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 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	2,183	193,475	Remain In Light (26th)by Talking Heads
1981	2,221	120,744	Moving Pictures (153rd)by Rush
1982	2,171	148,085	Thriller (72nd)by Michael Jackson
1983	2,195	135,396	Murmur (141st)by R.E.M.
1984	2,179	170,289	Purple Rain (78th)by Prince And The Revolution
1985	2,211	143,770	Hounds Of Love (56th)by Kate Bush
1986	2,327	169,006	The Queen Is Dead (17th)by The Smiths
1987	2,534	161,639	The Joshua Tree (54th)by U2
1988	2,629	152,034	Daydream Nation (71st)by Sonic Youth
1989	2,657	197,004	Doolittle (19th)by Pixies
Total	23,307	1,591,442

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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66.

Isn't Anything

My Bloody Valentine

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

514 charts

Rank Score:

3,792

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

472

Average Rating:

80 (682 votes)

Comments:

89.

Pretenders

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

486 charts

Rank Score:

3,003

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

586

Average Rating:

78 (570 votes)

Comments:

101.

My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts

Brian Eno & David Byrne

Year of Release:

1981

Appears in:

374 charts

Rank Score:

2,746

Rank in 1981:

Rank in 1980s:

101

Overall Rank:

642

Average Rating:

77 (420 votes)

Comments:

120.

The Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1

The Traveling Wilburys

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

311 charts

Rank Score:

2,246

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

120

Overall Rank:

793

Average Rating:

76 (380 votes)

Comments:

167.

Tango In The Night

Fleetwood Mac

Year of Release:

1987

Appears in:

289 charts

Rank Score:

1,647

Rank in 1987:

Rank in 1980s:

167

Overall Rank:

1,066

Average Rating:

75 (396 votes)

Comments:

202.

Double Fantasy

John Lennon & Yoko Ono

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

303 charts

Rank Score:

1,396

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

202

Overall Rank:

1,257

Average Rating:

73 (398 votes)

Comments:

217.

Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks

Brian Eno With Daniel Lanois & Roger Eno

Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

197 charts

Rank Score:

1,283

Rank in 1983:

Rank in 1980s:

217

Overall Rank:

1,354

Average Rating:

80 (239 votes)

Comments:

220.

Arvo Pärt: Tabula Rasa

Keith Jarrett / Gidon Kremer; Dennis Russell Davies / Staatsorchester Stuttgart; The 12 Cellists Of The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra; Saulius Sondeckis / Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra / Alfred Schnittke

Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

148 charts

Rank Score:

1,277

Rank in 1984:

Rank in 1980s:

220

Overall Rank:

1,359

Average Rating:

80 (170 votes)

Comments:

260.

Learning To Crawl

Pretenders

Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

207 charts

Rank Score:

1,026

Rank in 1984:

Rank in 1980s:

260

Overall Rank:

1,658

Average Rating:

76 (218 votes)

Comments:

285.

You Made Me Realise

My Bloody Valentine

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

144 charts

Rank Score:

917

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

285

Overall Rank:

1,845

Average Rating:

83 (271 votes)

Comments:

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Total albums: 26. Page 1 of 3

Best Albums of the 1980s composition

Year	Albums	%

1980	119	12%
1981	120	12%
1982	108	11%
1983	97	10%
1984	102	10%
1985	80	8%
1986	95	10%
1987	89	9%
1988	92	9%
1989	99	10%

Artist	Albums	%

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

Country	Albums	%

	414	41%
	391	39%
	41	4%
	26	3%
	23	2%
	22	2%
	12	1%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	968	97%
Yes	33	3%

Live?	Albums	%
No	981	98%
Yes	20	2%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	988	99%
Yes	13	1%

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

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