Best Albums of the 1980s
Explore the best albums of the 1980s, based on over 2 million album rankings across 60,000 charts
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"I saw the video for In The Neighbourhood on TV and went out and bought my first Tom Waits album the next day. I now have many other albums by Tom Waits, but this is still my favourite. Shore Leave is an amazing track." Reply
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lancashirearab | Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 3
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.
Year of Release:
1983
Appears in:
Rank Score:
4,455
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"Brilliant production from Todd, excellent songs from the band, and they mesh together wonderfully. The best song on this album is "Dear God," though that's not technically on the album. "Grass," "Ballet for a Rainy Day," and "Earn Enough For Us" are all top tracks as well, and there isn't a weak ..." Reply
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Sandinistar | Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 4
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Year of Release:
1986
Appears in:
Rank Score:
4,450
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"Another Part of Me is his best song." Reply
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joannajewsom | Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 6
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Year of Release:
1987
Appears in:
Rank Score:
4,287
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"The original 9-track album, the one listed on this site, is a pretty OK live album, but the concert film that this is taken from, and the 1999 re-release of the album that contains all of the tracks from the film, is the kind of thing that will make you never be able to appreciate concerts the sa..." Reply
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Onater | Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 2
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Year of Release:
1984
Appears in:
Rank Score:
4,251
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"Turbulent, romantic, and fiercely feminine, this album never fails to blow me away. I heard it for the first time as a teen reading Wuthering Heights and thought it was the perfect soundtrack for that book. And I stand by that. The sound is forceful, emotionally raw, and so very BIG. It is stylis..." Reply
Year of Release:
1984
Appears in:
Rank Score:
4,090
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"Surprised myself with how much I dug this album as metal is far from my usual shtick. The anthemic riffs, solos and power chords utterly kick some serious butt If you can’t be bothered listening to the entire album (and really you should) then at the very least power up the final two tracks in “P..." Reply
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Brad1770 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 2
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Year of Release:
1984
Appears in:
Rank Score:
4,025
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"I put it on and the first track I was all like "Oh it's all like synthpop" but then this jangly guitar shit started bursting out with all this stand up bass and I was like "WWWWOOOOAAAHHHH" then all these kids started singing out of tune and I was like "WUT THEY OUT OF TUNE" but then I realized T..." Reply
Year of Release:
1986
Appears in:
Rank Score:
4,000
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"Isn't It A Pity is a damn good song... This album is a strange experience, the guitars generally sound fantastic, but the vocals can REALLY throw you off if you're not ready for FLAT high notes. Somehow it doesn't steal from the experience for me, however. LOOK AT MY BLUE THUNDER!" Reply
Year of Release:
1989
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,976
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"One of the surprise hits of the eighties, Tracy Chapman's debut is a beautiful album of lovely songs. Fast car, is off course a classic, one of the best songs of the 1980's, but there are plenty of other great songs here; talkin' bout a revolution, mountain o' things, for my lover, across the lin..." Reply
Year of Release:
1988
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,955
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"it's still a question to me, how genesis could continue after this alien-genius-musician has left the band. this album has all a masterpiece needs. it's fantastic-strange with nearly no moments of exhaustion. to the contrary: it's abnormal - but one like listen to it." Reply
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timtooky | Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 5
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Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,953
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Total albums: 1,000. Page 6 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 | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| 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% | |
| |
392 | 39% | |
 |
40 | 4% | |
 |
28 | 3% | |
 |
23 | 2% | |
 |
21 | 2% | |
 |
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 97th to 95th |
Up 2 from 94th to 92nd |
| Biggest fallers Biggest fallers in top 100 since last month |
|---|
Down 4 from 57th to 61st |
Down 2 from 33rd to 35th |
Down 2 from 38th to 40th |
