The Top 200 Albums from the 1980s

Rank	All Time	Artist	Album	Year	Buy at Amazon	Song Samples
1	18	Public Enemy	It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back	1988		Listen
2	26	Prince	Sign 'O' the Times	1987		Listen
3	30	The Smiths	The Queen Is Dead	1986		Listen
4	33	Michael Jackson	Thriller	1982		Listen
5	36	U2	The Joshua Tree	1987		Listen
6	40	Talking Heads	Remain in Light	1980		Listen
7	46	Joy Division	Closer	1980		Listen
8	47	The Stone Roses	The Stone Roses	1989		Listen
9	49	Prince and The Revolution	Purple Rain	1984		Listen
10	58	R.E.M.	Murmur	1983		Listen
11	62	Guns N' Roses	Appetite for Destruction	1987		Listen
12	64	Pixies	Doolittle	1989		Listen
13	67	Paul Simon	Graceland	1986		Listen
14	70	Sonic Youth	Daydream Nation	1988		Listen
15	72	De La Soul	3 Feet High and Rising	1989		Listen
16	77	Pixies	Surfer Rosa	1988		Listen
17	82	The Jesus and Mary Chain	Psychocandy	1985		Listen
18	104	Tom Waits	Swordfishtrombones	1983		Listen
19	107	AC/DC	Back in Black	1980		Listen
20	117	Beastie Boys	Paul's Boutique	1989
21	123	Tom Waits	Rain Dogs	1985		Listen
22	126	Bruce Springsteen	Nebraska	1982		Listen
23	130	N.W.A.	Straight Outta Compton	1988		Listen
24	148	Bruce Springsteen	Born in the U.S.A.	1984		Listen
25	162	Pretenders	Pretenders	1980		Listen
26	173	Beastie Boys	Licensed to Ill	1986		Listen
27	175	Metallica	Master of Puppets	1986		Listen
28	179	The Smiths	The Smiths	1984		Listen
29	183	Prince and The Revolution	1999	1982		Listen
30	186	Run-D.M.C.	Raising Hell	1986		Listen
31	206	Hüsker Dü	Zen Arcade	1984		Listen
32	208	Peter Gabriel	So	1986		Listen
33	214	The Human League	Dare!	1981
34	217	The Police	Synchronicity	1983		Listen
35	220	The Replacements	Let It Be	1984		Listen
36	228	Kate Bush	Hounds of Love	1985		Listen
37	242	Bruce Springsteen	The River	1980		Listen
38	248	Sonic Youth	Sister	1987		Listen
39	252	The Pogues	Rum, Sodomy & the Lash	1985		Listen
40	253	Elvis Costello and The Attractions	Imperial Bedroom	1982		Listen
41	260	New Order	Technique	1989		Listen
42	263	Prefab Sprout	Steve McQueen/Two Wheels Good	1985		Listen
43	273	Minutemen	Double Nickels on the Dime	1984		Listen
44	278	U2	War	1983		Listen
45	298	Violent Femmes	Violent Femmes	1983		Listen
46	302	R.E.M.	Document	1987
47	309	Elvis Costello and The Attractions	Get Happy!!	1980		Listen
48	312	The Dead Kennedys	Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables	1980
49	314	Dexy's Midnight Runners	Searching for the Young Soul Rebels	1980
50	319	The Cure	Disintegration	1989		Listen
51	322	Richard and Linda Thompson	Shoot Out the Lights	1982		Listen
52	326	Donald Fagen	The Nightfly	1982		Listen
53	327	Brian Eno - David Byrne	My Life in the Bush of Ghosts	1981		Listen
54	328	Jane's Addiction	Nothing's Shocking	1988		Listen
55	334	Eric B. & Rakim	Paid in Full	1987		Listen
56	338	ABC	The Lexicon of Love	1982		Listen
57	363	Madonna	Like a Prayer	1989		Listen
58	372	Talk Talk	Spirit of Eden	1988		Listen
59	374	Lou Reed	New York	1989		Listen
60	377	Roxy Music	Avalon	1982		Listen
61	386	Tracy Chapman	Tracy Chapman	1988		Listen
62	395	Slayer	Reign in Blood	1986		Listen
63	405	Black Flag	Damaged	1981		Listen
64	406	X	Los Angeles	1980		Listen
65	419	XTC	Skylarking	1986