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 35,000 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

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	1,424	278,380	Remain In Light (39th) by Talking Heads
1981	1,470	152,617	Moving Pictures (153rd) by Rush
1982	1,464	194,406	Thriller (73rd) by Michael Jackson
1983	1,437	176,768	Murmur (141st) by R.E.M.
1984	1,478	239,023	Purple Rain (95th) by Prince And The Revolution
1985	1,476	186,253	Rain Dogs (109th) by Tom Waits
1986	1,545	262,362	The Queen Is Dead (21st) by The Smiths
1987	1,720	254,431	The Joshua Tree (35th) by U2
1988	1,741	239,041	Daydream Nation (55th) by Sonic Youth
1989	1,803	327,537	Doolittle (19th) by Pixies
Total	15,558	2,310,818

The best artists of the 1980s were The Smiths, Pixies, Prince, U2, The Cure, Talking Heads, The Stone Roses, Metallica, 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:	848 charts
Rank in 1983:	1	Rank Score:	18,333
Rank in 1980s	18	Overall Rank:	141
Average Rating: 83/100 (1,043 votes)
Comments: 76 comments

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25.

Violent Femmes

Year of Release:	1983	Appears in:	677 charts
Rank in 1983:	2	Rank Score:	13,383
Rank in 1980s	25	Overall Rank:	200
Average Rating: 82/100 (731 votes)
Comments: 59 comments

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37.

Synchronicity

The Police

Year of Release:	1983	Appears in:	576 charts
Rank in 1983:	3	Rank Score:	9,619
Rank in 1980s	37	Overall Rank:	286
Average Rating: 78/100 (752 votes)
Comments: 55 comments

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40.

Power, Corruption And Lies

New Order

Year of Release:	1983	Appears in:	541 charts
Rank in 1983:	4	Rank Score:	9,030
Rank in 1980s	40	Overall Rank:	310
Average Rating: 82/100 (644 votes)
Comments: 39 comments

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43.

War

Year of Release:	1983	Appears in:	548 charts
Rank in 1983:	5	Rank Score:	8,335
Rank in 1980s	43	Overall Rank:	335
Average Rating: 79/100 (921 votes)
Comments: 68 comments

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49.

Swordfishtrombones

Tom Waits

Year of Release:	1983	Appears in:	452 charts
Rank in 1983:	6	Rank Score:	6,909
Rank in 1980s	49	Overall Rank:	384
Average Rating: 82/100 (556 votes)
Comments: 25 comments

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74.

Kill 'Em All

Metallica

Year of Release:	1983	Appears in:	321 charts
Rank in 1983:	7	Rank Score:	4,951
Rank in 1980s	74	Overall Rank:	518
Average Rating: 78/100 (671 votes)
Comments: 28 comments

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79.

Speaking In Tongues

Talking Heads

Year of Release:	1983	Appears in:	344 charts
Rank in 1983:	8	Rank Score:	4,689
Rank in 1980s	79	Overall Rank:	544
Average Rating: 80/100 (482 votes)
Comments: 20 comments

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97.

The Final Cut

Pink Floyd

Year of Release:	1983	Appears in:	286 charts
Rank in 1983:	9	Rank Score:	3,832
Rank in 1980s	97	Overall Rank:	649
Average Rating: 71/100 (765 votes)
Comments: 48 comments

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123.

Pyromania

Def Leppard

Year of Release:	1983	Appears in:	216 charts
Rank in 1983:	10	Rank Score:	3,078
Rank in 1980s	123	Overall Rank:	792
Average Rating: 72/100 (319 votes)
Comments: 20 comments

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Best Albums of the 1980s composition

Year	Albums	%

1980	110	11%
1981	120	12%
1982	102	10%
1983	98	10%
1984	96	10%
1985	85	9%
1986	99	10%
1987	86	9%
1988	104	10%
1989	100	10%

Artist	Albums	%

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

Country	Albums	%

	419	42%
	395	40%
	38	4%
	26	3%
	19	2%
	16	2%
	16	2%
Show all

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