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 54,000 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	2,197	193,846	Remain In Light (26th)by Talking Heads
1981	2,232	120,841	Moving Pictures (155th)by Rush
1982	2,186	147,863	Thriller (72nd)by Michael Jackson
1983	2,230	135,228	Murmur (139th)by R.E.M.
1984	2,195	169,925	Purple Rain (79th)by Prince And The Revolution
1985	2,222	143,945	Hounds Of Love (56th)by Kate Bush
1986	2,339	169,225	The Queen Is Dead (17th)by The Smiths
1987	2,552	161,124	The Joshua Tree (53rd)by U2
1988	2,643	151,950	Daydream Nation (71st)by Sonic Youth
1989	2,678	196,977	Doolittle (19th)by Pixies
Total	23,474	1,590,924

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

View chart at point in time

Share this chart

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

Sort by

41.

Nebraska

Bruce Springsteen

Year of Release:

1982

Appears in:

714 charts

Rank Score:

5,778

Rank in 1982:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

311

Average Rating:

80 (966 votes)

Comments:

42.

Synchronicity

The Police

Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

799 charts

Rank Score:

5,536

Rank in 1983:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

321

Average Rating:

79 (1,022 votes)

Comments:

43.

War

Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

759 charts

Rank Score:

5,523

Rank in 1983:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

322

Average Rating:

79 (1,182 votes)

Comments:

44.

Songs From The Big Chair

Tears For Fears

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

613 charts

Rank Score:

5,344

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

335

Average Rating:

79 (663 votes)

Comments:

45.

Speaking In Tongues

Talking Heads

Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

606 charts

Rank Score:

5,270

Rank in 1983:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

340

Average Rating:

81 (772 votes)

Comments:

46.

...And Justice For All

Metallica

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

623 charts

Rank Score:

5,164

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

346

Average Rating:

80 (1,130 votes)

Comments:

47.

Double Nickels On The Dime

Minutemen

Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

572 charts

Rank Score:

5,076

Rank in 1984:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

350

Average Rating:

80 (628 votes)

Comments:

48.

Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables

Dead Kennedys

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

669 charts

Rank Score:

4,917

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

359

Average Rating:

80 (741 votes)

Comments:

49.

Skylarking

XTC

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

582 charts

Rank Score:

4,859

Rank in 1986:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

368

Average Rating:

80 (621 votes)

Comments:

50.

Document

R.E.M.

Year of Release:

1987

Appears in:

684 charts

Rank Score:

4,834

Rank in 1987:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

369

Average Rating:

80 (906 votes)

Comments:

« prev
1
...
4
5
6
...
100
next »
Goto Page:

Total albums: 1,000. Page 5 of 100

Best Albums of the 1980s composition

Year	Albums	%

1980	118	12%
1981	121	12%
1982	108	11%
1983	98	10%
1984	101	10%
1985	80	8%
1986	95	10%
1987	89	9%
1988	94	9%
1989	96	10%

Artist	Albums	%

The Cure	10	1%
Depeche Mode	8	1%
Iron Maiden	8	1%
The Smiths	8	1%
Rush	8	1%
R.E.M.	7	1%
The Fall	7	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	416	42%
	390	39%
	41	4%
	26	3%
	23	2%
	22	2%
	12	1%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	967	97%
Yes	33	3%

Live?	Albums	%
No	979	98%
Yes	21	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.

Best Albums of 2000
1. Kid A by Radiohead
2. Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven by Godspeed You! Black Emperor
3. The Moon & Antarctica by Modest Mouse
4. Since I Left You by The Avalanches
5. Parachutes by Coldplay
6. The Marshall Mathers LP by Eminem
7. Stankonia by OutKast
8. Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea by PJ Harvey
9. Relationship Of Command by At The Drive-In
10. White Pony by Deftones
11. Voodoo by D'Angelo
12. Rated R by Queens Of The Stone Age
13. Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park
14. Figure 8 by Elliott Smith
15. All That You Can't Leave Behind by U2
16. Dopethrone by Electric Wizard
17. The Sophtware Slump by Grandaddy
18. De Stijl by The White Stripes
19. And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out by Yo La Tengo
20. Deltron 3030 by Deltron 3030