Best Albums of the 1980s : Best Ever Albums

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Best Albums of the 1980s

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

Listed below are the greatest albums of the 1980s as calculated from their overall rankings in over 39,000 greatest album charts.

Best albums by year or decade

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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	1,554	288,878	Remain In Light (39th) by Talking Heads
1981	1,597	161,752	Moving Pictures (152nd) by Rush
1982	1,565	204,008	Thriller (73rd) by Michael Jackson
1983	1,568	185,032	Murmur (142nd) by R.E.M.
1984	1,596	249,518	Purple Rain (97th) by Prince And The Revolution
1985	1,601	196,540	Hounds Of Love (103rd) by Kate Bush
1986	1,685	273,532	The Queen Is Dead (20th) by The Smiths
1987	1,848	267,609	The Joshua Tree (36th) by U2
1988	1,907	247,511	Daydream Nation (58th) by Sonic Youth
1989	1,953	338,017	Doolittle (19th) by Pixies
Total	16,874	2,412,397

The best artists of the 1980s were The Smiths, Pixies, Prince, The Cure, U2, Talking Heads, Metallica, The Stone Roses, Sonic Youth and R.E.M..

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1.

United States

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

Rank Score:

83,662

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

88 (2,422 votes)

Comments:

2.

The Queen Is Dead

United Kingdom

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

Rank Score:

77,347

Rank in 1986:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

88 (2,358 votes)

Comments:

3.

The Stone Roses

United Kingdom

The Stone Roses

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

Rank Score:

56,502

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

86 (1,875 votes)

Comments:

4.

The Joshua Tree

Ireland

U2

Year of Release:

1987

Appears in:

Rank Score:

50,028

Rank in 1987:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

82 (2,061 votes)

Comments:

5.

Remain In Light

United States

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

Rank Score:

48,186

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

87 (1,783 votes)

Comments:

6.

United Kingdom

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

Rank Score:

44,142

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

86 (1,564 votes)

Comments:

7.

Daydream Nation

United States

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

Rank Score:

38,491

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

84 (1,527 votes)

Comments:

8.

United Kingdom

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

Rank Score:

33,950

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

86 (1,567 votes)

Comments:

9.

Appetite For Destruction

United States

Year of Release:

1987

Appears in:

Rank Score:

32,611

Rank in 1987:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

78 (1,636 votes)

Comments:

10.

United States

Michael Jackson

Year of Release:

1982

Appears in:

Rank Score:

32,298

Rank in 1982:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

82 (1,744 votes)

Comments:

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Total albums: 1,000. Page 1 of 100

Best Albums of the 1980s composition

Year	Albums	%

1980	111	11%
1981	118	12%
1982	101	10%
1983	97	10%
1984	101	10%
1985	86	9%
1986	98	10%
1987	86	9%
1988	101	10%
1989	101	10%

Artist	Albums	%

The Cure	10	1%
Iron Maiden	8	1%
Rush	8	1%
Depeche Mode	8	1%
R.E.M.	7	1%
The Smiths	7	1%
U2	7	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	416	42%
	386	39%
	37	4%
	28	3%
	23	2%
	19	2%
	18	2%
Show all

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

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