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 55,000 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	2,233	191,603	Remain In Light (26th)by Talking Heads
1981	2,278	119,639	Moving Pictures (155th)by Rush
1982	2,247	147,183	Thriller (71st)by Michael Jackson
1983	2,258	134,096	Murmur (137th)by R.E.M.
1984	2,228	168,185	Purple Rain (75th)by Prince And The Revolution
1985	2,259	142,001	Hounds Of Love (53rd)by Kate Bush
1986	2,374	167,331	The Queen Is Dead (16th)by The Smiths
1987	2,587	159,407	The Joshua Tree (52nd)by U2
1988	2,692	150,443	Daydream Nation (73rd)by Sonic Youth
1989	2,730	193,484	Doolittle (19th)by Pixies
Total	23,886	1,573,373

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.

Octet / Music For A Large Ensemble / Violin Phase

Steve Reich

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

37 charts

Rank Score:

189

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

992.

17 RE

Litfiba

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

14 charts

Rank Score:

189

Rank in 1986:

Rank in 1980s:

992

Overall Rank:

6,787

Average Rating:

70 (22 votes)

Comments:

993.

Synthesist

Harald Grosskopf

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

44 charts

Rank Score:

188

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

994.

Another Side

Fingers, Inc

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

15 charts

Rank Score:

188

Rank in 1988:

Rank in 1980s:

994

Overall Rank:

6,804

Average Rating:

77 (16 votes)

Comments:

995.

Iron Fist

Motörhead

Year of Release:

1982

Appears in:

68 charts

Rank Score:

188

Rank in 1982:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

996.

Strange Angels

Laurie Anderson

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

36 charts

Rank Score:

188

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

996

Overall Rank:

6,813

Average Rating:

72 (44 votes)

Comments:

997.

Falco 3

Falco

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

46 charts

Rank Score:

188

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

997

Overall Rank:

6,818

Average Rating:

71 (53 votes)

Comments:

998.

Robespierre's Velvet Basement

Nikki Sudden & Dave Kusworth Jacobites

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

29 charts

Rank Score:

188

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

998

Overall Rank:

6,820

Average Rating:

71 (24 votes)

Comments:

999.

Seasons End

Marillion

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

46 charts

Rank Score:

188

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

999

Overall Rank:

6,825

Average Rating:

76 (73 votes)

Comments:

1000.

Wind

Gigi Masin

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

20 charts

Rank Score:

188

Rank in 1986:

Rank in 1980s:

1,000

Overall Rank:

6,826

Average Rating:

76 (15 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	119	12%
1981	119	12%
1982	107	11%
1983	99	10%
1984	101	10%
1985	81	8%
1986	97	10%
1987	87	9%
1988	95	10%
1989	95	10%

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	%

	417	42%
	390	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 1990s
1. Radiohead
2. Nirvana
3. The Smashing Pumpkins
4. Neutral Milk Hotel
5. Oasis
6. My Bloody Valentine
7. Pearl Jam
8. R.E.M.
9. Nick Cave
10. Weezer
11. Björk
12. Richard David James
13. Pavement
14. Portishead
15. Jeff Buckley
16. Blur
17. Elliott Smith
18. Nas
19. Massive Attack
20. Red Hot Chili Peppers