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	2,212	193,199	Remain In Light (26th)by Talking Heads
1981	2,255	120,783	Moving Pictures (156th)by Rush
1982	2,219	147,900	Thriller (73rd)by Michael Jackson
1983	2,234	135,138	Murmur (140th)by R.E.M.
1984	2,211	169,383	Purple Rain (79th)by Prince And The Revolution
1985	2,234	143,634	Hounds Of Love (55th)by Kate Bush
1986	2,349	168,797	The Queen Is Dead (16th)by The Smiths
1987	2,564	160,603	The Joshua Tree (53rd)by U2
1988	2,673	151,746	Daydream Nation (72nd)by Sonic Youth
1989	2,696	195,946	Doolittle (19th)by Pixies
Total	23,647	1,587,130

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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Hounds Of Love

Kate Bush

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

1,380 charts

Rank Score:

19,131

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

85 (1,373 votes)

Comments:

101

14.

Rain Dogs

Tom Waits

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

1,132 charts

Rank Score:

12,752

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

106

Average Rating:

84 (1,320 votes)

Comments:

27.

Brothers In Arms

Dire Straits

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

842 charts

Rank Score:

7,433

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

221

Average Rating:

78 (1,156 votes)

Comments:

32.

Meat Is Murder

The Smiths

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

825 charts

Rank Score:

6,655

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

257

Average Rating:

82 (1,272 votes)

Comments:

39.

Psychocandy

The Jesus And Mary Chain

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

751 charts

Rank Score:

5,890

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

299

Average Rating:

79 (908 votes)

Comments:

44.

Songs From The Big Chair

Tears For Fears

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

622 charts

Rank Score:

5,336

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

336

Average Rating:

79 (669 votes)

Comments:

52.

The Head On The Door

The Cure

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

621 charts

Rank Score:

4,666

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

380

Average Rating:

82 (781 votes)

Comments:

62.

Tim

The Replacements

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

495 charts

Rank Score:

4,007

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

447

Average Rating:

81 (554 votes)

Comments:

79.

Steve McQueen

Prefab Sprout

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

369 charts

Rank Score:

3,464

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

517

Average Rating:

79 (361 votes)

Comments:

88.

Rum Sodomy & The Lash

The Pogues

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

417 charts

Rank Score:

3,019

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

581

Average Rating:

78 (400 votes)

Comments:

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Total albums: 80. Page 1 of 8

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