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	2,214	192,889	Remain In Light (26th)by Talking Heads
1981	2,256	120,727	Moving Pictures (156th)by Rush
1982	2,220	147,987	Thriller (72nd)by Michael Jackson
1983	2,236	135,019	Murmur (140th)by R.E.M.
1984	2,212	169,313	Purple Rain (79th)by Prince And The Revolution
1985	2,234	143,434	Hounds Of Love (54th)by Kate Bush
1986	2,350	169,044	The Queen Is Dead (16th)by The Smiths
1987	2,564	160,398	The Joshua Tree (53rd)by U2
1988	2,673	151,485	Daydream Nation (73rd)by Sonic Youth
1989	2,699	195,754	Doolittle (18th)by Pixies
Total	23,658	1,586,049

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.

Robespierre's Velvet Basement

Nikki Sudden & Dave Kusworth Jacobites

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

29 charts

Rank Score:

190

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

991

Overall Rank:

6,755

Average Rating:

71 (24 votes)

Comments:

992.

Live... In The Heart Of The City
Live

Whitesnake

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

32 charts

Rank Score:

189

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

993.

Vengeance

New Model Army

Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

28 charts

Rank Score:

189

Rank in 1984:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

994.

The Only Fun In Town

Josef K

Year of Release:

1981

Appears in:

53 charts

Rank Score:

189

Rank in 1981:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

995.

Clan Of Xymox

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

32 charts

Rank Score:

189

Rank in 1985:

Rank in 1980s:

995

Overall Rank:

6,788

Average Rating:

77 (35 votes)

Comments:

996.

Tango

Charly García / Pedro Aznar

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

16 charts

Rank Score:

188

Rank in 1986:

Rank in 1980s:

996

Overall Rank:

6,792

Average Rating:

79 (9 votes)

Comments:

997.

If'n

fIREHOSE

Year of Release:

1987

Appears in:

38 charts

Rank Score:

188

Rank in 1987:

Rank in 1980s:

997

Overall Rank:

6,793

Average Rating:

73 (36 votes)

Comments:

998.

Runaway Horses

Belinda Carlisle

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

37 charts

Rank Score:

188

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

998

Overall Rank:

6,795

Average Rating:

74 (42 votes)

Comments:

999.

Strange Angels

Laurie Anderson

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

35 charts

Rank Score:

188

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

999

Overall Rank:

6,797

Average Rating:

72 (44 votes)

Comments:

1000.

Earth, Sun, Moon

Love And Rockets

Year of Release:

1987

Appears in:

50 charts

Rank Score:

188

Rank in 1987:

Rank in 1980s:

1,000

Overall Rank:

6,801

Average Rating:

74 (64 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	118	12%
1981	121	12%
1982	108	11%
1983	98	10%
1984	103	10%
1985	80	8%
1986	97	10%
1987	88	9%
1988	91	9%
1989	96	10%

Artist	Albums	%

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

Country	Albums	%

	417	42%
	392	39%
	39	4%
	27	3%
	23	2%
	22	2%
	12	1%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	968	97%
Yes	32	3%

Live?	Albums	%
No	977	98%
Yes	23	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.

Email Address
Forgotten passwords and other site notifications are sent to the email address saved on your profile. If you've changed your email address recently, please remember to update it on your profile page. (If you can't remember your password, and your email address is out of date, please contact us for assistance getting back into your account).