Top 20 Music Albums of 1981 by mrmcrook

Fucking great year. Usually the last few albums in a year list are duds. Not this year. All top notch. Hard to put in a definitive order. Compilations, greatest hits etc ranked after studio albums. Only fair in a year list.

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Buy album United States
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By far Leppard's best album. This rocks right through. One of the greatest albums from the NWOBHM heyday. An absolute classic. All downhill after this as they went more commercial. [First added to this chart: 10/02/2020]
Year of Release:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
604
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Buy album United States
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Rediscovered this after 30 years lost. Raw hard pub rock. If the production was better this would be an ultimate classic. Every song a gem. [First added to this chart: 10/02/2020]
Year of Release:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
43
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Buy album United States
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Not up to the caliber of 'Heaven and Hell' but not far off. Dio's second effort still produces a solid bit of work. Goes up and down in the pace and tempo of the songs making it a bit of a mish mash as far as flow goes. But still a great album. I rate this above any of Dio's solo albums except for 'Holy Diver' 03/24 [First added to this chart: 10/02/2020]
Year of Release:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
692
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Buy album United States
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[First added to this chart: 10/02/2020]
Year of Release:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,083
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Buy album United States
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Great follow up to 'Back in Black'. It gave me a bit of faith in Brian. Then it turned to shit and was all downhill after this. Definitely the 2nd best he has done as vocalist. A lot of good songs on this right through. Worthy to have in a collection [First added to this chart: 10/02/2020]
Year of Release:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
604
Rank in 1981:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album United States
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[First added to this chart: 10/02/2020]
Year of Release:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
63
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Buy album United States
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Great album. One of the staples within the NWOBHM era. A lot of classic killer tracks. Worthy in any metal collection. Some cheesy lyrics but we can look past that. 03/24 [First added to this chart: 10/02/2020]
Year of Release:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
218
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Buy album United States
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Not as strong as there debut but still with a lot of great songs. A few of them have a bit of a same feel about them and Di'Anno's vocals aren't quite up to par as with the first album. But still a great album which deserves to be about where it seems to be placed in the rankings of Maiden albums. There's a few that are better, there are more that are worse. 02/24 [First added to this chart: 10/02/2020]
Year of Release:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,266
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Overall Rank:
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Comments:
Buy album United States
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Short, fast, furious with the majority of songs just topping the minute mark. Try singing along to them. Not a shit show. How Jello can verbalize at the speed he does is beyond me. This is probably more one for the fanatic DK fans. Wouldn't be the one to introduce them to newcomers. Favorite line is from 'Moral Majority' - "Masturbating with a flag and a bible." Hilarious as ever. [First added to this chart: 10/02/2020]
Year of Release:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
194
Rank in 1981:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album United States
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  • iTunes
  • Spotify
  • #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 10/02/2020]
Year of Release:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
31
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Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
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Total albums: 20. Page 1 of 2

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Top 20 Music Albums of 1981 composition

Artist Albums %


Def Leppard 1 5%
The Tubes 1 5%
Rose Tattoo 1 5%
Judas Priest 1 5%
Black Sabbath 1 5%
Black Flag 1 5%
Grace Jones 1 5%
Show all
Country Albums %


United Kingdom 10 50%
United States 5 25%
Australia 2 10%
Mixed Nationality 1 5%
New Zealand 1 5%
Jamaica 1 5%
Compilation? Albums %
No 15 75%
Yes 5 25%

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Top 5 Music Albums of 1989 by mrmcrook (2023)
Top 14 Music Albums of 1988 by mrmcrook (2024)
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Top 18 Music Albums of 1983 by mrmcrook (2024)
Top 12 Music Albums of 1982 by mrmcrook (2024)
Top 22 Music Albums of 1980 by mrmcrook (2024)

Top 20 Music Albums of 1981 ratings

Average Rating: 
88/100 (from 2 votes)
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03/16/2024 23:05 Repo  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 473100/100
  
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From 03/16/2024 23:08
Rose Tattoo are sooo underrated and glad you have it ahead of For Those About To.... I actually like Flick of The Switch better than it.

Great call! High N' Dry is easily my fave too but man do I have a soft spot for Pyromania.
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