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.

View chart at point in time

Share this chart

Collector's summary (top 1,000)Log in or register to discover the great albums that are missing from your music collection!

Sort by

991.

Complete Madness
Compilation

Madness

Year of Release:

1982

Appears in:

28 charts

Rank Score:

191

Rank in 1982:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

992.

It's Only Right And Natural

The Frogs

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

29 charts

Rank Score:

191

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

992

Overall Rank:

6,725

Average Rating:

67 (39 votes)

Comments:

993.

Hello Cruel World

Tall Dwarfs

Year of Release:

1987

Appears in:

21 charts

Rank Score:

190

Rank in 1987:

Rank in 1980s:

993

Overall Rank:

6,745

Average Rating:

74 (19 votes)

Comments:

994.

Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

43 charts

Rank Score:

190

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

994

Overall Rank:

6,746

Average Rating:

71 (50 votes)

Comments:

995.

Theatre Of Pain

Mötley Crüe

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

56 charts

Rank Score:

190

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

995

Overall Rank:

6,747

Average Rating:

64 (109 votes)

Comments:

996.

The New Order

Testament

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

60 charts

Rank Score:

190

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

996

Overall Rank:

6,750

Average Rating:

77 (68 votes)

Comments:

997.

Man Of Colours

Icehouse

Year of Release:

1987

Appears in:

38 charts

Rank Score:

190

Rank in 1987:

Rank in 1980s:

997

Overall Rank:

6,751

Average Rating:

68 (56 votes)

Comments:

998.

Ammonia Avenue

The Alan Parsons Project

Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

46 charts

Rank Score:

190

Rank in 1984:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

999.

Don't Tell A Soul

The Replacements

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

57 charts

Rank Score:

190

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

999

Overall Rank:

6,761

Average Rating:

71 (98 votes)

Comments:

1000.

New Clear Days

The Vapors

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

25 charts

Rank Score:

189

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

« prev
1
2
3
...
98
99
100
next »
Goto Page:

Total albums: 1,000. Page 100 of 100

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 »

If you enjoy our site, please consider supporting us by sparing a few seconds to disable your ad blocker.

A lot of hard work happens in the background to keep BEA running, and it's especially difficult to do this when we can't pay our hosting fees :(

We work very hard to ensure our site is as fast (and FREE!) as possible, and we respect your privacy.

Best Artists of 2009
1. Animal Collective
2. The Antlers
3. The xx
4. Grizzly Bear
5. Phoenix
6. Muse
7. Florence + The Machine
8. Arctic Monkeys
9. Dirty Projectors
10. Kid Cudi
11. Mumford & Sons
12. Fever Ray
13. Mastodon
14. Yeah Yeah Yeahs
15. Kasabian
16. St. Vincent
17. The Flaming Lips
18. The Horrors (UK)
19. Them Crooked Vultures
20. The Decemberists