The 1980s marked a time of immense change in the music industry, and we’re still enjoying the sounds that the iconic bands, singers, and albums of the decade offered. The '80s boasted a slate of developing genres like New Wave, synth pop, a golden age of hip-hop, the introduction of sensations like Madonna, The Smiths, and Tracy Chapman, and new directions for Michael Jackson and Prince.
As technology rapidly developed, artists could experiment more with digital recordings and everything the recording industry had to offer. During the Reagan era, many bands and singers took political stances in their albums, like The Clash's London Calling, Lou Reed's New York, and Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A.
Naturally, there's a lot to unpack in the musicality, impact, and culture of ‘80s artists, so we’re leaving it to true music fans to rank these essential albums from the decade.
- Photo: Epic Records138 VOTES
Artist: Michael Jackson
Release Year: 1982
Hit Singles: “The Girl Is Mine,” “Billie Jean,” “Beat It,” “Wanna Be Startin' Somethin',” “Human Nature,” “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing),” “Thriller”
Inside The Album: Thriller was a smash hit, selling 33 million copies. Not only did the album reach the No. 1 spot on the charts in 1983, but it stayed there for 37 weeks. According to a 1983 Rolling Stone article: “Jackson’s new attitude gives Thriller a deeper, if less visceral, emotional urgency than any of his previous work, and marks another watershed in the creative development of this prodigiously talented performer.” The glowing review was one of many. Jackson also won eight Grammys in 1983, including album of the year.
Lasting Impact: Thus far, Thriller hasn't lost its status as the best-selling album (globally) of all time. Jackson even revitalized the music video industry with his music video for the “Thriller" single, despite its release a year after the album debuted. As British director Brian Grant commented, "As soon as the Americans got involved, things became monetized, turning music videos into a proper industry, which operated alongside MTV. The big turning point was ‘Thriller.’"
Between Jackson's moonwalk and the 13-minute video, album sales skyrocketed, and music videos are now a marketing staple in the industry. The album remains a pop culture phenomenon with a ton of homages in modern TV and movies - including the iconic dance scene in 13 Going on 30.
- Photo: Sire/Warner Bros.234 VOTES
Artist: Madonna
Release Year: 1983
Hit Singles: “Holiday,” “Everybody,” “Lucky Star,” “Borderline”
Inside The Album: Madonna proved herself to be a lucky star in 1983 during her self-titled album debut, which peaked at the eighth spot on the Billboard 200. Meanwhile, “Holiday” marked the icon's first (but certainly not last) spot on the Billboard Hot 100, ranking a respectable No. 16.
Despite the album's success, reviews were mixed. Regarding Madonna's voice, Rolling Stone reported in 1983, “At first, it doesn’t sound like much at all. Then you notice its one distinguishing feature, a girlish hiccup that the singer uses over and over until it’s irritating as hell.”
However, Madonna eventually wins everyone over. The site added, “Finally, you get hooked, and you start looking forward to that silly little catch in her voice. It helps that she writes good tunes - catchy and bare to the bone.”
Lasting Impact: In a 2022 roundup, Rolling Stone ranked Madonna the 16th-best debut album of all time, noting “But it didn’t just succeed in introducing the most important female voice in the history of modern music, it’s also aged much better sonically than ‘Like A Virgin,’ her blockbuster 1984 follow-up."
That first album also successfully combatted the idea that disco was dead and infused the genre in her catalog of work. Songs from Madonna have appeared on numerous TV shows, including Will & Grace, Euphoria, Glee, Grey's Anatomy, Stranger Things, and RuPaul's Drag Race.
- Photo: Island341 VOTES
The Joshua Tree
Artist: U2
Release Year: 1987
Hit Singles: “With or Without You,” “I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For,” “Where the Streets Have No Name”
Inside The Album: We found what we were looking for with The Joshua Tree. Both “With or Without You” and “I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For” scored the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 - and they remain the only U2 singles to rank that high. The band also snagged the coveted Album of the Year title at the 1987 Grammys for The Joshua Tree. This was especially notable given that they beat out huge names like Michael Jackson, Prince, Dolly Parton, and Whitney Houston.
Lasting Impact: The band may have dismissed the notion of intentionally making The Joshua Tree a commercial success, but the album speaks for itself. Although U2 was already popular, The Joshua Tree helped make the band a household name (long before they uploaded their album Songs of Innocence to Apple iPhones everywhere in 2013).
Fun fact: The Joshua Tree was the first album to launch music into the future (while honoring its past) by simultaneously releasing it on CD, vinyl, and cassette. The album was also inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2014, and the album impacted future artists like Carly Rae Jepsen, who in 2022 named a song after the album.
- Photo: A&M430 VOTES
Artist: The Police
Release Year: 1983
Hit Singles: “Every Breath You Take,” “Wrapped Around Your Finger,” “King of Pain,” “Synchronicity II”
Inside The Album: The Police had us wrapped around their fingers with Synchronicity. The album dominated the awards circuit, taking home multiple Grammys. Most notably, “Every Breath You Take” won Song of the Year, and the album scored Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals. Not only did Synchronicity reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in the US and UK, but it reigned at the top spot for 17 weeks. In addition, the album sold more than 8 million copies nationally.
Lasting Impact: “Every Breath You Take” used to be played often at weddings, but even Sting found that a bad idea, given that the song's narrator is something of a stalker. As he revealed in an interview:
One couple told me “Oh we love that song; it was the main song played at our wedding!” I thought, “Well, good luck.”
Multiple diverse artists have covered the song over the decades, including UB40, Everclear, Juliana Hatfield, Dolly Parton, the Violent Femmes, and Engelbert Humperdinck. In addition, Diddy pays Sting $5,000 per day for sampling “Every Breath You Take” on his 1997 hit “I'll Be Missing You.”
- Photo: Warner Bros.536 VOTES
Artist: Prince and the Revolution
Release Year: 1984
Hit Singles: “Let's Go Crazy,” “When Doves Cry,” “Purple Rain”
Inside The Album: Prince may not have meant to cause sorrow, but doves weren't the only ones shedding tears due to Purple Rain. One month after Prince debuted the album, he released an emotive rock drama/musical of the same name. As his most successful release at that point, the album chilled at No. 1 for 24 weeks. As for the film, not only did it earn an Oscar for best original score, but it grossed nearly $70 million domestically. The success of both projects placed Prince in the exclusive club of simultaneously having a chart-topping album and leading the box office.
Lasting Impact: Purple Rain is cited as the album that launched Prince's legacy. Countless artists have drawn inspiration from its songs, including Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, Jay-Z, and Justin Timberlake. We can also blame former US Vice President Al Gore's wife Tipper Gore for the dreaded “Parental Advisory: Explicit Content” warning label that's haunted teenagers with strict parents ever since 1985.
A lyric on Prince's song “Darling Nikki” inspired Gore's vendetta against “dirty” and “explicit” lyrics. This led to the formation of the Parents Music Resource Center, a hit list of the top 15 biggest offenders of the time, and labelling that still exists to this day, albeit with less clout. Prince is nothing if not a boundary pusher, but he definitely didn't mean to punish future generations due to a Purple Rain song.
- Photo: Columbia644 VOTES
Artist: Bruce Springsteen
Release Year: 1984
Hit Singles: “Dancing in the Dark,” “Cover Me,” “Born in the U.S.A,” “I'm on Fire,” “Glory Days,” “My Hometown,” “I'm Goin' Down”
Inside The Album: Springsteen gave us more than a little hometown jam with his Born in the U.S.A. album. It's pretty rare to have seven hit singles - especially on an album with only 12 tracks. Although Born in the U.S.A. earned a 1984 Grammy nomination for Best Album, it lost out to Lionel Richie's Can't Slow Down. The album didn't just reach commercial success, though. It was overwhelmingly praised by critics, with Pitchfork citing it as “the bold, brilliant, and misunderstood apex of Bruce Springsteen's imperial era.”
Lasting Impact: Born in the U.S.A. helped heartland rock gain momentum as performers like John Mellencamp and Tom Petty gained popularity. The album also greatly influenced other musicians, inspiring covers like Neil Young and Crazy Horse's iteration of “Born in the U.S.A.” The album's political impact was so great that former US President Ronald Reagan referenced Springsteen in his 1984 campaign speech.
- Photo: Elektra737 VOTES
Artist: Tracy Chapman
Release Year: 1988
Hit Singles: “Fast Car,” “Talkin' 'bout a Revolution,” “Baby Can I Hold You”
Inside The Album: Tracy Chapman took a fast car to the top 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100 for the hit song, and her self-titled album received top billing on the Billboard 200. She even took home three Grammys that year: Best New Artist, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and Best Contemporary Folk Album.
Lasting Impact: Her 1988 performance in a Nelson Mandela 70th birthday tribute included “Fast Car" and helped her become a household name. Regarding the Tracy Chapman album, All Music stated, “Arriving with little fanfare in the spring of 1988, Tracy Chapman's eponymous debut album became one of the key records of the Bush era, providing a touchstone for the entire PC movement while reviving the singer-songwriter tradition.”
Country singer/songwriter Luke Combs even did a cover of “Fast Car” in 2023. Chapman was on board with the idea, as she performed it with him at the 2024 Grammys.
- Photo: Rough Trade832 VOTES
Artist: The Smiths
Release Year: 1984
Hit Single: “What Difference Does It Make?” “This Charming Man”
Inside The Album: The Smiths made quite a difference with their self-titled album, which managed to score the No. 2 spot on the UK charts despite not having much name recognition or help in the publicity department. “What Difference Does it Make?” reached the 30th position on the European Airplay Top 60, and the album itself landed on the 45th position on the European Top 100 Albums chart.
Lasting Impact: The Smiths' impact on the music industry was palpable from their very first album, and critics are still praising it for revolutionizing the indie and alternative rock space and paving the way for future iconic bands.
According to Billboard magazine, “College rock and indie rock already existed (albeit in their early stages) when the Smiths hit in 1984. But after their John Porter-produced debut made its mark, those entire scenes would never be the same.” Morgan Enos at Grammy.com had this to say about the self-titled album: “The Smiths paved the way for the Stone Roses, Radiohead, Oasis, and so many more Brits with a way with melody and a screw loose.”
- Photo: Warner Bros.926 VOTES
Artist: Paul Simon
Release Year: 1986
Hit Singles: “Graceland,” “You Can Call Me Al,” “The Boy in the Bubble,” “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes”
Inside The Album: Often lauded as Paul Simon's best solo album, Graceland earned the coveted Album of the Year during the 1986 Grammys. Simon even won the Best International Solo Artist award at the Brit Awards that year.
A critic from The New York Times praised the album with compliments like, "With his characteristic refinement, Mr. Simon has fashioned that event into the rock album equivalent of a work of literature."
Lasting Impact: In 2006, Graceland snagged a spot in the US Library of Congress's National Recording Registry. It also landed the 46th billing on Rolling Stone's top 500 albums of all time list, where the compiler wrote, “Simon created an album about isolation and redemption that transcended 'world music' to become the whole world's soundtrack.”
- Photo: Epic Records1029 VOTES
Artist: The Clash
Release Year: 1980
Hit Singles: “London Calling,” “Train in Vain”
Inside The Album: It wasn't just London calling when this album received overwhelming critical acclaim. According to a January 1980 New York Times review by John Rockwell, ”This is an album that captures all the Clash's primal energy, combines it with a brilliant production job by Guy Stevens and reveals depths of invention and creativity barely suggested by the band's previous work." He also noted the impact of the album's political messages.
The “London Calling” single ranked number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 at its peak, while the album ranked 27th. It wasn't the most listened-to album at the time, but you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn't heard at least one song.
Lasting Impact: The impact of London Calling is still palpable. It frequently lands in the top five spots of “Best of the 1980s” lists, and ranks high on lists featuring the top albums of all time. London Calling even scored a Grammy Hall of Fame award in 2007. The band's mashup of reggae, soul, rockabilly, funk, and rhythm & blues continues to inspire artists both in and out of the rock genre. Many bands, including the Indigo Girls, Garbage, The Strokes, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and No Doubt have covered songs from the album.
- Photo: Elektra1127 VOTES
Artist: Pixies
Release Year: 1989
Hit Singles: “Monkey Gone to Heaven,” “Here Comes Your Man,” “Debaser”
Inside The Album: Why would you do a little when you can do a lot? The Pixies' Doolittle peaked on the UK charts at No. 8, with one week in the top 10 and two weeks in the top 20. The album received positive reviews, with NME writing, “The songs on Doolittle have the power to make you literally jump out of your skin with excitement.” The album reached certified Gold status in 1995.
Lasting Impact: During a 1994 interview with Rolling Stone, Kurt Cobain noted the impact the Pixies had on Nirvana's hit "Smells Like Teen Spirit":
I was basically trying to rip off the Pixies. I have to admit it. When I heard the Pixies for the first time, I connected with that band so heavily I should have been in that band - or at least in a Pixies cover band.
Rolling Stone also had high praise for the album: “…with Doolittle [the Pixies] laid the groundwork for Nineties rock. The album's breathtaking mix of noisy, almost surflike guitars, sweet pop melodies and primal-scream-therapy vocals inspired a generation of would-be rock stars.” The magazine also noted how Doolittle influenced artists like Nirvana, Courtney Love, and Beck.
- Photo: I.R.S.1223 VOTES
Artist: R.E.M.
Release Year: 1983
Hit Singles: “Radio Free Europe,” “Talk About the Passion”
Inside The Album: Murmur didn't exactly catapult to the status of best-selling album of the ‘80s. It peaked at number 36 on the Billboard top 200 list and wasn’t certified gold until nearly a decade later, in 1991. However, it beat out many iconic albums like Thriller to win Rolling Stone's album of the year award.
Lasting Impact: The album’s college rock vibes helped launch the future of indie rock and alternative genres that defined the late ‘80s through the mid-'90s. The single “Talk About the Passion" also appeared in Season 4 of The O.C., an early aughts show well-known for its pivotal soundtrack and impact on the indie scene. Naturally, the song plays during an iconic ‘80s flashback.
- Photo: Sire1320 VOTES
Artist: Talking Heads
Release Year: 1980
Hit Singles: “Once in a Lifetime,” “Houses in Motion,” “Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)”
Inside The Album: Remain in Light was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for Talking Heads, but the album is actually the band's worst seller, according to drummer Chris Frantz. Although it challenged the status quo, Frantz notes that "at the time, it was a really hard sell. The reaction that we heard was that it sounded too Black for white radio and too white for Black radio."
Not everyone saw that as a problem, however. As Ken Tucker wrote in Rolling Stone in 1980: "Remain in Light is their brave, absorbing attempt to locate a common ground in today’s divergent, often hostile musical community.” While it didn't see as much financial success as the band's other albums, critics were mostly united that it was an innovative way to bridge the divide prevalent among '80s music audiences.
Lasting Impact: Remain in Light has continued to influence the rock genre in the decades since its release. Radiohead's Thom Yorke praised the album, noting its influence on his band's 2000 album Kid A and calling it a “massive reference point.” Not only does Remain in Light frequently appear in top '80s albums of all time; it also launched rock into a new era with its West African influences.
- Photo: Enigma1420 VOTES
Artist: Sonic Youth
Release Year: 1988
Hit Singles: “Teen Age Riot," “Silver Rocket”
Inside The Album: Daydream Nation wasn't just a sleepy musing for Sonic Youth. The album received such high praise that the band scored a deal with major recording label Geffen Records. The album received glowing reviews, including the following praise from Rolling Stone:
Daydream Nation gives this influential quartet its best forum yet for demonstrating the broad harmonic palette, sharply honed songwriting skills and sheer exhilarating drive that have resulted from seven years of what guitarist and vocalist Thurston Moore calls “Sonic Life.”
Lasting Impact: In 2005, Daydream Nation was honored with a place in the US Library of Congress's National Recording Registry. Critics continued to laud it as the band's best album, with the Los Angeles Times writing, “Sonic Youth’s most daring disc, this helped place the band among the alternative rock gods" and “Sonic Youth’s master opus is an ambitious, 70-minute album that thrusts the listener into a dream world as accessible as it is corrosive and haunting.”
The late David Bowie was a big fan of the band; he invited them to perform with him at Madison Square Garden for his 50th birthday in 1997, and frequently cited the band as one of the best of the '80s.
- Photo: EMI1531 VOTES
Artist: Kate Bush
Release Year: 1985
Hit Singles: “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God),” “Cloudbusting,” “Hounds of Love,” “The Big Sky”
Inside The Album: Kate Bush ran up a hill with the single “Wuthering Heights," and even broke a record for the first single written and recorded by a woman to hit No. 1 on the British charts. It's a good thing she pushed her record label for the song to be a single!
The Hounds of Love album was certified double platinum and received high praise from critics, with Spin noting in 1986, “With traces of classical, operatic, tribal and twisted pop styles, Kate creates music that observes no boundaries of musical structure or inner expression."
Lasting Impact: In 2016, Pitchfork gave the album a coveted perfect score:
With her self-produced fifth album, Kate Bush became a total auteur, embracing the possibilities of digital sampling synthesizers and creating a perfect marriage of technique and exploration.
Hounds of Love is more integral now than ever in the pop culture landscape after the Stranger Things TV series included “Running Up That Hill" in an integral story arc. This prompted fans to stream the song and the album in droves - many for the first time. However, it's not the first show to feature the song. For example, Placebo's cover version has appeared in pivotal scenes in The O.C. and Bones.
When NPR conducted a poll in 2018 to recognize the 150 greatest albums made by women, Hounds of Love came in fourth place.
- Photo: Factory1620 VOTES
Artist: Joy Division
Release Year: 1980
Hit Singles: “Love Will Tear Us Apart”
Inside The Album: Joy Division's Closer made it to the sixth spot on the UK Albums Chart, and two years after its release, it had already sold more than 250,000 copies. Regarding the album, Pitchfork offered the following praise:
Closer is even more austere, more claustrophobic, more inventive, more beautiful, and more haunting than its predecessor. It's also Joy Division's start-to-finish masterpiece, a flawless encapsulation of everything the group sought to achieve.
Lasting Impact: “Closer” got top billing for 1980 on NME's 2010 list of best albums of the year between 1974-2011. As author Colin Larkin commented in his The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, "Instrumentally, the work showed maturity in every area and is deservedly regarded by many critics as the most brilliant rock album of the 80s."
In addition, Pitchfork wrote that “Joy Division’s Closer is often considered the crown jewel of post-punk."
- Photo: Sire1720 VOTES
Artist: Lou Reed
Release Year: 1989
Hit Singles: “Romeo Had Juliette,” “Dirty Blvd.”
Inside The Album: Even Times Square tourists liked Lou Reed's album New York, and critics largely praised it for its depth. According to a 1989 Rolling Stone review:
The fourteen songs on New York - which runs nearly an hour - are fierce, poetic journalism, a reportage of surreal horror in which the unyielding force of actual circumstances continually threatens to overwhelm the ordering power of art.
One of the album's best-known singles, “Dirty Blvd.,” snagged the No. 1 spot for four weeks on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart, which was a new category at the time.
Lasting Impact: While many artists covered the impact of the AIDS epidemic, Reed's “Halloween Parade” addressed the heartbreaking loss the gay community faced during the '80s, using The Lesbian and Gay Pride March - organized by the Christopher Street Liberation Day Committee - to highlight the tragedy.
In 1997, Reed performed “Dirty Blvd.” with David Bowie for the latter's 50th birthday party. And New York has made a lasting impact on New Yorkers; despite the album being a snapshot of the city in the ‘80s, there’s still relevance in its songs' lyrics today. Producer Hal Willner commented:
Lou was to New York as Faulkner was to the South, or Brecht to Berlin. He was New York from top to bottom. He was born here and died here… He saw it change, but he never disappeared.
- Photo: Capitol1823 VOTES
Artist: Beastie Boys
Release Year: 1989
Hit Singles: “Hey Ladies,” “Shadrach”
Inside The Album: Though it didn't reach the chart success of the Beastie Boys' first album, Paul's Boutique made it to the No. 14 spot on the Billboard 200. The reviews were more positive than expected, given the low expectations many people had for the album. As a Rolling Stone reviewer wrote in 1989:
Instead of opening, as [Licensed to Ill] did, with wall-to-wall drum wallops, it creeps up on you like an alley cat: A quiet organ and snare fade up as a mellow DJ voice dedicates the ensuing set to (who else?) the girls of the world.
Lasting Impact: In 2019, Yahoo! acknowledged the impact of Paul's Boutique, writing that the oft-misunderstood album was both the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Pet Sounds of hip-hop music (the latter being a Beach Boys album). That's high praise.
In a 2002 feature, Pitchfork even ranked Paul's Boutique as the third-best album in its “Top 100 Albums of the 1980s” list. Plenty of major artists have sampled songs from the album; for example, “Boy Bouillabaisse” helped inspire the Jay-Z and Lil Wayne collab "Hello Brooklyn 2.0" and Vanilla Ice's “Stop That Train.”
- Photo: Ruthless Records1923 VOTES
Artist: N.W.A
Release Year: 1988
Hit Singles: “Straight Outta Compton,” “Gangsta Gangsta,” “Express Yourself”
Inside The Album: Straight Outta Compton may have shell shocked parents, but many critics praised the album for not holding back. The Los Angeles Times called it both “remarkable” and “disturbing," and labeled N.W.A. an “all-star group.” The album scored the 37th spot on the Billboard 200 albums and even landed No. 9 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop chart.
However, the bold lyrics sparked so much outrage that police officers declined to offer security for the band's shows. Things got so heated that the FBI filed a letter of complaint to the national promotions director of Priority Records, accusing N.W.A. (whose initials stand for N***** Wit Attitudes) of inciting violence against law enforcement.
Lasting Impact: In 2015, N.W.A. members helped produce a biopic named after the album that tackles the highs and lows of the band's career. That boost helped the album land a spot on the Billboard Hot 100 - a first for the band. In 2017, Straight Outta Compton was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
- Photo: Columbia
Artist: Public Enemy
Release Year: 1988
Hit Singles: “Rebel Without a Pause,” “Don’t Believe the Hype,” “Bring the Noise”
Inside The Album: It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back lasted 51 weeks on the Billboard 200 and it peaked at 42. Rolling Stone had the following praise for the album: “Rap didn't come any heavier, harder or angrier in '88 than Public Enemy's second Molotov cocktail of nuclear scratching, gnarly minimalist electronics and revolution rhyme.”
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times compared it to punk groups with the sentiment, “Chuck D, the main Enemy, isn’t afraid of being labeled an extremist, and it’s that fearless bite - or game plan - that helps infuse his Black-consciousness raps with the anger and assault of punk pioneers like the Sex Pistols and Clash.”
Lasting Impact: Plenty of artists have noted the influence of the album on themselves and music as a whole. The late Kurt Cobain of Nirvana cited it as one of his top 50 favorites in a handwritten list in one of his journals. The Beastie Boys sampled the song “Bring the Noise” in their album Egg Man. And rapper Ice Cube had much to say:
It Takes a Nation messes with your brain even to this day. All the hectic rhymes. Chuck D. was letting you know the real deal about life in this country, speaking about Blackness and what it means spiritually and what kind of defenses you need in this world being Black.
