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 38,000 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	1,522	284,067	Remain In Light (39th) by Talking Heads
1981	1,546	156,843	Moving Pictures (152nd) by Rush
1982	1,529	199,864	Thriller (72nd) by Michael Jackson
1983	1,518	181,373	Murmur (142nd) by R.E.M.
1984	1,557	244,506	Purple Rain (96th) by Prince And The Revolution
1985	1,557	192,375	Hounds Of Love (104th) by Kate Bush
1986	1,628	268,573	The Queen Is Dead (20th) by The Smiths
1987	1,805	261,370	The Joshua Tree (36th) by U2
1988	1,845	243,798	Daydream Nation (56th) by Sonic Youth
1989	1,901	333,488	Doolittle (19th) by Pixies
Total	16,408	2,366,255

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:	872 charts
Rank in 1983:	1	Rank Score:	18,802
Rank in 1980s	18	Overall Rank:	142
Average Rating: 83/100 (1,091 votes)
Comments: 79 comments

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26.

Violent Femmes

Year of Release:	1983	Appears in:	696 charts
Rank in 1983:	2	Rank Score:	13,428
Rank in 1980s	26	Overall Rank:	206
Average Rating: 82/100 (766 votes)
Comments: 59 comments

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37.

Synchronicity

The Police

Year of Release:	1983	Appears in:	596 charts
Rank in 1983:	3	Rank Score:	9,646
Rank in 1980s	37	Overall Rank:	293
Average Rating: 78/100 (779 votes)
Comments: 59 comments

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40.

Power, Corruption And Lies

New Order

Year of Release:	1983	Appears in:	556 charts
Rank in 1983:	4	Rank Score:	9,261
Rank in 1980s	40	Overall Rank:	311
Average Rating: 82/100 (685 votes)
Comments: 41 comments

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44.

War

Year of Release:	1983	Appears in:	566 charts
Rank in 1983:	5	Rank Score:	8,222
Rank in 1980s	44	Overall Rank:	342
Average Rating: 79/100 (961 votes)
Comments: 71 comments

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49.

Swordfishtrombones

Tom Waits

Year of Release:	1983	Appears in:	468 charts
Rank in 1983:	6	Rank Score:	7,077
Rank in 1980s	49	Overall Rank:	386
Average Rating: 82/100 (576 votes)
Comments: 26 comments

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74.

Kill 'Em All

Metallica

Year of Release:	1983	Appears in:	341 charts
Rank in 1983:	7	Rank Score:	5,231
Rank in 1980s	74	Overall Rank:	510
Average Rating: 78/100 (706 votes)
Comments: 31 comments

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77.

Speaking In Tongues

Talking Heads

Year of Release:	1983	Appears in:	367 charts
Rank in 1983:	8	Rank Score:	5,093
Rank in 1980s	77	Overall Rank:	520
Average Rating: 80/100 (511 votes)
Comments: 25 comments

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101.

The Final Cut

Pink Floyd

Year of Release:	1983	Appears in:	290 charts
Rank in 1983:	9	Rank Score:	3,842
Rank in 1980s	101	Overall Rank:	672
Average Rating: 71/100 (795 votes)
Comments: 53 comments

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119.

Pyromania

Def Leppard

Year of Release:	1983	Appears in:	227 charts
Rank in 1983:	10	Rank Score:	3,322
Rank in 1980s	119	Overall Rank:	762
Average Rating: 72/100 (331 votes)
Comments: 21 comments

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Best Albums of the 1980s composition

Year	Albums	%

1980	112	11%
1981	118	12%
1982	99	10%
1983	97	10%
1984	99	10%
1985	88	9%
1986	98	10%
1987	87	9%
1988	101	10%
1989	101	10%

Artist	Albums	%

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

Country	Albums	%

	414	41%
	392	39%
	38	4%
	28	3%
	22	2%
	19	2%
	16	2%
Show all

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