Best Albums of 1980
Explore the best albums of 1980, based on over 2 million album rankings across 60,000 charts.
Last updated: 1 hour ago.
Last updated: 1 hour ago.
"If I had to describe this album in two words - crazy and fresh. It sounds fresh even today, so I can't believe how mind blowing it was in 1980. It takes sound of this band which was much improved on the Fear Of Music even higher. Starts with Born Under Punches - ond of the best here - and attacks..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
26,712
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"the ending to this album is remarkable. probably one of the best endings to an album ever" Reply
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
14,548
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"-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)
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:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
9,836
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"The last iconic Bowie album before Outside and The Next Day. David Bowie missed a bit of direction needed in the 80's, but this album does NOT succumb to that. This is a good album, and a quite experimental one at that." Reply
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
5,409
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"One of my favorite punk albums ever. It's an album that pretty much embodies punk as a genre. It's fast, wild, rebellious, anti-establishment, and everything else thats great about punk. Holiday In Cambodia is an absolute classic punk track" Reply
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
4,542
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Peter Gabriel's first masterpiece. He's finally found his solo voice after two slightly ambitious and uncertain albums. Here though, is the start of the Peter Gabriel sound, these are the kind of songs you associate with him. Great songs here, games without frontiers, family snapshot, and, I don'..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
4,002
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"The River album is as commented by other users very long But the songwriting / story telling on this album and the diversity of subject matter and differing styles of the songs is sublime ! I would therefore not be able to pick a track to omit from the record! Therefore it is very long , but very..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,811
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"My favourite Rush. It's incredibly consistent and good, every song was my favourite at some moment and this is all around one of the best albums to listen to at any given time. Currently, my favourites of the bunch are Different Strings, Jacob's Ladder and Freewill." Reply
- 
LedZep | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,973
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Chrissie Hynde's provocative band project rocks as hard as any male dominant group on The Pretenders alt-rock eponymous release. James Honeyman-Scott's multidimensional lead guitar playing is on par with the greats of the time. The bone crunching drumming of Martin Chambers and bassist Peter Farn..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,830
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"This album is a masterpiece on how to create a specific atmosphere throughout the whole record. I find that atmosphere to be calming and contemplative and I like very much to play this album followed by "Faith" and "Pornography" to create a couple of hours of very enjoyable music in a similar moo..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,738
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 1,000. Page 1 of 100
Best Albums of 1980 composition
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| Various Artists | 24 | 2% | |
| Cabaret Voltaire | 4 | 0% | |
| Joseph Keilberth / Bayreuth Festival Choir & Orchestra | 3 | 0% | |
| Linda Ronstadt | 2 | 0% | |
| Cockney Rejects | 2 | 0% | |
| Status Quo | 2 | 0% | |
| Throbbing Gristle | 2 | 0% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
 |
304 | 30% | |
 |
293 | 29% | |
 |
49 | 5% | |
 |
48 | 5% | |
 |
38 | 4% | |
 |
32 | 3% | |
 |
31 | 3% | |
| Show all | |||
