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 53,000 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	2,134	193,862	Remain In Light (27th)by Talking Heads
1981	2,176	120,565	Moving Pictures (156th)by Rush
1982	2,140	148,217	Thriller (76th)by Michael Jackson
1983	2,154	135,570	Murmur (144th)by R.E.M.
1984	2,154	170,824	Purple Rain (81st)by Prince And The Revolution
1985	2,167	144,176	Hounds Of Love (57th)by Kate Bush
1986	2,284	170,063	The Queen Is Dead (17th)by The Smiths
1987	2,489	162,455	The Joshua Tree (52nd)by U2
1988	2,567	151,786	Daydream Nation (69th)by Sonic Youth
1989	2,593	197,509	Doolittle (18th)by Pixies
Total	22,858	1,595,027

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

161.

Piece Of Mind

Iron Maiden

Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

303 charts

Rank Score:

1,713

Rank in 1983:

Rank in 1980s:

161

Overall Rank:

1,031

Average Rating:

80 (502 votes)

Comments:

162.

Los Angeles

X (US)

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

316 charts

Rank Score:

1,696

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

162

Overall Rank:

1,043

Average Rating:

77 (341 votes)

Comments:

163.

Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?

Megadeth

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

276 charts

Rank Score:

1,685

Rank in 1986:

Rank in 1980s:

163

Overall Rank:

1,050

Average Rating:

78 (400 votes)

Comments:

164.

Meat Puppets II

Meat Puppets

Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

290 charts

Rank Score:

1,678

Rank in 1984:

Rank in 1980s:

164

Overall Rank:

1,053

Average Rating:

78 (342 votes)

Comments:

165.

Ghost In The Machine

The Police

Year of Release:

1981

Appears in:

380 charts

Rank Score:

1,676

Rank in 1981:

Rank in 1980s:

165

Overall Rank:

1,055

Average Rating:

75 (514 votes)

Comments:

166.

Big Science

Laurie Anderson

Year of Release:

1982

Appears in:

233 charts

Rank Score:

1,661

Rank in 1982:

Rank in 1980s:

166

Overall Rank:

1,064

Average Rating:

78 (229 votes)

Comments:

167.

Tango In The Night

Fleetwood Mac

Year of Release:

1987

Appears in:

286 charts

Rank Score:

1,652

Rank in 1987:

Rank in 1980s:

167

Overall Rank:

1,068

Average Rating:

75 (395 votes)

Comments:

168.

Zenyatta Mondatta

The Police

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

337 charts

Rank Score:

1,651

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

168

Overall Rank:

1,069

Average Rating:

76 (509 votes)

Comments:

169.

The Ascension

Glenn Branca

Year of Release:

1981

Appears in:

204 charts

Rank Score:

1,646

Rank in 1981:

Rank in 1980s:

169

Overall Rank:

1,073

Average Rating:

78 (202 votes)

Comments:

170.

Tunnel Of Love

Bruce Springsteen

Year of Release:

1987

Appears in:

288 charts

Rank Score:

1,622

Rank in 1987:

Rank in 1980s:

170

Overall Rank:

1,083

Average Rating:

75 (509 votes)

Comments:

« prev
1
...
16
17
18
...
100
next »
Goto Page:

Total albums: 1,000. Page 17 of 100

Best Albums of the 1980s composition

Year	Albums	%

1980	118	12%
1981	123	12%
1982	110	11%
1983	96	10%
1984	102	10%
1985	81	8%
1986	93	9%
1987	88	9%
1988	93	9%
1989	99	10%

Artist	Albums	%

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

Country	Albums	%

	416	41%
	386	38%
	41	4%
	27	3%
	23	2%
	23	2%
	12	1%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	970	97%
Yes	33	3%

Live?	Albums	%
No	981	98%
Yes	22	2%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	991	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.

Recent Member Charts
1. Dylan covers 6: Netherlands artists by Moondance (2024)
2. Top albums of all time by female artists (100 - 200) by Johnnyo (2024)
3. Top 23 Music Albums of 2015 by TroutMaskGreg (2024)
4. Upload Data Archive 13 by NoisyBeast (2024)
5. Dylan Covers 5cb: UK - minor artists by Moondance (2024)
6. Dylan covers 4m: US overflow by Moondance (2024)
7. Dylan covers 6: Belgium artists by Moondance (2024)
8. Fast by cicadelic (2024)
9. Top 12 Music Albums of 2021 by Ottokar (2024)
10. Filing in the gaps in discographies 2 by Johnnyo (2024)
11. Top 21 Music Albums of 2024 by sssvnnn (2024)
12. Top 31 Music Albums of 2024 by zags7000 (2024)
13. Top 74 Music Albums of 2009 by Johnnyo (2024)
14. Top 82 Music Albums of 2012 by Johnnyo (2024)
15. African music by Johnnyo (2024)
16. Top 88 Music Albums of 2019 by Johnnyo (2024)
17. Top 66 Music Albums of 2021 by Johnnyo (2024)
18. Top 21 Music Albums of 2001 by TroutMaskGreg (2024)
19. Top 57 Music Albums of 1970 by AAL2014 (2024)
20. Missing Albums at BEA by PAPPITUFO (2024)