Top 10 Greatest Albums of the 1980s

The Top Ten
1 Thriller - Michael Jackson

I'm primarily a metalhead, but Thriller was the first and only song and album that caught my attention. It opened the world of music into my little world and set the foundation for my perception of great music. So, if it weren't for Michael Jackson, I wouldn't be a Pantera fan.

This is my all-time favorite album. I also love Slippery When Wet, Back in Black, Master of the Puppets, Appetite For Destruction, and many others on the list. I really do think that this should be #1. Shame on those who voted for all the Heart albums on this list!

2 Hunting High and Low - A-ha

This is a milestone album. It was the first album of the young band. It was full of emotions, melancholy, and depth. A timeless masterpiece album and imagine, it is not the best A-ha album! A-ha is brilliant now and then.

This album features one of the best voices in the world of music and many awesome songs like The Sun Always Shines on T.V.

OML, I'm so thrilled that this rad album is number 2! A-ha is amazing without end. It'd be better if it was #1, but y'know, MJ has the eternal spotlight here.

3 Master of Puppets - Metallica

I'm not primarily into metal or Metallica, but this is an amazing album that I have listened to many times. It fits together perfectly, and the songs are of the kind that get better with every listen. Not only does it sound great, but it is also a lyrical masterpiece.

I don't understand why there are no metal albums other than AC/DC and Metallica in the top ten. Metal is the best genre and Metallica is one of the greatest bands to represent it.

As a metalhead, I must choose this album! This album is my favorite album ever! It's perfect from start to finish.

4 Ride the Lighting - Metallica

Fade to Black, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Creeping Death, Ride the Lightning? All amazing songs.

This should be higher than MOP.

5 Appetite For Destruction - Guns N Roses

Welcome to the Jungle, Paradise City, Sweet Child O Mine. All of these songs are ones that everyone here has at least heard once in their life. They are huge songs that have all come off this one album, more than most other albums can say. The album is full of other underrated songs. It definitely deserves to be in the top ten.

How can this album be number 17? It's the best debut album of all time, not only the 80s!

Every song on this album kicks ass. It's clearly the best ROCK album, if not THE BEST album of the 80s.

6 Purple Rain - Prince

I can't believe some of the crap that's above this great album... Come on, "Slippery When Wet"?! "Rhythm Nation 1814"?! That's not even Janet's best album! You might as well pick Right Said Fred! I've listened to those and many others on this list, but they don't even approach the plateau that "Purple Rain" set. I really think that people should just get this album, listen to it, and then come back and vote.

It's ridiculous this album hasn't done any better on this list. Probably one of the best albums ever. Definitely TOP 3 albums of the 80's among Prince's ‘Sign O' the Times' and Peter Gabriel's ‘SO'.

7 True Blue - Madonna

This is the best album and album cover of the 80s! Madonna was at her pinnacle with True Blue. Every song is awesome but I have to say my favorite is Where's The Party. It always gets me in a good mood and brings me back.

I remember like it was yesterday, Madonna and Michael Jackson fever, no stupid technology, just a bad television and the street radios to sing those hits… good times, nowadays children suck.

This is a brilliant album from the Queen of Pop, Madonna. I love every single track here, but my most favorite songs are La Isla Bonita and Papa Don't Preach.

8 Back In Black - AC/DC

Um, hello? This was AC/DC's height of fame. Every song was a hit, and it sold over 42 million copies worldwide. Thriller is also a fantastic album, but the fact that Michael Jackson is some twisted person now decreases its popularity. I just don't understand, though.

The most PERFECT classic rock songs ever written are here. Enough said. You need to hear it at least once in your life. It's 42 minutes long, so there's no excuse.

I haven't heard many 80s albums, but even if I heard everything the 80s had to offer, this would still rank as number 1. Every song is a hit in my book, but most of all, it just plain rocks.

9 Remain in Light - Talking Heads

This should definitely be higher. It's an amazing album, Talking Heads' best album in my opinion.

10 Hounds of Love - Kate Bush

Kate is a one-off, and her fans simply adore her. I was an 18-year-old lad with no future in a dead-end job when I first heard Running Up That Hill, and its utter beauty and poetic intensity inspired me to quit my job, go back to college, and make something of myself. This album is that important to me. I love it, and I love Kate.

This is a work of indescribable poetic beauty. It's a travesty that all those grunt rock albums by hairy Neanderthals are ahead of this. But there's no accounting for taste.

This is a masterpiece which has stood the test of time. Running Up That Hill is one of the most haunting, passionate, beautiful songs of all time. My second favorite, Cloudbusting, is so emotional. Kate was barely 25 when this came out, but she showed such wisdom and maturity in this magnum opus.

The Contenders
11 Heart - Heart

This album is in everyone's music collection and the critics also rank it as number 1. Every review of the 80s ranks this as number 1.

Side 1 of this album is incredible. Side 2 is great. A true 80s classic.

12 The Number of the Beast - Iron Maiden

Maiden's best album is inarguably one of the decade's finest. Classic songs, ranging from the well-known - the title track, Hallowed By Thy Name, Run To The Hills - to the underrated gems like the much maligned Gangland and 22 Acacia Avenue, fantastic production, and the ever-marvellous vocals of Bruce Dickinson help to solidify this album's stance as one of heavy metal's greats. While early Maiden had been fantastic, this is where they hit their peak, and it continues to represent the best that metal had to offer, both in the 80s and of all time. An utterly timeless album (not very many popular 80's albums you can say that about) which represents heavy metal at its finest hour.

13 Straight Outta Compton - N.W.A
14 Ten Songs by Adam Again - Adam Again
15 The Joshua Tree - U2

This was the first U2 album I listened to. I thought it was okay at first. Then I listened to it a few months later and loved it. Then I listened to Achtung Baby, which is even better in my opinion. Now I can't stop listening to U2.

This album is timeless. It sounds like it could've been released yesterday.

16 Slippery When Wet - Bon Jovi

This album is the best. It contains the three classics of Bon Jovi. This should at least be in the top 10.

This album is awesome. Livin on a Prayer, Keep the Faith, Always, Bed of Roses, and Born to be my Baby are all featured here.

17 The Queen Is Dead - The Smiths

This is my second favorite album of all time (the first being Everyone Is Here by The Finn Brothers)! How is it 105? Anyone who cannot appreciate The Smiths is missing 99% of their emotions.

Some of the greatest examples of Morrisey and Marr's songwriting abilities are on this album. Some essential tracks are "The Queen Is Dead", "There's A Light That Never Goes Out", and "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side".

Well, the best album of the last century is number 124. The internet is dead. No taste. The end.

18 This Year's Model - The Imperials
19 Reckless - Bryan Adams

There's not one bad track on the album. You just put it on and jam or go. This was before he got all soft and squishy in the 90s. Next to Van Halen's 5150 and Journey's Escape albums, it's a definite favorite of the 80s!

This album has a fantastic track list. It's not too deep, romantic, and moving. Bryan wrote and composed all the songs here. He's a true musical genius. Tracks like ‘Heaven', 'Summer of ‘69', ‘Run to You', ‘One Night Love Affair', and ‘Somebody' were memorable.

20 Doolittle - Pixies

Unfortunately, it is irrelevant how good the album is. All that matters is how commercial the artist is. The Pixies are the ones influencing Kurt Cobain but, sadly (in my opinion), they never became as big. "Doolittle" is the Pixies' best album and deserves to be in the top ten list. P.S.: Very excited over the new album "Indie Cindy," released the 28th.

There's only one good album in the top ten (Master of Puppets) and one OK one (Slippery When Wet). Put Doolittle in at least the top 20, and it might help me forgive the terrible taste on this list just a little. It's without a doubt one of the greatest albums of all time.

21 Hysteria - Def Leppard

This is a fabulous album. It's like a rock version of Thriller. Every song could be, and nearly was, a single. The production by Mutt Lange is excellent. It's truly an 80s classic and should be in the top 10.

I got this album because I wanted to know the band. It resulted in one of my favorite albums. Every single song in it is awesome.

This is a brilliant album. I still recall the goosebumps I felt on first hearing it.

22 The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
23 Like A Prayer - Madonna

This is the best album of the 80s for me. Every song is awesome. The title song is by far, hands down, her best song. My favorite on this album is Pray for Spanish Eyes. Her voice is so pretty in it, and it's just such a beautiful song. This here is Madonna at her pinnacle.

This is a classic album that changed musical history. Hits like "Like a Prayer", "Express Yourself", "Cherish", "Oh Father"… Madonna's vocal sounds great here. It's one of the most memorable albums ever.

24 The Big Picture - Michael W. Smith
25 Born In the U.S.A. - Bruce Springsteen

This is one of the defining albums of the 80s. Why is this not in the top ten?

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