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	2,194	193,825	Remain In Light (26th)by Talking Heads
1981	2,228	120,910	Moving Pictures (155th)by Rush
1982	2,181	147,963	Thriller (71st)by Michael Jackson
1983	2,228	135,264	Murmur (139th)by R.E.M.
1984	2,194	170,128	Purple Rain (78th)by Prince And The Revolution
1985	2,220	144,087	Hounds Of Love (56th)by Kate Bush
1986	2,338	169,322	The Queen Is Dead (17th)by The Smiths
1987	2,545	161,277	The Joshua Tree (54th)by U2
1988	2,641	152,129	Daydream Nation (72nd)by Sonic Youth
1989	2,676	197,200	Doolittle (19th)by Pixies
Total	23,445	1,592,104

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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Remain In Light

Talking Heads

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

1,991 charts

Rank Score:

30,061

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

87 (2,243 votes)

Comments:

195

11.

Closer

Joy Division

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

1,474 charts

Rank Score:

16,514

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

85 (1,887 votes)

Comments:

125

18.

Back In Black

AC/DC

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

1,257 charts

Rank Score:

10,986

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

40.

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

753 charts

Rank Score:

5,925

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

300

Average Rating:

81 (1,088 votes)

Comments:

48.

Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables

Dead Kennedys

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

669 charts

Rank Score:

4,921

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

361

Average Rating:

80 (741 votes)

Comments:

57.

Peter Gabriel III

Peter Gabriel

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

522 charts

Rank Score:

4,312

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

413

Average Rating:

81 (582 votes)

Comments:

63.

The River

Bruce Springsteen

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

579 charts

Rank Score:

3,937

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

451

Average Rating:

79 (846 votes)

Comments:

86.

Permanent Waves

Rush

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

445 charts

Rank Score:

3,176

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

558

Average Rating:

80 (609 votes)

Comments:

89.

Pretenders

Pretenders

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

489 charts

Rank Score:

3,018

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

582

Average Rating:

78 (573 votes)

Comments:

90.

Making Movies

Dire Straits

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

423 charts

Rank Score:

3,004

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

584

Average Rating:

78 (581 votes)

Comments:

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Total albums: 118. Page 1 of 12

Best Albums of the 1980s composition

Year	Albums	%

1980	118	12%
1981	121	12%
1982	108	11%
1983	98	10%
1984	101	10%
1985	80	8%
1986	94	9%
1987	89	9%
1988	95	10%
1989	96	10%

Artist	Albums	%

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

Country	Albums	%

	415	42%
	391	39%
	41	4%
	26	3%
	23	2%
	22	2%
	12	1%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	967	97%
Yes	33	3%

Live?	Albums	%
No	979	98%
Yes	21	2%

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

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