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 53,000 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	2,161	193,828	Remain In Light (28th)by Talking Heads
1981	2,197	120,560	Moving Pictures (154th)by Rush
1982	2,157	148,421	Thriller (71st)by Michael Jackson
1983	2,175	135,363	Murmur (142nd)by R.E.M.
1984	2,167	170,527	Purple Rain (78th)by Prince And The Revolution
1985	2,187	143,861	Hounds Of Love (57th)by Kate Bush
1986	2,312	169,316	The Queen Is Dead (17th)by The Smiths
1987	2,517	162,043	The Joshua Tree (53rd)by U2
1988	2,599	151,748	Daydream Nation (70th)by Sonic Youth
1989	2,638	196,938	Doolittle (19th)by Pixies
Total	23,110	1,592,605

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:

2,428 charts

Rank Score:

37,938

Rank in 1986:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

88 (2,859 votes)

Comments:

265

Disintegration

The Cure

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

1,780 charts

Rank Score:

27,751

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

86 (1,982 votes)

Comments:

152

The Stone Roses

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

1,985 charts

Rank Score:

25,543

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

1,358 charts

Rank Score:

19,149

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

85 (1,349 votes)

Comments:

100

11.

Closer

Joy Division

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

1,464 charts

Rank Score:

16,584

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

18.

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

893 charts

Rank Score:

11,130

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

133

Average Rating:

84 (969 votes)

Comments:

23.

The Smiths

Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

944 charts

Rank Score:

8,649

Rank in 1984:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

188

Average Rating:

83 (1,449 votes)

Comments:

27.

Brothers In Arms

Dire Straits

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

838 charts

Rank Score:

7,641

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

218

Average Rating:

78 (1,146 votes)

Comments:

28.

Peter Gabriel

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

784 charts

Rank Score:

7,361

Rank in 1986:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

227

Average Rating:

80 (909 votes)

Comments:

31.

Power, Corruption & Lies

New Order

Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

778 charts

Rank Score:

6,931

Rank in 1983:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

249

Average Rating:

81 (912 votes)

Comments:

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Total albums: 417. Page 1 of 42

Best Albums of the 1980s composition

Year	Albums	%

1980	118	12%
1981	123	12%
1982	110	11%
1983	97	10%
1984	102	10%
1985	80	8%
1986	93	9%
1987	87	9%
1988	92	9%
1989	98	10%

Artist	Albums	%

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

Country	Albums	%

	417	42%
	387	39%
	41	4%
	27	3%
	23	2%
	22	2%
	12	1%
Show all

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

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

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

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

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