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	2,211	192,968	Remain In Light (26th)by Talking Heads
1981	2,250	120,560	Moving Pictures (157th)by Rush
1982	2,212	147,504	Thriller (73rd)by Michael Jackson
1983	2,233	134,921	Murmur (139th)by R.E.M.
1984	2,210	169,367	Purple Rain (79th)by Prince And The Revolution
1985	2,233	143,372	Hounds Of Love (56th)by Kate Bush
1986	2,347	168,498	The Queen Is Dead (16th)by The Smiths
1987	2,561	160,368	The Joshua Tree (52nd)by U2
1988	2,668	151,496	Daydream Nation (72nd)by Sonic Youth
1989	2,695	195,915	Doolittle (19th)by Pixies
Total	23,620	1,584,969

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.

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731.

Third Stage

Boston

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

72 charts

Rank Score:

277

Rank in 1986:

Rank in 1980s:

731

Overall Rank:

4,948

Average Rating:

71 (120 votes)

Comments:

732.

Give The People What They Want

The Kinks

Year of Release:

1981

Appears in:

71 charts

Rank Score:

276

Rank in 1981:

Rank in 1980s:

732

Overall Rank:

4,951

Average Rating:

72 (91 votes)

Comments:

733.

Make It Big

Wham!

Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

94 charts

Rank Score:

276

Rank in 1984:

Rank in 1980s:

733

Overall Rank:

4,957

Average Rating:

65 (112 votes)

Comments:

734.

Living In Darkness

Agent Orange

Year of Release:

1981

Appears in:

77 charts

Rank Score:

275

Rank in 1981:

Rank in 1980s:

734

Overall Rank:

4,968

Average Rating:

74 (78 votes)

Comments:

735.

Technodelic

Yellow Magic Orchestra

Year of Release:

1981

Appears in:

42 charts

Rank Score:

275

Rank in 1981:

Rank in 1980s:

735

Overall Rank:

4,973

Average Rating:

75 (57 votes)

Comments:

736.

Tangram

Tangerine Dream

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

53 charts

Rank Score:

275

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

736

Overall Rank:

4,978

Average Rating:

76 (74 votes)

Comments:

737.

Dazzle Ships

OMD

Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

81 charts

Rank Score:

275

Rank in 1983:

Rank in 1980s:

737

Overall Rank:

4,985

Average Rating:

73 (98 votes)

Comments:

738.

Mainstream

Lloyd Cole And The Commotions

Year of Release:

1987

Appears in:

49 charts

Rank Score:

274

Rank in 1987:

Rank in 1980s:

738

Overall Rank:

4,988

Average Rating:

75 (52 votes)

Comments:

739.

Shake It Up

The Cars

Year of Release:

1981

Appears in:

77 charts

Rank Score:

274

Rank in 1981:

Rank in 1980s:

739

Overall Rank:

4,995

Average Rating:

73 (105 votes)

Comments:

740.

Avalon Sunset

Van Morrison

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

80 charts

Rank Score:

273

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

740

Overall Rank:

5,009

Average Rating:

74 (98 votes)

Comments:

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Total albums: 1,000. Page 74 of 100

Best Albums of the 1980s composition

Year	Albums	%

1980	118	12%
1981	122	12%
1982	110	11%
1983	97	10%
1984	104	10%
1985	79	8%
1986	95	10%
1987	88	9%
1988	96	10%
1989	97	10%

Artist	Albums	%

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

Country	Albums	%

	416	41%
	393	39%
	39	4%
	28	3%
	23	2%
	22	2%
	12	1%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	974	97%
Yes	32	3%

Live?	Albums	%
No	983	98%
Yes	23	2%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	995	99%
Yes	11	1%

« View best albums of the 1970sView best albums of the 1990s »

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