Best Albums of the 1980s

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

Listed below are the best albums of the 1980s as calculated from their overall rankings in over 55,000 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	2,233	191,547	Remain In Light (26th)by Talking Heads
1981	2,278	119,602	Moving Pictures (155th)by Rush
1982	2,247	147,119	Thriller (71st)by Michael Jackson
1983	2,258	134,046	Murmur (137th)by R.E.M.
1984	2,228	168,113	Purple Rain (74th)by Prince And The Revolution
1985	2,259	141,972	Hounds Of Love (53rd)by Kate Bush
1986	2,374	167,249	The Queen Is Dead (16th)by The Smiths
1987	2,587	159,336	The Joshua Tree (52nd)by U2
1988	2,694	150,376	Daydream Nation (73rd)by Sonic Youth
1989	2,731	193,390	Doolittle (19th)by Pixies
Total	23,889	1,572,751

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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19.

Murmur

R.E.M.

Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

1,135 charts

Rank Score:

10,460

Rank in 1983:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

137

Average Rating:

83 (1,411 votes)

Comments:

49.

Document

R.E.M.

Year of Release:

1987

Appears in:

694 charts

Rank Score:

4,699

Rank in 1987:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

372

Average Rating:

80 (918 votes)

Comments:

75.

Lifes Rich Pageant

R.E.M.

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

502 charts

Rank Score:

3,480

Rank in 1986:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

509

Average Rating:

80 (749 votes)

Comments:

78.

Green

R.E.M.

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

505 charts

Rank Score:

3,430

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

518

Average Rating:

78 (736 votes)

Comments:

84.

Reckoning

R.E.M.

Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

483 charts

Rank Score:

3,269

Rank in 1984:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

541

Average Rating:

80 (691 votes)

Comments:

174.

Fables Of The Reconstruction

R.E.M.

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

318 charts

Rank Score:

1,593

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

174

Overall Rank:

1,104

Average Rating:

76 (472 votes)

Comments:

391.

Chronic Town

R.E.M.

Year of Release:

1982

Appears in:

110 charts

Rank Score:

611

Rank in 1982:

Rank in 1980s:

391

Overall Rank:

2,578

Average Rating:

78 (231 votes)

Comments:

Total albums: 7. Page 1 of 1

Best Albums of the 1980s composition

Year	Albums	%

1980	119	12%
1981	119	12%
1982	107	11%
1983	99	10%
1984	101	10%
1985	81	8%
1986	97	10%
1987	87	9%
1988	95	10%
1989	95	10%

Artist	Albums	%

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

Country	Albums	%

	417	42%
	390	39%
	40	4%
	27	3%
	23	2%
	22	2%
	11	1%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	966	97%
Yes	34	3%

Live?	Albums	%
No	978	98%
Yes	22	2%

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

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