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	2,125	194,404	Remain In Light (27th)by Talking Heads
1981	2,158	120,365	Moving Pictures (154th)by Rush
1982	2,132	148,159	Thriller (77th)by Michael Jackson
1983	2,130	135,670	Murmur (143rd)by R.E.M.
1984	2,140	171,155	Purple Rain (81st)by Prince And The Revolution
1985	2,140	143,883	Hounds Of Love (59th)by Kate Bush
1986	2,269	170,541	The Queen Is Dead (17th)by The Smiths
1987	2,469	162,395	The Joshua Tree (52nd)by U2
1988	2,563	151,890	Daydream Nation (69th)by Sonic Youth
1989	2,583	197,561	Doolittle (18th)by Pixies
Total	22,709	1,596,023

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

41.

Nebraska

Bruce Springsteen

Year of Release:

1982

Appears in:

701 charts

Rank Score:

5,720

Rank in 1982:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

314

Average Rating:

80 (962 votes)

Comments:

42.

Synchronicity

The Police

Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

782 charts

Rank Score:

5,543

Rank in 1983:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

328

Average Rating:

79 (1,012 votes)

Comments:

43.

War

Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

742 charts

Rank Score:

5,516

Rank in 1983:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

330

Average Rating:

79 (1,177 votes)

Comments:

44.

Songs From The Big Chair

Tears For Fears

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

596 charts

Rank Score:

5,418

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

336

Average Rating:

79 (656 votes)

Comments:

45.

Speaking In Tongues

Talking Heads

Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

595 charts

Rank Score:

5,181

Rank in 1983:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

347

Average Rating:

81 (764 votes)

Comments:

46.

Double Nickels On The Dime

Minutemen

Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

565 charts

Rank Score:

5,170

Rank in 1984:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

348

Average Rating:

80 (624 votes)

Comments:

47.

...And Justice For All

Metallica

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

609 charts

Rank Score:

5,033

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

361

Average Rating:

79 (1,120 votes)

Comments:

48.

Skylarking

XTC

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

571 charts

Rank Score:

4,948

Rank in 1986:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

366

Average Rating:

80 (621 votes)

Comments:

49.

Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables

Dead Kennedys

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

663 charts

Rank Score:

4,902

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

368

Average Rating:

80 (735 votes)

Comments:

50.

Swordfishtrombones

Tom Waits

Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

607 charts

Rank Score:

4,859

Rank in 1983:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

370

Average Rating:

81 (733 votes)

Comments:

« prev
1
...
4
5
6
...
100
next »
Goto Page:

Total albums: 1,000. Page 5 of 100

Best Albums of the 1980s composition

Year	Albums	%

1980	117	12%
1981	122	12%
1982	111	11%
1983	96	10%
1984	102	10%
1985	80	8%
1986	95	10%
1987	86	9%
1988	93	9%
1989	98	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%
	23	2%
	12	1%
Show all

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

Live?	Albums	%
No	977	98%
Yes	23	2%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	987	99%
Yes	13	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. Top 25 Music Albums of 2010 by Jamie (2024)
2. Top 34 Music Albums of 2003 by Jamie (2024)
3. Top 22 Music Albums of 2002 by Jamie (2024)
4. Top 18 Music Albums of 2018 by cicadelic (2024)
5. Top 29 Music Albums of 2000 by Jamie (2024)
6. Top 100 Music Albums of 1982 by PAPPITUFO (2024)
7. Samplers by Liedzeit (2024)
8. Top 84 Music Albums of 2024 by WayneMC (2024)
9. Dylan covers 6: Irish artists by Moondance (2024)
10. Top 14 Music Albums of 2024 by jeremy9 (2024)
11. Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s by drstuey (2024)
12. Dylan covers 6: Netherlands artists by Moondance (2024)
13. Dylan covers 6: Belgium artists by Moondance (2024)
14. Top 18 Music Albums of 2024 by Juneof44 (2024)
15. Top 100 Music Albums of 1999 by jeremy9 (2024)
16. Top 2 Music Albums of 1961 by Liedzeit (2024)
17. Top 16 Music Albums of 1991 by Liedzeit (2024)
18. Top 39 Music Albums of 1981 by joathome (2024)
19. Top 64 Music Albums of 1981 by PAPPITUFO (2024)
20. Top 81 Music Albums of 1980 by PAPPITUFO (2024)