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 50,000 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	2,032	199,824	Remain In Light (29th)by Talking Heads
1981	2,065	123,190	Moving Pictures (152nd)by Rush (CA)
1982	2,027	149,909	Thriller (79th)by Michael Jackson
1983	2,016	137,740	Murmur (146th)by R.E.M.
1984	2,034	175,004	Purple Rain (81st)by Prince And The Revolution
1985	2,006	145,582	Hounds Of Love (61st)by Kate Bush
1986	2,106	175,544	The Queen Is Dead (17th)by The Smiths
1987	2,290	167,148	The Joshua Tree (52nd)by U2
1988	2,441	157,289	Daydream Nation (70th)by Sonic Youth
1989	2,446	204,950	Doolittle (18th)by Pixies
Total	21,463	1,636,181

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

View chart at point in time

Share this chart

Share | |

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

Sort by

The Queen Is Dead

The Smiths

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

2,372 charts

Rank Score:

41,212

Rank in 1986:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

88 (2,778 votes)

Comments:

260

Doolittle

Pixies

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

2,457 charts

Rank Score:

40,608

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

1,907 charts

Rank Score:

32,211

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

1,722 charts

Rank Score:

28,630

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

86 (1,918 votes)

Comments:

145

The Stone Roses

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

1,932 charts

Rank Score:

27,517

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

86 (2,193 votes)

Comments:

202

The Joshua Tree

Year of Release:

1987

Appears in:

1,789 charts

Rank Score:

21,174

Rank in 1987:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

1,305 charts

Rank Score:

19,981

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

85 (1,297 votes)

Comments:

Daydream Nation

Sonic Youth

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

1,507 charts

Rank Score:

18,755

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

84 (1,793 votes)

Comments:

143

Closer

Joy Division

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

1,421 charts

Rank Score:

17,975

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

10.

Year of Release:

1982

Appears in:

1,537 charts

Rank Score:

17,761

Rank in 1982:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

82 (2,054 votes)

Comments:

158

« prev
1
2
3
4
...
99
100
next »
Goto Page:

Total albums: 1,000. Page 1 of 100

Best Albums of the 1980s composition

Year	Albums	%

1980	112	11%
1981	121	12%
1982	110	11%
1983	95	10%
1984	102	10%
1985	83	8%
1986	98	10%
1987	87	9%
1988	93	9%
1989	99	10%

Artist	Albums	%

The Cure	10	1%
Rush (CA)	8	1%
Iron Maiden	8	1%
Depeche Mode	8	1%
Talking Heads	7	1%
U2	7	1%
The Fall	7	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	414	41%
	395	40%
	34	3%
	30	3%
	24	2%
	23	2%
	12	1%
Show all

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

Live?	Albums	%
No	978	98%
Yes	22	2%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	988	99%
Yes	12	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.

Recognised Year Charts (2022)
1. Top 10 Albums of the Year 2022 by Bleep (2022)
2. The 50 Best Albums of 2022 by Billboard (2022)
3. Top 40 Albums of 2022 by Decibel (2022)
4. Albumism's 100 Best Albums of 2022 by Albumism (2022)
5. Best Albums of 2022 by Passion of the Weiss (2022)
6. KCRW's Best Albums of 2022 by KCRW (2022)
7. Les Inrocks Albums of the Year 2022 by Les Inrocks (2022)
8. The 10 Best Albums of 2022 by The Atlantic (2022)
9. Top 50 Albums of 2022 by The Needle Drop (2022)
10. The 50 Best Albums of 2022 by NPR (2022)
11. The Wire's Top 50 Releases of 2022 by The Wire (2022)
12. NME Albums Of The Year 2022 by New Music Express (2022)
13. Top 50 Albums of 2022 by The Alternative (2022)
14. Top 50 Albums of 2022 by Vive Le Rock! (2022)
15. Albums Of The Year 2022 by Rough Trade (2022)
16. BPM’s Top 50 Albums Of 2022 by Beats Per Minute (2022)
17. Quietus Albums Of The Year 2022 by The Quietus (2022)
18. The best albums of 2022 by Independent (2022)
19. Kerrang!'s Albums Of 2022 by Kerrang! (2022)
20. The 50 best albums of 2022 by Double J (2022)