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: 2 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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"After an awesome debut and a two year gap to a still pretty good sophomore effort, we waited another 8 year for... this? Egad, what a letdown. I hate it when people throw the "corporate rock" term at Boston in general, but for this album? Oh, yeah."  Reply
- Fischman | 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:
1986
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Rank Score:
255
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"Beautiful, evocative album which is a maelstrom of all of 4ADs greatest bands (circa mide Eightees) and indeed, a number contributed, including DCD and Cocteau Twisns. This is the best of their 3 albums - lots to get into here - listen in a darkened room with plenty of atmosphere."  Reply
- FieryGunHand | 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
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Rank Score:
255
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"Colin Newman's production (and you can definitely tell it's him) can't overcome Gavin Friday's all-over-the-place vocals, but... there are "moments." RIYL The Fall, The Misfits, Alien Sex Fiend, bands of that nature."  Reply
- MadhattanJack | 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:
1982
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Rank Score:
254
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"This is a very solid debut rock album from bon jovi at the rise of hair metal. I was very surprised at how well this thing rocked, how catchy all of the songs are, how well they rock as good as hit single "runaway", all the way through."  Reply
- paladisiac | 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:
1984
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Rank Score:
254
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"i love most things dexys, but this i don't quite get, despite repeated listens, or i don't get why it so frequently is hailed as mr lowlands masterpiece. but i guess it's in the lyrics, me being scandinavian and first of all occupied with music, and the musical part of this one isn't, extracted f..."  [+]  Reply
- martintho | 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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254
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"In this crazy world of contradictions and lies, every now and then I listen to this album and find a certain tranquility and pleasure. my favorite songs are Beside, the friends of mr cairo and outside of this."  Reply
- StreakyNuno | 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:
1981
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Rank Score:
254
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"I own three Eurythmics LP's, this one, Sweet Dreams and Touch, and of the three this is the best. OK it's not their more punchy synthpop, or their more mainstream stuff, but as an album it's more consistent. Bit 'tongue in cheek' in places it seems to me, not taking themselves too seriously, and ..."  [+]  Reply
- Rich150 | 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:
1987
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Rank Score:
254
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1985
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Rank Score:
253
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Year of Release:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
253
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Year of Release:
1984
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Rank Score:
253
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Total albums: 1,000. Page 78 of 100

Best Albums of the 1980s composition

Best Ever Artists
1. The Beatles
2. Radiohead
3. Pink Floyd
4. David Bowie
5. Bob Dylan
6. Led Zeppelin
7. The Rolling Stones
8. Arcade Fire
9. Neil Young
10. Nirvana
11. The Velvet Underground
12. Kendrick Lamar
13. Miles Davis
14. The Smiths
15. R.E.M.
16. The Beach Boys
17. Kanye West
18. Bruce Springsteen
19. The Cure
20. Pixies