Best Albums of the 1980s

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Explore the best albums of the 1980s, based on over 2 million album rankings across 59,000 charts.
Last updated: 4 hours ago.

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

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11.

Closer

Joy Division

"Astounding lyricism. They surprisingly manage to get even deeper and more tragic than the dark lyrics on their impressive debut album. I was also really impressed with the album with respect to its production; "Closer" appears to sprawl itself out and draw upon more genres and interesting influen..." [+] Reply

- | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

1,519 charts

Rank Score:

14,603

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

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12.

"Thrash metal masterpiece. I love this album start to finish although I personally prefer Ride The Lightning in terms of quality they're almost equal. Album starts with very intense Battery, then we have masterful song about addiction - Master Of Puppets which takes you through a downward spiral o..." [+] Reply

- mv3k | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

1,297 charts

Rank Score:

12,184

Rank in 1986:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

13.

Pixies

"Lo-fi and ambivalent, the pixies thrash through a bunch of alt-rock pairing Black Francis's yowl with Kim Deal's lovely vulnerability. Highlights are "gigantic", "bone machine" and the haunting "where is m mind?" (used masterfully at the end of "fight club")." Reply

paladisiac | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +10 votes (10 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

1,322 charts

Rank Score:

11,949

Rank in 1988:

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Average Rating:

Comments:

14.

"I fucking love this album. It's like the Cookie Monster started a band and got a record deal with Disney. My favorites are the really quirky ones, but the more ballad-esque songs are excellent, too." Reply

- | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +6 votes (6 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

1,147 charts

Rank Score:

11,294

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

113

Average Rating:

84 (1,356 votes)

Comments:

15.

Appetite For Destruction

Guns N' Roses

"I get that there are reasons people dislike Guns n Roses and that Axl is an ass, but I do not understand people who listen to this and say it's boring or a ripoff. In a way I find criticisms of GnR similar to criticisms of Aerosmith (7os era Aerosmith that is) - it's blues based rock music, of co...""I get that there are reasons people dislike Guns n Roses and that Axl is an ass, but I do not understand people who listen to this and say it's boring or a ripoff. In a way I find criticisms of GnR similar to criticisms of Aerosmith (7os era Aerosmith that is) - it's blues based rock music, of course it doesn't sound entirely new or original. But like Aerosmith, GnR simply did it better than anyone else around. Both bands had a very distinctive lead singer with a huge stage presence (and personally I think both Steven Tyler and Axl were good lyricists for what they were trying to accomplish). Both bands had solid rhythm sections. And both bands had excellent dual guitar work. In a way these bands are the progression of bands like the Rolling Stones, who also had the five piece, two guitar setup, and a very distinctive lead singer. Apart from that, I think it's important when rating music to try and judge it as if it wasn't totally played out. Yes, I'm not necessarily going to search out Welcome to the Jungle or Sweet Child to hear them for the millionth time, but the fact I've heard them so often is entirely separate from whether the songs are actually good. And I defy any fan of rock music to tell me with a straight face that they don't understand why Welcome to the Jungle is played at every sporting event - it's because it's an incredibly exciting song that gets you amped, with one of the most memorable intros of any song I can think of. That said, this isn't a perfect album. In particular, I think the second (roses) side is noticeably weaker than the first (guns) side. But I think the first side contains, at worst, high energy rock songs (It's So Easy and Out Ta Get Me) and at best, two of the most anthemic rock songs ever. Lyrically, these songs do a great job of capturing where GnR and Axl specifically were at while they were recording. Mr. Brownstone and Nighttrain capture the essence of an active drug addiction very well. Mr. Brownstone specifically I think is one of GnR's absolute best tracks, and grievously underrated. I suppose there are some who simply dislike GnR's sound - for me, the first six tracks on this album sound like rock music is supposed to sound like. A real shame that the band was already fracturing (for a multitude of reasons) by the time this album was released, but for this one album, they sound like the greatest rock band in the world." [+] Reply

Caesar01 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +6 votes (6 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1987

Appears in:

1,408 charts

Rank Score:

10,706

Rank in 1987:

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Average Rating:

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16.

"A good argument can be made that Paul shouldn’t have made this record. At least not when he did, or in the manner in which he did, but...I’m glad he did because there are virtually no records that I enjoy listening to more than this one." Reply

Droophus | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

1,148 charts

Rank Score:

10,420

Rank in 1986:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

122

Average Rating:

81 (1,369 votes)

Comments:

17.

Spirit Of Eden

Talk Talk

"Talk Talk had long left their pop sound (which was also great just different than this) and the styles of day were far from what they were doing, so this album sort of went unnoticed at the moment only to be discovered as a masterpiece later. Worthy of long listens." Reply

- vesander | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

935 charts

Rank Score:

10,218

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

127

Average Rating:

84 (1,017 votes)

Comments:

18.

Back In Black

AC/DC

"-Hey, we need a chorus for "Highway to hell". -Ok. What about "I'm on a highway to hell, highway to hell, highway to hell, highway to hell"? -Cool. We also need a chorus for "You shook me all night long". -I've got it. We could say, you know, "you shook me all night long, yeah, you shook me all n..." [+] Reply

9999 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +10 votes (10 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

1,286 charts

Rank Score:

9,866

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

133

Average Rating:

80 (1,891 votes)

Comments:

142

19.

Murmur

R.E.M.

"A fun and crisp sounding album. It does seem boring at first listen but it might click after a couple listens, and it is sophisticated while still seeming simple. That being said, I still feel like it’s influence, like nirvanas nevermind, outweighs its actual musical quality. The only song that r..." [+] Reply

- CJMishellsan | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

1,157 charts

Rank Score:

9,662

Rank in 1983:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

137

Average Rating:

83 (1,431 votes)

Comments:

20.

Ride The Lightning

Metallica

"The thing with Metallica, is that most of their songs don't need to be as long as they are. They just have an amazing 3 or 4 minutes, and drag out for another 4. Even though this album is one of their shorter ones, it suffers from that." Reply