Best Albums of the 1980s
Explore the best albums of the 1980s, based on over 2 million album rankings across 60,000 charts
Click to see how the rankings are calculated
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Last updated: 7 hours ago
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"Mr. Yoakam made a fine record here. It still sounds fresh after 30 years. I only wish country music had followed his lead." Reply
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"After the strong debut an even better follow up… The highlight of their career" Reply
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"Great record in the tradition of the Orbison sound. Jammed with rockabilly and heartfelt romance. How Fade Away never was a hit is beyond me." Reply
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"In only three sentences: The Sistine Chapel of jazz orchestral. The most perfect swing machine of all time. One unique combination of matemathics and freedom." Reply
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"The problem with past masters is that it does exactly what it says on the tin. It mops up all the band's official songs not released on an album, I.e., singles, b-sides, and e.p tracks. You can't argue with the quality of the music, but it feels insubstantial. The jump of two years between rain, ..." Reply
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"Lovely record. Not as creative as Autumn, but perfectly captures a meditative/melancholy side of the season." Reply
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"An alright live album, the documentary is actually a lot better." Reply
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lightmyway | Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 1
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"This isn't Miami nor Fire Of Love , its more lush and produced . Breaking Hands is the best thing here and almost unrecognizable as a Gun Club track. Not as good as the 2 previous mentioned albums but good enough none the less" Reply
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Brad1770 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 0
A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Total albums: 1,000. Page 100 of 100
Best Albums of the 1980s composition
| Year | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 117 | 12% | |
| 1981 | 120 | 12% | |
| 1982 | 108 | 11% | |
| 1983 | 96 | 10% | |
| 1984 | 100 | 10% | |
| 1985 | 87 | 9% | |
| 1986 | 93 | 9% | |
| 1987 | 87 | 9% | |
| 1988 | 100 | 10% | |
| 1989 | 92 | 9% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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| The Cure | 10 | 1% | |
| Depeche Mode | 8 | 1% | |
| Elvis Costello | 8 | 1% | |
| The Smiths | 8 | 1% | |
| Rush | 8 | 1% | |
| XTC | 8 | 1% | |
| Prince | 8 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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411 | 41% | |
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392 | 39% | |
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40 | 4% | |
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28 | 3% | |
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23 | 2% | |
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21 | 2% | |
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11 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
Best Albums of the 1980s chart changes
| Biggest climbers Biggest climbers in top 100 since last month |
|---|
Up 4 from 62nd to 58th |
Up 2 from 100th to 98th |
Up 2 from 96th to 94th |
| Biggest fallers Biggest fallers in top 100 since last month |
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Down 3 from 56th to 59th |
Down 2 from 39th to 41st |
Down 2 from 59th to 61st |
