score:
280
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Comments:
"The tackier, more offensive bits on this record had me rolling my eyes but they still can not overshadow how unique this record was in 1988. Ricks flow and story telling rhymes are still shockingly fresh and original and its clear that later stars like Snoop Dog and Nas loved this record."  Reply
- NCanon | 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:
1988
Appears in:
Rank Score:
280
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Total albums: 1,000. Page 73 of 100

Best Albums of the 1980s composition