# List of top 40 albums for 1980–1989 in Australia

The following lists the top 100 (end of decade) charting albums on the Australian Album Charts, for the 1980s. These were the best charting albums in Australia for the 1980s. The source for this decade is the Kent Music Report, known from 1987 onwards as the Australian Music Report.
| # | Title | Artist | Highest pos. reached | Date reached |
| 1. | Whispering Jack | John Farnham | 1 | November 1986 |
| 2. | Brothers in Arms | Dire Straits | 1 | May 1985 |
| 3. | Thriller | Michael Jackson | 1 | June 1983 |
| 4. | Born in the U.S.A. | Bruce Springsteen | 1 | October 1984 |
| 5. | Whitney Houston | Whitney Houston | 1 | June 1986 |
| 6. | Can't Slow Down | Lionel Richie | 1 | June 1984 |
| 7. | Too Low for Zero | Elton John | 2 | August 1983 |
| 8. | 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 | Midnight Oil | 3 | December 1982 |
| 9. | Business as Usual | Men at Work | 1 | December 1981 |
| 10. | Kick | INXS | 1 | October 1988 |
| 11. | Graceland | Paul Simon | 1 | October 1986 |
| 12. | An Innocent Man | Billy Joel | 3 | November 1983 |
| 13. | Revenge | Eurythmics | 2 | August 1986 |
| 14. | Crowded House | Crowded House | 1 | June 1987 |
| 15. | Love over Gold | Dire Straits | 1 | October 1982 |
| 16. | Colour by Numbers | Culture Club | 1 | October 1983 |
| 17. | No Jacket Required | Phil Collins | 1 | May 1985 |
| 18. | Like a Virgin | Madonna | 2 | January 1985 |
| 19. | The Swing | INXS | 1 | April 1984 |
| 20. | The Joshua Tree | U2 | 3 | March 1987 |
| 21. | Little Creatures | Talking Heads | 2 | August 1985 |
| 22. | Back in Black | AC/DC | 1 | March 1981 |
| 23. | Man of Colours | Icehouse | 1 | October 1987 |
| 24. | For the Working Class Man | Jimmy Barnes | 1 | December 1985 |
| 25. | Slippery When Wet | Bon Jovi | 1 | July 1987 |
| 26. | The Lonesome Jubilee | John Cougar Mellencamp | 2 | May 1988 |
| 27. | She's So Unusual | Cyndi Lauper | 3 | February 1985 |
| 28. | East | Cold Chisel | 2 | June 1980 |
| 29. | The Wall | Pink Floyd | 1 | March 1980 |
| 30. | Tracy Chapman | Tracy Chapman | 3 | June 1988 |
| 31. | Chariots of Fire | Vangelis | 5 | May 1982 |
| 32. | The Dream of the Blue Turtles | Sting | 1 | April 1986 |
| 33. | Tango in the Night | Fleetwood Mac | 5 | November 1987 |
| 34. | Scarecrow | John Cougar Mellencamp | 2 | July 1986 |
| 35. | Sirocco | Australian Crawl | 1 | August 1981 |
| 36. | True Blue | Madonna | 1 | August 1986 |
| 37. | Dirty Dancing | Original Soundtrack | 1 | October 1986 |
| 38. | ...ish | 1927 | 1 | May 1989 |
| 39. | Invisible Touch | Genesis | 3 | July 1986 |
| 40. | Volume One | Traveling Wilburys | 1 | February 1989 |
| 41. | Glass Houses | Billy Joel | 2 | May 1980 |
| 42. | Double Fantasy | John Lennon & Yoko Ono | 1 | Dec 1980 |
| 43. | The Bridge | Billy Joel | 2 | Oct 1986 |
| 44. | Be Yourself Tonight | Eurythmics | 1 | Jul 1985 |
| 45. | The Boys Light Up | Australian Crawl | 4 | Sep 1980 |
| 46. | Diesel and Dust | Midnight Oil | 1 | Aug 1987 |
| 47. | Reckless | Bryan Adams | 2 | Oct 1985 |
| 48. | Heavy Nova | Robert Palmer | 2 | Feb 1989 |
| 49. | Tattoo You | The Rolling Stones | 1 | Sep 1981 |
| 50. | True Colours | Split Enz | 1 | Apr 1980 |
| 51. | Listen Like Thieves | INXS | 1 | Oct 1985 |
| 52. | Introducing the Hardline According to Terrence Trent D'Arby | Terrence Trent D'Arby | 1 | May 1988 |
| 53. | Age of Reason | John Farnham | 1 | Aug 1988 |
| 54. | Let's Dance | David Bowie | 1 | Apr 1983 |
| 55. | Rattle and Hum | U2 | 1 | Oct 1988 |
| 56. | Icehouse | Flowers (Icehouse) | 4 | Nov 1980 |
| 57. | Avalon | Roxy Music | 1 | Jul 1982 |
| 58. | Zenyatta Mondatta | The Police | 1 | Mar 1981 |
| 59. | Under a Blood Red Sky | U2 | 2 | Feb 1984 |
| 60. | Appetite For Destruction | Guns 'n' Roses | 7 | Oct 1988 |
| 61. | Making Movies | Dire Straits | 6 | Mar 1981 |
| 62. | Days of Innocence | Moving Pictures | 1 | Mar 1982 |
| 63. | Synchronicity | The Police | 1 | Jul 1983 |
| 64. | Off The Wall | Michael Jackson | 1 | Mar 1980 |
| 65. | Greatest Hits Vols. I & II | Billy Joel | 2 | Aug 1985 |
| 66. | Kev's Back | Kevin Bloody Wilson | 8 | Oct 1986 |
| 67. | Whenever You Need Somebody | Rick Astley | 1 | Apr 1988 |
| 68. | Stardust | Willie Nelson | 5 | Aug 1980 |
| 69. | Private Dancer | Tina Turner | 7 | Sep 1984 |
| 70. | Hotter Than July | Stevie Wonder | 3 | Dec 1980 |
| 71. | Guilty | Barbra Streisand | 1 | Nov 1980 |
| 72. | Dare | The Human League | 3 | Apr 1982 |
| 73. | Open Up and Say...Ahh! | Poison | 11 | Sep 1988 |
| 74. | A Momentary Lapse of Reason | Pink Floyd | 4 | Nov 1987 |
| 75. | Faith | George Michael | 3 | Mar 1988 |
| 76. | Push | Bros | 4 | Aug 1988 |
| 77. | Songs From the Big Chair | Tears For Fears | 5 | May 1985 |
| 78. | Flashdance | Original Soundtrack | 1 | Aug 1983 |
| 79. | Freight Train Heart | Jimmy Barnes | 1 | Dec 1987 |
| 80. | Hysteria | Def Leppard | 4 | Jul 1989 |
| 81. | The Raw and the Cooked | Fine Young Cannibals | 2 | May 1989 |
| 82. | Melissa Etheridge | Melissa Etheridge | 2 | Mar 1989 |
| 83. | Stop Making Sense | Talking Heads | 9 | Nov 1985 |
| 84. | Dancing on the Ceiling | Lionel Richie | 2 | Sep 1986 |
| 85. | Whitney | Whitney Houston | 1 | Jun 1987 |
| 86. | Like a Prayer | Madonna | 2 | Apr 1989 |
| 87. | Face Value | Phil Collins | 2 | Jun 1981 |
| 88. | The Rose | Soundtrack Bette Midler | 3 | May 1980 |
| 89. | Edge | Daryl Braithwaite | 1 | May 1989 |
| 90. | Bad Habits | Billy Field | 1 | Jul 1981 |
| 91. | Christopher Cross | Christopher Cross | 6 | May 1981 |
| 92. | Union | Toni Childs | 7 | Nov 1988 |
| 93. | Spirit of Place | Goanna | 2 | Jan 1983 |
| 94. | Madonna | Madonna | 10 | Aug 1984 |
| 95. | Rock a Little | Stevie Nicks | 5 | June 1986 |
| 96. | Can't Stop the Music | Soundtrack Village People | 1 | June 1980 |
| 97. | Red Sails in the Sunset | Midnight Oil | 1 | November 1984 |
| 98. | Bad | Michael Jackson | 2 | September 1987 |
| 99. | 1100 Bel Air Place | Julio Iglesias | 2 | October 1984 |
| 100. | Circus Animals | Cold Chisel | 1 | May 1982 |
These charts were calculated by David Kent of the Kent Music Report / Australian Music Report and they are based on the number of weeks and position the records reached within the top 100 albums for each week.