⇦ 1983

1985 ⇨

The Best Music of 1984

Here is a selection of the best albums and songs from 1984. Hall of Famers are highlighted in orange.

For a list of the top artists who made their debut recording in 1984, check out this list.

Albums (?)		Wikipedia
Amy Grant	Straight Ahead	☆
Ashford & Simpson	Solid	☆
Bananarama	Bananarama	☆
Billy Bragg	Brewing Up with Billy Bragg	☆
Billy Ocean	Suddenly	☆
Black Flag	My War	☆
Bon Jovi	Bon Jovi	☆
Bronski Beat	The Age of Consent	☆
Bruce Springsteen	Born In The U.S.A.	☆
Bryan Adams	Reckless	☆
Celtic Frost	Morbid Tales	☆
Chaka Khan	I Feel for You	☆
Christine McVie	Christine McVie	☆
Cocteau Twins	Treasure	☆
Culture Club	Waking Up with the House on Fire	☆
Deep Purple	Perfect Strangers	☆
Depeche Mode	Some Great Reward	☆
Dio	The Last in Line	☆
Don Henley	Building the Perfect Beast	☆
Echo & The Bunnymen	Ocean Rain	☆
Ennio Morricone	Once Upon a Time in America (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)	☆
Foreigner	Agent Provocateur	☆
Frankie Goes to Hollywood	Welcome to the Pleasuredome	☆
General Public	All the Rage	☆
George Strait	Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind	☆
Hüsker Dü	Zen Arcade	☆
Hall & Oates	Big Bam Boom	☆
Howard Jones	Human's Lib	☆
Iron Maiden	Powerslave	☆
John Lennon and Yoko Ono	Milk and Honey	☆
Judas Priest	Defenders of the Faith	☆
Julian Lennon	Valotte	☆
King Crimson	Three of a Perfect Pair	☆
Kool & the Gang	Emergency	☆
Leonard Cohen	Various Positions	☆
Lloyd Cole and The Commotions	Rattlesnakes	☆
Los Lobos	How Will the Wolf Survive?	☆
Madonna	Like A Virgin	☆
Marillion	Fugazi	☆
Mariya Takeuchi	Variety	☆
Meat Puppets	Meat Puppets II	☆
Mercyful Fate	Don't Break the Oath	☆
Metallica	Ride the Lightning	☆
Midnight Oil	Red Sails in the Sunset	☆
Minutemen	Double Nickels on the Dime	☆
New Edition	New Edition	☆
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds	From Her to Eternity	☆
Nick Lowe and His Cowboy Outfit	Nick Lowe and His Cowboy Outfit	☆
Pat Benatar	Tropico	☆
Prince & the Revolution	Purple Rain	☆
Queen	The Works	☆
R.E.M.	Reckoning	☆
Rick Springfield	Hard to Hold	☆
Run-D.M.C.	Run-D.M.C.	☆
Rush	Grace Under Pressure	☆
Sade	Diamond Life	☆
Scorpions	Love at First Sting	☆
Simple Minds	Sparkle In the Rain	☆
Siouxsie & the Banshees	Hyæna	☆
Skinny Puppy	Remission	☆
Spandau Ballet	Parade	☆
Spinal Tap	This Is Spinal Tap	☆
Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble	Couldn't Stand the Weather	☆
Talk Talk	It's My Life	☆
Talking Heads	Stop Making Sense	☆
The Alarm	Declaration	☆
The Art Of Noise	Who's Afraid Of The Art Of Noise	☆
The Cars	Heartbeat City	☆
The Everly Brothers	EB 84	☆
The Fall	The Wonderful and Weird World of The Fall	☆
The Fixx	Phantoms	☆
The Human League	Hysteria	☆
The Judds	Why Not Me	☆
The Pretenders	Learning to Crawl	☆
The Psychedelic Furs	Mirror Moves	☆
The Replacements	Let It Be	☆
The Smiths	The Smiths	☆
The Style Council	Café Bleu	☆
The Waterboys	A Pagan Place	☆
Tina Turner	Private Dancer	☆
Toshiki Kadomatsu	After 5 Clash	☆
Twisted Sister	Stay Hungry	☆
U2	The Unforgettable Fire	☆
Ultravox	Lament	☆
Van Halen	1984	☆
Various Artists	Footloose: Original Soundtrack of the Paramount Motion Picture	☆
Venom	At War with Satan	☆
Violent Femmes	Hallowed Ground	☆
Weird Al Yankovic	Weird Al ​Yankovic in 3-D	☆
Wham!	Make It Big	☆
Willie Nelson	City of New Orleans	☆

---

Songs (?)		Wikipedia
"Weird Al" Yankovic	Eat It	☆
A-Ha	Take on Me	☆
Accept	Balls to the Wall	☆
Alabama	If You're Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band)	☆
Alphaville	Big In Japan	☆
Alphaville	Forever Young	☆
Animotion	Obsession	☆
Ashford & Simpson	Solid	☆
Autograph	Turn Up the Radio	☆
Bananarama	Robert De Niro's Waiting...	☆
Band Aid	Do They Know It's Christmas?	☆
Barry Manilow	When October Goes	☆
Berlin	No More Words	☆
Billy Ocean	Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)	☆
Billy Ocean	Suddenly	☆
Billy Squier	Rock Me Tonite	☆
Black Flag	My War	☆
Bon Jovi	Runaway	☆
Bonnie Tyler	Holding Out for a Hero	☆
Bronski Beat	Smalltown Boy	☆
Bruce Cockburn	Lovers in a Dangerous Time	☆
Bruce Springsteen	Born in the U.S.A.	☆
Bruce Springsteen	Dancing in the Dark	☆
Bruce Springsteen	Glory Days	☆
Bruce Springsteen	I'm On Fire	☆
Bruce Springsteen	Cover Me	☆
Bruce Springsteen	My Hometown	☆
Bryan Adams	Run To You	☆
Bryan Adams	Summer Of '69	☆
Bryan Adams	Heaven	☆
Bryan Adams & Tina Turner	It's Only Love	☆
Chaka Khan	I Feel For You	☆
Chaka Khan	Through the Fire	☆
Chicago	You're The Inspiration	☆
Christine McVie	Got a Hold on Me	☆
Cocteau Twins	Lorelei	☆
Cocteau Twins	Pandora	☆
Cocteau Twins	Pearly-Dewdrops' Drops	☆
Culture Club	Miss Me Blind	☆
Dan Hartman	I Can Dream About You	☆
Daryl Hall & John Oates	Out of Touch	☆
David Bowie	Blue Jean	☆
Dead or Alive	You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)	☆
Deep Purple	Perfect Strangers	☆
Deep Purple	Knocking At Your Back Door	☆
Deniece Williams	Let's Hear it for the Boy	☆
Depeche Mode	People Are People	☆
Depeche Mode	Blasphemous Rumours	☆
Depeche Mode	Master and Servant	☆
Dio	The Last in Line	☆
Dio	Mystery	☆
Dio	We Rock	☆
Don Henley	The Boys of Summer	☆
Don Henley	All She Wants to Do Is Dance	☆
Duran Duran	The Wild Boys	☆
Echo & the Bunnymen	The Killing Moon	☆
Echo & The Bunnymen	Nocturnal Me	☆
Eddy Grant	Romancing the Stone	☆
Elton John	Sad Songs (Say So Much)	☆
Foreigner	I Want to Know What Love Is	☆
Frankie Goes to Hollywood	Relax	☆
Frankie Goes to Hollywood	Two Tribes	☆
Frankie Goes to Hollywood	The Power of Love	☆
General Public	Tenderness	☆
George Michael	Careless Whisper	☆
George Strait	Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind	☆
Glenn Frey	The Heat Is On	☆
Hüsker Dü	Pink Turns to Blue	☆
Hall & Oates	Method of Modern Love	☆
Hank Williams Jr.	All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight	☆
Harold Faltermeyer	Axel F	☆
Hoodoo Gurus	I Was a Kamikaze Pilot	☆
Husker Du	Something I Learned Today	☆
Husker Du	Turn on the News	☆
Iron Maiden	2 Minutes to Midnight	☆
Iron Maiden	Aces High	☆
Iron Maiden	Rime of the Ancient Mariner	☆
Jack Wagner	All I Need	☆
Joe Jackson	You Can't Get What You Want	☆
John Lennon	Nobody Told Me	☆
John Waite	Missing You	☆
Julian Lennon	Too Late for Goodbyes	☆
Julio Iglesias & Willie Nelson	To All the Girls I've Loved Before	☆
Kenny Loggins	Footloose	☆
Killing Joke	Eighties	☆
Kim Mitchell	Go for a Soda	☆
Kool & The Gang	Fresh	☆
Kool & the Gang	Cherish	☆
Kool & The Gang	Misled	☆
Laura Branigan	Self Control	☆
Leonard Cohen	Hallelujah	☆
Leonard Cohen	Dance Me to the End of Love	☆
Limahl	The NeverEnding Story	☆
Lindsey Buckingham	Go Insane	☆
LL Cool J	I Need a Beat	☆
Los Lobos	Will the Wolf Survive?	☆
Los Lobos	A Matter of Time	☆
Madonna	Like a Virgin	☆
Madonna	Material Girl	☆
Madonna	Dress You Up	☆
Mannheim Steamroller	Deck the Halls	☆
Mary Jane Girls	In My House	☆
Meat Puppets	Plateau	☆
Meat Puppets	Lake of Fire	☆
Metallica	Fade to Black	☆
Metallica	For Whom the Bell Tolls	☆
Metallica	Ride The Lightning	☆
Metallica	Creeping Death	☆
Miami Sound Machine	Dr. Beat	☆
Mike Reno and Ann Wilson	Almost Paradise... Love Theme from Footloose	☆
Ministry	Everyday Is Halloween	☆
Minutemen	Corona	☆
Minutemen	This Ain't No Picnic	☆
Minutemen	Viet Nam	☆
Motörhead	Killed by Death	☆
Murray Head	One Night in Bangkok	☆
New Edition	Cool It Now	☆
New Edition	Mr. Telephone Man	☆
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds	From Her to Eternity	☆
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	Locomotion	☆
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	So in Love	☆
Pat Benatar	We Belong	☆
Patti Labelle	New Attitude	☆
Patti LaBelle	Stir It Up	☆
Paul McCartney	No More Lonely Nights	☆
Pet Shop Boys	West End Girls	☆
Phil Collins	Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)	☆
Philip Bailey and Phil Collins	Easy Lover	☆
Prince & the Revolution	Let's Go Crazy	☆
Prince & the Revolution	Purple Rain	☆
Prince & the Revolution	When Doves Cry	☆
Prince & The Revolution	Erotic City	☆
Prince and the Revolution	Darling Nikki	☆
Prince and the Revolution	I Would Die 4 U	☆
Queen	Radio Ga Ga	☆
Queen	I Want to Break Free	☆
Queen	It's a Hard Life	☆
Queensryche	Take Hold of the Flame	☆
R.E.M.	So. Central Rain	☆
Ratt	Round and Round	☆
Ray Charles & Willie Nelson	Seven Spanish Angels	☆
Ray Parker, Jr.	Ghostbusters	☆
REO Speedwagon	Can't Fight This Feeling	☆
REO Speedwagon	One Lonely Night	☆
Rick Springfield	Love Somebody	☆
Rockwell	Somebody's Watching Me	☆
Rod Stewart	Some Guys Have All the Luck	☆
Rod Stewart	Infatuation	☆
Run-D.M.C.	Rock Box	☆
Rush	Distant Early Warning	☆
Ry Cooder	Paris, Texas	☆
Sade	Smooth Operator	☆
Sade	Your Love is King	☆
Sade	Hang On to Your Love	☆
Sammy Hagar	I Can't Drive 55	☆
Scandal featuring Patty Smyth	The Warrior	☆
Scorpions	Rock You Like A Hurricane	☆
Scorpions	Big City Nights	☆
Scorpions	Still Loving You	☆
Sheena Easton	Sugar Walls	☆
Sheila E.	The Glamorous Life	☆
Spinal Tap	Big Bottom	☆
Steve Perry	Oh, Sherrie	☆
Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble	Cold Shot	☆
Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble	Couldn't Stand the Weather	☆
Stevie Wonder	I Just Called To Say I Love You	☆
Survivor	High on You	☆
Survivor	The Search is Over	☆
Talk Talk	It's My Life	☆
Talk Talk	Such a Shame	☆
Tears for Fears	Shout	☆
Tears for Fears	Mothers Talk	☆
Teena Marie	Lovergirl	☆
The Alan Parsons Project	Don't Answer Me	☆
The Alarm	The Stand	☆
The Art of Noise	Close (To the Edit)	☆
The Art of Noise	Moments in Love	☆
The Bangles	Going Down to Liverpool	☆
The Cars	Drive	☆
The Cars	Magic	☆
The Cars	You Might Think	☆
The Cars	Hello Again	☆
The Chills	Pink Frost	☆
The Fixx	Are We Ourselves?	☆
The Go-Go's	Head Over Heels	☆
The Judds	Mama He's Crazy	☆
The Judds	Why Not Me	☆
The Pretenders	My City Was Gone	☆
The Psychedelic Furs	The Ghost in You	☆
The Replacements	I Will Dare	☆
The Replacements	Unsatisfied	☆
The Smiths	How Soon is Now?	☆
The Smiths	Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now	☆
The Smiths	What Difference Does It Make?	☆
The Smiths	William, It Was Really Nothing	☆
The Smiths	Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want	☆
The Style Council	My Ever Changing Moods	☆
The Style Council	Shout To The Top!	☆
The Time	Jungle Love	☆
Thompson Twins	Doctor! Doctor!	☆
Tina Turner	What's Love Got to Do With It	☆
Tina Turner	Private Dancer	☆
Tina Turner	Better Be Good to Me	☆
Tina Turner	I Can't Stand the Rain	☆
Triumph	Midsummer's Daydream	☆
Twisted Sister	We're Not Gonna Take It	☆
Twisted Sister	I Wanna Rock	☆
U.T.F.O.	Roxanne, Roxanne	☆
U2	Pride (In the Name of Love)	☆
U2	The Unforgettable Fire	☆
Ultravox	Dancing With Tears in My Eyes	☆
Van Halen	Jump	☆
Van Halen	Panama	☆
Van Halen	Hot For Teacher	☆
Wang Chung	Dance Hall Days	☆
Weird Al Yankovic	I Lost on Jeopardy	☆
Wham!	Last Christmas	☆
Wham!	Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go	☆
Wham!	Freedom	☆
Wham!	Everything She Wants	☆
Whodini	Freaks Come Out At Night	☆
Whodini	Friends	☆
Yes	It Can Happen	☆

⇦ 1983

1985 ⇨