Best Albums of the 1980s : Best Ever Albums

Best Albums of the 1980s

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Listed below are the greatest albums of the 1980s as calculated from their overall rankings in over 37,000 greatest album charts.

Best albums by year or decade

View by decade:	1940s	1950s	1960s	1970s	1980s	1990s	2000s	2010s
View by year:	1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

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	1,467	281,817	Remain In Light (40th) by Talking Heads
1981	1,504	154,826	Moving Pictures (152nd) by Rush
1982	1,493	197,676	Thriller (73rd) by Michael Jackson
1983	1,476	178,920	Murmur (142nd) by R.E.M.
1984	1,523	242,536	Purple Rain (95th) by Prince And The Revolution
1985	1,514	189,510	Rain Dogs (109th) by Tom Waits
1986	1,596	266,288	The Queen Is Dead (21st) by The Smiths
1987	1,763	258,296	The Joshua Tree (36th) by U2
1988	1,794	242,526	Daydream Nation (56th) by Sonic Youth
1989	1,851	331,547	Doolittle (19th) by Pixies
Total	15,981	2,343,942

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

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This chart is currently filtered to only show albums from 1983. (Remove this filter).

Rank

Album

Artist

18.

Murmur

R.E.M.

Year of Release:	1983	Appears in:	858 charts
Rank in 1983:	1	Rank Score:	18,626
Rank in 1980s	18	Overall Rank:	142
Average Rating: 83/100 (1,069 votes)
Comments: 77 comments

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26.

Violent Femmes

Year of Release:	1983	Appears in:	692 charts
Rank in 1983:	2	Rank Score:	13,433
Rank in 1980s	26	Overall Rank:	204
Average Rating: 82/100 (749 votes)
Comments: 59 comments

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37.

Synchronicity

The Police

Year of Release:	1983	Appears in:	593 charts
Rank in 1983:	3	Rank Score:	9,682
Rank in 1980s	37	Overall Rank:	291
Average Rating: 78/100 (760 votes)
Comments: 57 comments

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40.

Power, Corruption And Lies

New Order

Year of Release:	1983	Appears in:	545 charts
Rank in 1983:	4	Rank Score:	9,094
Rank in 1980s	40	Overall Rank:	310
Average Rating: 81/100 (665 votes)
Comments: 39 comments

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43.

War

Year of Release:	1983	Appears in:	562 charts
Rank in 1983:	5	Rank Score:	8,340
Rank in 1980s	43	Overall Rank:	335
Average Rating: 79/100 (942 votes)
Comments: 70 comments

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49.

Swordfishtrombones

Tom Waits

Year of Release:	1983	Appears in:	460 charts
Rank in 1983:	6	Rank Score:	6,962
Rank in 1980s	49	Overall Rank:	386
Average Rating: 82/100 (564 votes)
Comments: 26 comments

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75.

Kill 'Em All

Metallica

Year of Release:	1983	Appears in:	334 charts
Rank in 1983:	7	Rank Score:	5,104
Rank in 1980s	75	Overall Rank:	517
Average Rating: 78/100 (689 votes)
Comments: 30 comments

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79.

Speaking In Tongues

Talking Heads

Year of Release:	1983	Appears in:	358 charts
Rank in 1983:	8	Rank Score:	4,821
Rank in 1980s	79	Overall Rank:	545
Average Rating: 80/100 (495 votes)
Comments: 23 comments

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99.

The Final Cut

Pink Floyd

Year of Release:	1983	Appears in:	285 charts
Rank in 1983:	9	Rank Score:	3,871
Rank in 1980s	99	Overall Rank:	658
Average Rating: 71/100 (781 votes)
Comments: 49 comments

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122.

Pyromania

Def Leppard

Year of Release:	1983	Appears in:	220 charts
Rank in 1983:	10	Rank Score:	3,229
Rank in 1980s	122	Overall Rank:	774
Average Rating: 72/100 (325 votes)
Comments: 21 comments

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Best Albums of the 1980s composition

Year	Albums	%

1980	111	11%
1981	117	12%
1982	102	10%
1983	98	10%
1984	97	10%
1985	86	9%
1986	99	10%
1987	87	9%
1988	102	10%
1989	101	10%

Artist	Albums	%

The Cure	10	1%
Iron Maiden	8	1%
Rush	8	1%
Depeche Mode	8	1%
Siouxsie And The Banshees	7	1%
R.E.M.	7	1%
The Smiths	7	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	420	42%
	391	39%
	38	4%
	27	3%
	19	2%
	17	2%
	17	2%
Show all

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