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 42,000 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	1,678	205,362	Remain In Light (30th)by Talking Heads
1981	1,681	119,895	Moving Pictures (151st)by Rush
1982	1,659	147,428	Thriller (80th)by Michael Jackson
1983	1,646	135,435	Murmur (142nd)by R.E.M.
1984	1,655	176,293	Purple Rain (86th)by Prince And The Revolution
1985	1,673	143,276	Hounds Of Love (81st)by Kate Bush
1986	1,757	185,205	The Queen Is Dead (18th)by The Smiths
1987	1,944	175,920	The Joshua Tree (49th)by U2
1988	2,005	165,570	Daydream Nation (66th)by Sonic Youth
1989	2,062	224,232	Doolittle (17th)by Pixies
Total	17,760	1,678,615

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

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20.

Moving Pictures

Rush

Year of Release:

1981

Appears in:

833 charts

Rank Score:

12,207

Rank in 1981:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

151

Average Rating:

82 (1,057 votes)

Comments:

93.

Permanent Waves

Rush

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

338 charts

Rank Score:

3,054

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

625

Average Rating:

81 (480 votes)

Comments:

113.

I'm Your Man

Leonard Cohen

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

279 charts

Rank Score:

2,595

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

113

Overall Rank:

736

Average Rating:

80 (303 votes)

Comments:

218.

Reckless

Bryan Adams

Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

153 charts

Rank Score:

1,262

Rank in 1984:

Rank in 1980s:

218

Overall Rank:

1,401

Average Rating:

72 (200 votes)

Comments:

230.

The Trinity Session

Cowboy Junkies

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

184 charts

Rank Score:

1,177

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

230

Overall Rank:

1,476

Average Rating:

78 (176 votes)

Comments:

253.

Wrong

NoMeansNo

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

122 charts

Rank Score:

1,044

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

253

Overall Rank:

1,646

Average Rating:

78 (104 votes)

Comments:

271.

Freedom

Neil Young

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

195 charts

Rank Score:

970

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

271

Overall Rank:

1,746

Average Rating:

78 (261 votes)

Comments:

278.

Signals

Rush

Year of Release:

1982

Appears in:

157 charts

Rank Score:

939

Rank in 1982:

Rank in 1980s:

278

Overall Rank:

1,795

Average Rating:

78 (280 votes)

Comments:

362.

Up To Here

The Tragically Hip

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

70 charts

Rank Score:

695

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

362

Overall Rank:

2,296

Average Rating:

75 (73 votes)

Comments:

392.

Power Windows

Rush

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

84 charts

Rank Score:

629

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

392

Overall Rank:

2,468

Average Rating:

76 (184 votes)

Comments:

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Total albums: 24. Page 1 of 3

Best Albums of the 1980s composition

Year	Albums	%

1980	117	12%
1981	118	12%
1982	111	11%
1983	93	9%
1984	99	10%
1985	82	8%
1986	96	10%
1987	87	9%
1988	95	10%
1989	102	10%

Artist	Albums	%

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

Country	Albums	%

	404	40%
	392	39%
	40	4%
	26	3%
	24	2%
	20	2%
	17	2%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	965	97%
Yes	35	4%

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

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Best Artists of 1987
1. U2
2. Guns N' Roses
3. The Smiths
4. Prince
5. Dinosaur Jr.
6. Michael Jackson
7. R.E.M.
8. Sonic Youth
9. Def Leppard
10. Depeche Mode
11. The Cure
12. New Order
13. INXS
14. The Jesus And Mary Chain
15. Eric B. & Rakim
16. Midnight Oil
17. Pixies
18. Fleetwood Mac
19. Bruce Springsteen
20. David Sylvian