Best Albums of 1980

« View best albums of 1979View best albums of 1981 »

Listed below are the best albums of 1980 as calculated from their overall rankings in over 53,000 greatest album charts.

Best albums by year or decade

Decade:

Year:

1980 year summaryThe best artists of 1980 were Talking Heads, Joy Division, AC/DC, David Bowie, Dead Kennedys, Peter Gabriel, Bruce Springsteen, The Cure, Rush and Pretenders.

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

Remain In Light

Talking Heads

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

1,968 charts

Rank Score:

30,713

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

87 (2,224 votes)

Comments:

193

Closer

Joy Division

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

1,458 charts

Rank Score:

16,694

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

85 (1,870 votes)

Comments:

123

Back In Black

AC/DC

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

1,240 charts

Rank Score:

11,259

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

134

Average Rating:

80 (1,835 votes)

Comments:

139

Scary Monsters... And Super Creeps

David Bowie

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

748 charts

Rank Score:

5,984

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

300

Average Rating:

81 (1,081 votes)

Comments:

Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables

Dead Kennedys

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

663 charts

Rank Score:

4,903

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

511 charts

Rank Score:

4,420

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

572 charts

Rank Score:

4,040

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

447

Average Rating:

79 (837 votes)

Comments:

Permanent Waves

Rush

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

437 charts

Rank Score:

3,234

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

479 charts

Rank Score:

3,002

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

589

Average Rating:

78 (566 votes)

Comments:

10.

Making Movies

Dire Straits

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

420 charts

Rank Score:

2,960

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

599

Average Rating:

78 (572 votes)

Comments:

« prev
1
2
3
4
...
99
100
next »
Goto Page:

Total albums: 1,000. Page 1 of 100

Best Albums of 1980 composition

Artist	Albums	%

Various Artists	22	2%
Cabaret Voltaire	4	0%
Tangerine Dream	3	0%
Joseph Keilberth / Bayreuth Festival Choir & Orchestra	3	0%
Scientist	2	0%
UB40	2	0%
Yes	2	0%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	314	31%
	293	29%
	52	5%
	43	4%
	36	4%
	34	3%
	31	3%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	944	94%
Yes	57	6%

Live?	Albums	%
No	962	96%
Yes	39	4%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	986	99%
Yes	15	1%

« View best albums of 1979View best albums of 1981 »

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.

Popular Charts
1. The Top 100 Albums by VH1 (2001)
2. The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time by Rolling Stone (2020)
3. The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time by New Music Express (2013)
4. 200 Greatest Albums of All Time by Uncut (2016)
5. Virgin All-Time Top 1000 Albums by Virgin (2000)
6. Top 100 Albums by ABC (2006)
7. The Definitive 200 by National Association of Recording Merchandisers (2007)
8. 100 Greatest Albums Ever by Q (2006)
9. Die 100 besten Platten des Jahrhunderts by Wiener (1999)
10. Greatest 100 Albums of All Time by The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums with NME (2006)
11. The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time by Consequence of Sound (2022)
12. Die 100 besten Alben der Musikgeschichte by radioeins (2019)
13. The Greatest Rock Albums by uDiscoverMusic (2015)
14. Mojo Readers: The 100 Greatest Albums Ever Made by Mojo (1996)
15. Die 100 Alben des Jahrhunderts by Spex (2000)
16. Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by Melody Maker (2000)
17. Die 20 besten Alben der Geschichte by Musikexpress.de (2011)
18. The 100 Greatest Albums Of All Time by Absolute Radio (2012)
19. Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by Channel 4 (2005)
20. 100 Greatest Albums Of All Time by The Sound (2018)