Best Albums of the 1980s

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Listed below are the best albums of the 1980s as calculated from their overall rankings in over 54,000 greatest album charts.

Best albums by year or decade

Decade:

Year:

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	2,212	193,037	Remain In Light (26th)by Talking Heads
1981	2,254	120,704	Moving Pictures (156th)by Rush
1982	2,218	147,772	Thriller (73rd)by Michael Jackson
1983	2,234	135,048	Murmur (140th)by R.E.M.
1984	2,211	169,411	Purple Rain (79th)by Prince And The Revolution
1985	2,234	143,556	Hounds Of Love (55th)by Kate Bush
1986	2,347	168,690	The Queen Is Dead (16th)by The Smiths
1987	2,564	160,474	The Joshua Tree (53rd)by U2
1988	2,672	151,628	Daydream Nation (72nd)by Sonic Youth
1989	2,696	195,895	Doolittle (19th)by Pixies
Total	23,642	1,586,215

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

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The Queen Is Dead

The Smiths

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

2,462 charts

Rank Score:

37,084

Rank in 1986:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

88 (2,876 votes)

Comments:

265

23.

The Smiths

Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

963 charts

Rank Score:

8,520

Rank in 1984:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

186

Average Rating:

83 (1,461 votes)

Comments:

32.

Meat Is Murder

The Smiths

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

825 charts

Rank Score:

6,660

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

257

Average Rating:

82 (1,271 votes)

Comments:

33.

Hatful Of Hollow

The Smiths

Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

622 charts

Rank Score:

6,609

Rank in 1984:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

260

Average Rating:

86 (1,029 votes)

Comments:

37.

Strangeways, Here We Come

The Smiths

Year of Release:

1987

Appears in:

736 charts

Rank Score:

6,002

Rank in 1987:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

290

Average Rating:

81 (1,119 votes)

Comments:

105.

Louder Than Bombs
Compilation

The Smiths

Year of Release:

1987

Appears in:

308 charts

Rank Score:

2,597

Rank in 1987:

Rank in 1980s:

105

Overall Rank:

690

Average Rating:

83 (655 votes)

Comments:

721.

The World Won't Listen
Compilation

The Smiths

Year of Release:

1987

Appears in:

59 charts

Rank Score:

285

Rank in 1987:

Rank in 1980s:

721

Overall Rank:

4,861

Average Rating:

80 (182 votes)

Comments:

811.

Rank
Live

The Smiths

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

58 charts

Rank Score:

243

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

811

Overall Rank:

5,490

Average Rating:

76 (107 votes)

Comments:

Total albums: 8. Page 1 of 1

Best Albums of the 1980s composition

Year	Albums	%

1980	118	12%
1981	121	12%
1982	108	11%
1983	98	10%
1984	103	10%
1985	80	8%
1986	95	10%
1987	88	9%
1988	93	9%
1989	96	10%

Artist	Albums	%

The Cure	10	1%
Iron Maiden	8	1%
Depeche Mode	8	1%
The Smiths	8	1%
Rush	8	1%
U2	7	1%
The Fall	7	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	417	42%
	393	39%
	39	4%
	27	3%
	23	2%
	22	2%
	12	1%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	968	97%
Yes	32	3%

Live?	Albums	%
No	977	98%
Yes	23	2%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	988	99%
Yes	12	1%

« View best albums of the 1970sView best albums of the 1990s »

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