Rolling Stone: 100 Best Albums of the Eighties (published November 16, 1989)

~ Release group award

Release groups

#	Year	Title	Artist	Type	Rating	Releases
1	1979	London Calling	The Clash	Album	4.2	43
2	1984	Purple Rain	Prince and The Revolution	Album + Soundtrack	4.3	46
3	1987	The Joshua Tree	U2	Album	4.3	62
4	1980	Remain in Light	Talking Heads	Album	4.3	30
5	1986	Graceland	Paul Simon	Album	4.4	45
6	1984	Born in the U.S.A.	Bruce Springsteen	Album	4.35	211
7	1982	Thriller	Michael Jackson	Album	4.5	82
8	1983	Murmur	R.E.M.	Album	4.05	24
9	1982	Shoot Out the Lights	Richard & Linda Thompson	Album	4	13
10	1988	Tracy Chapman	Tracy Chapman	Album	3.95	20
11	1980	Get Happy!!	Elvis Costello & The Attractions	Album	3.35	12
12	1988	It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back	Public Enemy	Album	3.65	28
13	1987	Diesel and Dust	Midnight Oil	Album	3.85	20
14	1986	So	Peter Gabriel	Album	4.45	48
15	1984	Let It Be	The Replacements	Album	3.85	12
16	1982	1999	Prince	Album	4	37
17	1983	Synchronicity	The Police	Album	3.9	50
18	1980	Dirty Mind	Prince	Album	3.8	20
19	1989	New York	Lou Reed	Album	4.4	17
20	1979	Pretenders	Pretenders	Album	4	25
21	1985	Rain Dogs	Tom Waits	Album	4.15	20
22	1984	The Smiths	The Smiths	Album	4.45	19
23	1981	Red	Black Uhuru	Album	4	6
24	1980	Los Angeles	X	Album	4	7
25	1987	Tunnel of Love	Bruce Springsteen	Album	4.4	198
26	1980	Back in Black	AC/DC	Album	4.45	55
27	1987	Appetite for Destruction	Guns N’ Roses	Album	4.4	68
28	1982	Janet Jackson	Janet Jackson	Album	4	35
29	1980	Double Fantasy	John Lennon & Yoko Ono	Album	3.55	28
30	1984	How Will the Wolf Survive?	Los Lobos	Album	3.5	6
31	1982	Avalon	Roxy Music	Album	4	36
32	1983	Uh‐Huh	John Cougar Mellencamp	Album	3.35	13
33	1984	Zen Arcade	Hüsker Dü	Album	5	6
34	1981	Tattoo You	The Rolling Stones	Album	4	38
35	1983	Kill ’Em All	Metallica	Album	4.15	64
36	1986	Rapture	Anita Baker	Album	3.35	9
37	1982	Midnight Love	Marvin Gaye	Album	3.5	12
38	1982	Imperial Bedroom	Elvis Costello & The Attractions	Album	3.6	15
39	1983	Eliminator	ZZ Top	Album	4.35	34
40	1983	War	U2	Album	4.1	42
41	1987	Document	R.E.M.	Album	4.1	24
42	1986	Strong Persuader	The Robert Cray Band	Album		12
43	1982	Nebraska	Bruce Springsteen	Album	3.9	67
44	1989	Oh Mercy	Bob Dylan	Album	4	22
45	1988	Daydream Nation	Sonic Youth	Album	4.2	20
46	1980	Peter Gabriel (Melt)	Peter Gabriel	Album	4.55	36
47	1984	Private Dancer	Tina Turner	Album	4	29
48	1986	Skylarking	XTC	Album	3.5	35
49	1980	Crazy Rhythms	The Feelies	Album	4.5	13
50	1983	Madonna	Madonna	Album	4.2	39
51	1984	Run‐D.M.C.	Run‐D.M.C.	Album	3.4	17
52	1980	Making Movies	Dire Straits	Album	3.95	36
53	1987	Bring the Family	John Hiatt	Album	4.25	14
54	1983	Speaking in Tongues	Talking Heads	Album	3.75	31
55	1985	Centerfield	John Fogerty	Album	4.35	17
56	1980	Closer	Joy Division	Album	4.25	26
57	1980	Empty Glass	Pete Townshend	Album	4.35	19
58	1985	The Indestructible Beat of Soweto	Various Artists	Album + Compilation		5
59	1982	Computer Games	George Clinton	Album		5
60	1982	The Blue Mask	Lou Reed	Album	4	9
61	1980	Doc at the Radar Station	Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band	Album	5	11
62	1983	Pyromania	Def Leppard	Album	4	36
63	1979	Entertainment!	Gang of Four	Album	4.5	17
64	1988	Vivid	Living Colour	Album	3.35	16
65	1986	In My Tribe	10,000 Maniacs	Album	4	38
66	1981	Fiyo on the Bayou	The Neville Brothers	Album	1	7
67	1983	Trouble in Paradise	Randy Newman	Album	4	3
68	1979	Specials	The Specials	Album	3.75	21
69	1985	Radio	L.L. Cool J	Album	3	9
70	1988	Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1	Traveling Wilburys	Album	5	18
71	1986	Crowded House	Crowded House	Album	4	18
72	1982	Marshall Crenshaw	Marshall Crenshaw	Album	5	5
73	1984	Building the Perfect Beast	Don Henley	Album	4	14
74	1987	Sign “☮︎” the Times	Prince	Album	4.1	24
75	1983	She’s So Unusual	Cyndi Lauper	Album	4.4	28
76	1979	Metal Box	Public Image Ltd.	Album	4	14
77	1981	Dare	The Human League	Album	3	18
78	1987	Robbie Robertson	Robbie Robertson	Album	4	11
79	1986	Guitar Town	Steve Earle	Album	3.75	13
80	1985	Suzanne Vega	Suzanne Vega	Album	3.4	17
81	1984	1984	Van Halen	Album	3.7	33
82	1981	East Side Story	Squeeze	Album	4	8
83	1983	Let’s Dance	David Bowie	Album	3.95	32
84	1987	Faith	George Michael	Album	3.45	26
85	1989	Freedom	Neil Young	Album	4.15	7
86	1980	The River	Bruce Springsteen	Album	4.75	74
87	1989	Steel Wheels	The Rolling Stones	Album	3.75	22
88	1986	Lives in the Balance	Jackson Browne	Album	5	11
89	1985	Who’s Zoomin’ Who?	Aretha Franklin	Album	4	12
90	1987	…Nothing Like the Sun	Sting	Album	4	35
91	1986	Lyle Lovett	Lyle Lovett	Album	4.5	2
92	1989	Full Moon Fever	Tom Petty	Album	4.1	23
93	1985	The Night I Fell in Love	Luther Vandross	Album		4
94	1983	Power, Corruption & Lies	New Order	Album	4.4	25
95	1985	Scarecrow	John Mellencamp	Album	3	16
96	1983	Colour by Numbers	Culture Club	Album	2.5	21
97	1988	The Mona Lisa’s Sister	Graham Parker	Album		7
98	1983	Labour of Love	UB40	Album	3.75	10
99	1988	What Up, Dog?	Was (Not Was)	Album	4	41
100	1985	Sun City	Artists United Against Apartheid	Album		5

Relationships

publishing label:	Rolling Stone (Germany)

official homepages:	https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/100-best-albums-of-the-eighties-150477/artists-united-against-apartheid-sun-city-54263/ [info]

Rolling Stone: 100 Best Albums of the Eighties (published November 16, 1989)

Release groups

Relationships

Series information

Tags

Genres

Other tags

External links

Editing

Subscriptions

Collections