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 56,000 greatest album charts.

Best albums by year or decade

Decade:

Year:

summaryThe 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

The Queen Is Dead

The Smiths

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

2,480 charts

Rank Score:

36,392

Rank in 1986:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

88 (2,893 votes)

Comments:

265

Doolittle

Pixies

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

2,537 charts

Rank Score:

34,152

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

2,017 charts

Rank Score:

29,296

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

1,818 charts

Rank Score:

27,351

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

86 (2,029 votes)

Comments:

152

The Stone Roses

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

2,013 charts

Rank Score:

24,135

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

86 (2,276 votes)

Comments:

203

The Joshua Tree

Year of Release:

1987

Appears in:

1,849 charts

Rank Score:

19,207

Rank in 1987:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

1,392 charts

Rank Score:

19,028

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

Year of Release:

1982

Appears in:

1,625 charts

Rank Score:

16,636

Rank in 1982:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

82 (2,142 votes)

Comments:

161

Purple Rain
Soundtrack

Prince And The Revolution

Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

1,423 charts

Rank Score:

16,503

Rank in 1984:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

10.

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

1,570 charts

Rank Score:

16,414

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

84 (1,851 votes)

Comments:

147

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

Total albums: 1,000. Page 1 of 100

Best Albums of the 1980s composition

Year	Albums	%

1980	119	12%
1981	120	12%
1982	107	11%
1983	99	10%
1984	101	10%
1985	81	8%
1986	97	10%
1987	87	9%
1988	95	10%
1989	94	9%

Artist	Albums	%

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

Country	Albums	%

	418	42%
	389	39%
	40	4%
	27	3%
	23	2%
	22	2%
	11	1%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	966	97%
Yes	34	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.

Best Artists of the 1960s
1. The Beatles
2. The Velvet Underground
3. Jimi Hendrix
4. Bob Dylan
5. The Beach Boys
6. The Jimi Hendrix Experience
7. The Velvet Underground & Nico
8. Led Zeppelin
9. The Doors
10. The Rolling Stones
11. John Coltrane
12. King Crimson
13. Frank Zappa
14. The Kinks
15. Love
16. Van Morrison
17. Neil Young
18. Charles Mingus
19. Miles Davis
20. The Zombies