Best Albums of the 1980s
Listed below are the best albums of the 1980s as calculated from their overall rankings in over 59,000 greatest album charts. (Chart last updated: 5 hours ago).
This chart is currently filtered to only show albums from Australia. (Remove this filter)
"-Hey, we need a chorus for "Highway to hell". -Ok. What about "I'm on a highway to hell, highway to hell, highway to hell, highway to hell"? -Cool. We also need a chorus for "You shook me all night long". -I've got it. We could say, you know, "you shook me all night long, yeah, you shook me all n..." [+] Reply
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9999 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +10 votes (10 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
9,964
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Not sure why there's so little love for this album here. For me, it's a great listen with lots of enjoyable tracks. Stand out song for me is Never Tear Us Apart." Reply
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albummaster | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
1987
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,729
Rank in 1987:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"I went through a period of loving Aussie rock so much back in the late eighties that I wound up spending my junior year of college in Perth. Of all those Australian bands that I loved back then, Midnight Oil was probably the best, and is the one that has had the most staying power for me. They ma..." [+] Reply
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buzzdainer | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Year of Release:
1987
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,883
Rank in 1987:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Why are all the track ratings on this so low? Normally only interludes and tracks that are actually offensively bad get as low as 73, but that's the average for The Devil's Eye, and Love Goes On, the best song on the album, only has a 77." Reply
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Onater | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
1988
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,624
Rank in 1988:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Yet another great Nick Cave album, and really the last of the more darker earlier records. After this, Cave wouldn't exactly turn into Elton John, but his music would become more accessible, although still not exactly commercial. The tender prey kicks off with, the mercy seat, another classic Cav..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1988
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,488
Rank in 1988:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"This a criminally underrated album, and an underrated band in general. As a big fan of new wave, this is one of my favorite albums in the genre. Best tracks: Under the Milky Way, Reptile, Destination, Spark" Reply
Year of Release:
1988
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,468
Rank in 1988:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"After several listening, I find this still their best after all, and Into the Labyrinth and Aion come second among all their works, but this record is unparalleled in terms of atmosphere on the score arrangement. The only things I don't like about it are the utter separation into 4 tracks by Bren..." [+] Reply
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ilovelctr | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Year of Release:
1987
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,303
Rank in 1987:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"In my opinion, this is the best of the early Nick Cave albums. Your funeral... my trial, is a brooding masterpiece. Kicking off with, sad waters, one of the most beautiful songs Cave has ever written, and that's followed by the even better circus fable, the carny, a stunning track, Nick Cave at h..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1986
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,068
Rank in 1986:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"This album appears under appreciated on this site but in Australia it has God like status for any music lover growing up in the 80's . This album provided the soundtrack to our young lives , we smoked weed , lost our virginity and drove around the coast all with this album blowing our minds . Onl..." [+] Reply
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Brad1770 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
1982
Appears in:
Rank Score:
944
Rank in 1982:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Cave begins the album by transforming Cohen’s lyrics into a unique sonic representation that does indeed sound like a big black mass of snow hurtling toward the listener. While certainly not a bad song, Avalanche sounds less ‘inspired’ than the rest of the album; perhaps he opened with a cover du..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1984
Appears in:
Rank Score:
941
Rank in 1984:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 40. Page 1 of 4
Best Albums of the 1980s composition
| Year | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 121 | 12% | |
| 1981 | 120 | 12% | |
| 1982 | 107 | 11% | |
| 1983 | 96 | 10% | |
| 1984 | 101 | 10% | |
| 1985 | 88 | 9% | |
| 1986 | 91 | 9% | |
| 1987 | 88 | 9% | |
| 1988 | 98 | 10% | |
| 1989 | 92 | 9% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| The Cure | 10 | 1% | |
| Iron Maiden | 8 | 1% | |
| The Smiths | 8 | 1% | |
| Rush | 8 | 1% | |
| Depeche Mode | 7 | 1% | |
| R.E.M. | 7 | 1% | |
| Talking Heads | 7 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
 |
412 | 41% | |
 |
395 | 39% | |
 |
40 | 4% | |
 |
29 | 3% | |
 |
22 | 2% | |
 |
19 | 2% | |
 |
11 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
