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 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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Collector's summary (top 406) (filtered)Log in or register to discover the great albums that are missing from your music collection!

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The Queen Is Dead

The Smiths

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

2,128 charts

Rank Score:

49,420

Rank in 1986:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

88 (2,475 votes)

Comments:

230

The Stone Roses

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

1,722 charts

Rank Score:

33,876

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

1,489 charts

Rank Score:

31,033

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

1,265 charts

Rank Score:

21,430

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

10.

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

1,035 charts

Rank Score:

19,086

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

84 (1,059 votes)

Comments:

19.

Spirit Of Eden

Talk Talk

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

757 charts

Rank Score:

12,565

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

144

Average Rating:

85 (820 votes)

Comments:

21.

The Smiths

Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

811 charts

Rank Score:

10,415

Rank in 1984:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

183

Average Rating:

83 (1,236 votes)

Comments:

27.

Brothers In Arms

Dire Straits

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

687 charts

Rank Score:

8,617

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

231

Average Rating:

78 (963 votes)

Comments:

29.

Meat Is Murder

The Smiths

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

697 charts

Rank Score:

8,389

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

242

Average Rating:

82 (1,072 votes)

Comments:

31.

Strangeways, Here We Come

The Smiths

Year of Release:

1987

Appears in:

629 charts

Rank Score:

7,693

Rank in 1987:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

257

Average Rating:

82 (941 votes)

Comments:

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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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