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	2,131	193,911	Remain In Light (27th)by Talking Heads
1981	2,176	120,600	Moving Pictures (156th)by Rush
1982	2,138	148,324	Thriller (76th)by Michael Jackson
1983	2,151	135,620	Murmur (143rd)by R.E.M.
1984	2,153	170,972	Purple Rain (81st)by Prince And The Revolution
1985	2,166	144,142	Hounds Of Love (58th)by Kate Bush
1986	2,282	170,074	The Queen Is Dead (17th)by The Smiths
1987	2,481	162,479	The Joshua Tree (52nd)by U2
1988	2,567	151,841	Daydream Nation (69th)by Sonic Youth
1989	2,591	197,494	Doolittle (18th)by Pixies
Total	22,836	1,595,457

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

991.

It's Only Right And Natural

The Frogs

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

29 charts

Rank Score:

191

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

991

Overall Rank:

6,723

Average Rating:

67 (39 votes)

Comments:

992.

Don't Tell A Soul

The Replacements

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

56 charts

Rank Score:

191

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

992

Overall Rank:

6,728

Average Rating:

71 (98 votes)

Comments:

993.

Beat Happening

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

61 charts

Rank Score:

191

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

993

Overall Rank:

6,731

Average Rating:

73 (75 votes)

Comments:

994.

Caifanes

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

47 charts

Rank Score:

191

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

994

Overall Rank:

6,734

Average Rating:

79 (35 votes)

Comments:

995.

Skyscraper

David Lee Roth

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

42 charts

Rank Score:

191

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

995

Overall Rank:

6,737

Average Rating:

73 (56 votes)

Comments:

996.

Theatre Of Pain

Mötley Crüe

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

55 charts

Rank Score:

191

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

996

Overall Rank:

6,738

Average Rating:

64 (108 votes)

Comments:

997.

Blue Blood

X Japan

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

17 charts

Rank Score:

191

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

997

Overall Rank:

6,743

Average Rating:

74 (30 votes)

Comments:

998.

The New Order

Testament

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

60 charts

Rank Score:

190

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

998

Overall Rank:

6,761

Average Rating:

77 (68 votes)

Comments:

999.

Tonight

David Bowie

Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

102 charts

Rank Score:

190

Rank in 1984:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

1000.

Filigree & Shadow

This Mortal Coil

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

62 charts

Rank Score:

190

Rank in 1986:

Rank in 1980s:

1,000

Overall Rank:

6,773

Average Rating:

75 (66 votes)

Comments:

« prev
1
2
3
...
98
99
100
next »
Goto Page:

Total albums: 1,000. Page 100 of 100

Best Albums of the 1980s composition

Year	Albums	%

1980	117	12%
1981	123	12%
1982	110	11%
1983	96	10%
1984	102	10%
1985	81	8%
1986	93	9%
1987	86	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%
Talking Heads	7	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	416	42%
	385	39%
	41	4%
	27	3%
	23	2%
	22	2%
	12	1%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	967	97%
Yes	33	3%

Live?	Albums	%
No	978	98%
Yes	22	2%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	988	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 4db: US (Minor Artists) by Moondance (2024)
2. Top albums of all time by female artists (100 - 200) by Johnnyo (2024)
3. Top 78 Music Albums of 1943 by Olli (2024)
4. Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s by TroutMaskGreg (2024)
5. Top 100 Music Albums of 1978 by Johnnyo (2024)
6. Top 96 Music Albums of 1946 by Olli (2024)
7. 2. Top 20 Music Albums of the 1930s by Olli (2024)
8. Top albums of 1978 (101 - 200) by Johnnyo (2024)
9. Dylan covers 6: Danish artists by Moondance (2024)
10. Top 17 Music Albums of 1995 by TroutMaskGreg (2024)
11. Top 64 Music Albums of 1993 by Purplepash (2024)
12. Top 84 Music Albums of 1993 by jeremy9 (2024)
13. Fast by cicadelic (2024)
14. Dylan Covers 5cb: UK - minor artists by Moondance (2024)
15. Tonspion Die 50 besten Alben des Jahres 2017 by cicadelic (2024)
16. Top 3 Music Albums of 2024 by Moondance (2024)
17. Top 51 Music Albums of 2023 by rkm (2024)
18. Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by areminder (2024)
19. Top 52 Music Albums of 2018 by rkm (2024)
20. Top 38 Music Albums of 2013 by PAPPITUFO (2024)