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	193,075	Remain In Light (26th)by Talking Heads
1981	2,254	120,695	Moving Pictures (156th)by Rush
1982	2,218	147,793	Thriller (73rd)by Michael Jackson
1983	2,234	135,068	Murmur (139th)by R.E.M.
1984	2,211	169,447	Purple Rain (79th)by Prince And The Revolution
1985	2,234	143,577	Hounds Of Love (55th)by Kate Bush
1986	2,347	168,728	The Queen Is Dead (16th)by The Smiths
1987	2,564	160,507	The Joshua Tree (52nd)by U2
1988	2,672	151,653	Daydream Nation (72nd)by Sonic Youth
1989	2,696	195,937	Doolittle (19th)by Pixies
Total	23,642	1,586,479

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:

2,459 charts

Rank Score:

37,077

Rank in 1986:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

88 (2,876 votes)

Comments:

265

Disintegration

The Cure

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

1,810 charts

Rank Score:

27,800

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

86 (2,004 votes)

Comments:

152

The Stone Roses

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

2,004 charts

Rank Score:

24,844

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

1,378 charts

Rank Score:

19,141

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

85 (1,370 votes)

Comments:

101

10.

Closer

Joy Division

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

1,486 charts

Rank Score:

16,556

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

17.

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

908 charts

Rank Score:

11,127

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

128

Average Rating:

84 (980 votes)

Comments:

23.

The Smiths

Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

962 charts

Rank Score:

8,524

Rank in 1984:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

185

Average Rating:

83 (1,461 votes)

Comments:

27.

Brothers In Arms

Dire Straits

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

842 charts

Rank Score:

7,438

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

221

Average Rating:

78 (1,154 votes)

Comments:

28.

Peter Gabriel

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

792 charts

Rank Score:

7,260

Rank in 1986:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

230

Average Rating:

80 (912 votes)

Comments:

31.

Power, Corruption & Lies

New Order

Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

789 charts

Rank Score:

6,780

Rank in 1983:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

253

Average Rating:

81 (918 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	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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