Best Albums of 1986
Explore the best albums of 1986, based on over 2 million album rankings across 60,000 charts.
Click to see how the rankings are calculated
Last updated: 5 hours ago
Last updated: 5 hours ago
"The Smiths are my favorite band of the 80s hands down, and this is their true masterpiece. Not putting this at number 1 was a hard decision for me, because I literally cant count how many times I've hard all these songs. And they dont get old. Its weird, I literally cannont get tired of this albu..." [+] Reply
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micah88800 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 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:
1986
Appears in:
Rank Score:
31,717
Rank in 1986:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"The Smiths' Queen is Dead is a good album, but M.O.P. is clearly the best of '86 and arguably the greatest metal album of all time. I'm in my mid-40's now and have had this in some form in my music collection for about 30 years now. The arrangements on this album are astounding and right up there..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1986
Appears in:
Rank Score:
12,173
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"Ray Phiri was an outstanding guitarist, whoever was on bass was innovative, everyone else sounded funky and Paul Simon is a genius. This is a supergroup to the level of Cream. Pity they didn't do anything else and there was so much controversy about Paul Simons visit. It was worthwhile and did no..." [+] Reply
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sheep21 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 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:
1986
Appears in:
Rank Score:
10,441
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Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"For a long time Peter Gabriel and the idea of a commercial breakthrough seemed polar opposites. With So Gabriel suddenly demonstrated that there was a market (again) for intelligent and well crafted songwriting." Reply
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swhaze | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +7 votes (7 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:
1986
Appears in:
Rank Score:
7,219
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Average Rating:
Comments:
"Perhaps my favorite album from 1986. Skylarking is XTC's Sgt. Pepper....literally. Andy Partridge was obviously OD'ing on mid 60s Beatles when he wrote this perfect album. No rock fan's collection should be without this gem!" Reply
Year of Release:
1986
Appears in:
Rank Score:
4,459
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Average Rating:
Comments:
"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:
3,986
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Average Rating:
Comments:
"Oh this album is so much fun. I'm being totally serious. It's heavy, loud, and fast. I have no idea how they can play and sing so fast but it really takes me by storm and makes my adrenaline pump. The high-pitched tales of the terrors of hell are awesomely hilarious. Completely over the top lyric..." [+] Reply
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dmercado | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 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:
1986
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,645
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Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Never understood why this album got virtually no attention during its time, even on college radio. The video for "Fall on Me" found its way onto MTV, but other than that, there was nothing. A pity, because that song was only one of a collection of the greatest music R.E.M. ever recorded. Rare is ..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1986
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,443
Rank in 1986:
Rank in 1980s:
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Average Rating:
Comments:
"Excellent album. Perfect blend of rock and hip hop." Reply
Year of Release:
1986
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,268
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Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Arguably DM's best album alongside Violator, Music for the Masses and Some Great Reward. DM always managed to make their depraved perversions sound like pleasant pop and this album is no exception. Stripped and Black Celebration are DM classics. Here Is the House and But Not Tonight are underrated." Reply
Year of Release:
1986
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,608
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Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 1,000. Page 1 of 100
Best Albums of 1986 composition
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
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|||
| Various Artists | 25 | 3% | |
| The Residents | 3 | 0% | |
| Frank Zappa | 3 | 0% | |
| Swans | 3 | 0% | |
| Wham! | 3 | 0% | |
| A Certain Ratio | 2 | 0% | |
| Pet Shop Boys | 2 | 0% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
 |
381 | 38% | |
 |
266 | 27% | |
 |
41 | 4% | |
 |
39 | 4% | |
 |
29 | 3% | |
 |
28 | 3% | |
 |
25 | 3% | |
| Show all | |||
Best Albums of 1986 chart changes
| Biggest climbers Biggest climbers in top 100 since last month |
|---|
Up 54 from 150th to 96th |
Up 22 from 96th to 74th |
Up 2 from 42nd to 40th |
| Biggest fallers Biggest fallers in top 100 since last month |
|---|
Down 3 from 95th to 98th |
Down 2 from 41st to 43rd |
Down 2 from 79th to 81st |
| New entries New entries in top 100 since last month |
|---|
Up 54 from 150th to 96th |
| Leavers Leavers from top 100 since last month |
|---|
Down 1 from 100th to 101st |
