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 54,000 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	2,210	192,946	Remain In Light (26th)by Talking Heads
1981	2,247	120,615	Moving Pictures (157th)by Rush
1982	2,208	147,327	Thriller (73rd)by Michael Jackson
1983	2,227	135,089	Murmur (138th)by R.E.M.
1984	2,207	169,528	Purple Rain (79th)by Prince And The Revolution
1985	2,233	143,336	Hounds Of Love (56th)by Kate Bush
1986	2,346	168,530	The Queen Is Dead (17th)by The Smiths
1987	2,559	160,626	The Joshua Tree (52nd)by U2
1988	2,663	151,563	Daydream Nation (72nd)by Sonic Youth
1989	2,691	195,939	Doolittle (19th)by Pixies
Total	23,591	1,585,497

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:

310 charts

Rank Score:

1,711

Rank in 1983:

Rank in 1980s:

161

Overall Rank:

1,027

Average Rating:

80 (508 votes)

Comments:

162.

If I Should Fall From Grace With God

The Pogues

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

301 charts

Rank Score:

1,699

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

162

Overall Rank:

1,034

Average Rating:

78 (336 votes)

Comments:

163.

Script For A Jester's Tear

Marillion

Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

219 charts

Rank Score:

1,674

Rank in 1983:

Rank in 1980s:

163

Overall Rank:

1,049

Average Rating:

77 (251 votes)

Comments:

164.

Holy Diver

Dio

Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

272 charts

Rank Score:

1,665

Rank in 1983:

Rank in 1980s:

164

Overall Rank:

1,052

Average Rating:

77 (340 votes)

Comments:

165.

Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?

Megadeth

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

283 charts

Rank Score:

1,664

Rank in 1986:

Rank in 1980s:

165

Overall Rank:

1,053

Average Rating:

78 (403 votes)

Comments:

166.

Big Science

Laurie Anderson

Year of Release:

1982

Appears in:

239 charts

Rank Score:

1,649

Rank in 1982:

Rank in 1980s:

166

Overall Rank:

1,062

Average Rating:

78 (232 votes)

Comments:

167.

Tango In The Night

Fleetwood Mac

Year of Release:

1987

Appears in:

290 charts

Rank Score:

1,644

Rank in 1987:

Rank in 1980s:

167

Overall Rank:

1,069

Average Rating:

75 (400 votes)

Comments:

168.

The Ascension

Glenn Branca

Year of Release:

1981

Appears in:

209 charts

Rank Score:

1,640

Rank in 1981:

Rank in 1980s:

168

Overall Rank:

1,072

Average Rating:

79 (206 votes)

Comments:

169.

Tender Prey

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

304 charts

Rank Score:

1,635

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

169

Overall Rank:

1,077

Average Rating:

80 (328 votes)

Comments:

170.

Zenyatta Mondatta

The Police

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

343 charts

Rank Score:

1,633

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

170

Overall Rank:

1,079

Average Rating:

75 (514 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	121	12%
1982	107	11%
1983	98	10%
1984	103	10%
1985	79	8%
1986	95	10%
1987	88	9%
1988	96	10%
1989	96	10%

Artist	Albums	%

The Cure	10	1%
Rush	8	1%
Depeche Mode	8	1%
Iron Maiden	8	1%
The Smiths	8	1%
Talking Heads	7	1%
U2	7	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	415	41%
	392	39%
	39	4%
	27	3%
	23	2%
	22	2%
	12	1%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	970	97%
Yes	31	3%

Live?	Albums	%
No	978	98%
Yes	23	2%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	990	99%
Yes	11	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.

Member Levels
davidleewrong	Level 5
Cherrycolalover	Level 3
squirrelmonkey	Level 3
Hemo	Level 2
myviewpoint	Level 2
oilnoilnoilnoil	Level 2
RS085	Level 2
New levels achieved over the last 7 days. Well done to all :)