⇦ 1984

1986 ⇨

The Best Music of 1985

Here is a selection of the best albums and songs from 1985. Hall of Famers are highlighted in orange.

For a list of the top artists who made their debut recording in 1985, check out this list.

Albums (?)		Wikipedia
A-Ha	Hunting High and Low	☆
Amy Grant	Unguarded	☆
Anthrax	Spreading the Disease	☆
Aretha Franklin	Who's Zoomin' Who?	☆
Bryan Ferry	Boys and Girls	☆
Camper Van Beethoven	Telephone Free Landslide Victory	☆
Dead Can Dance	Spleen and Ideal	☆
Dire Straits	Brothers in Arms	☆
Einstürzende Neubauten	Halber Mensch	☆
Eric Clapton	Behind the Sun	☆
Eurythmics	Be Yourself Tonight	☆
Grace Jones	Slave to the Rhythm	☆
Hüsker Dü	New Day Rising	☆
Heart	Heart	☆
Howard Jones	Dream into Action	☆
INXS	Listen Like Thieves	☆
John Fogerty	Centerfield	☆
John Mellencamp	Scarecrow	☆
Kate Bush	Hounds of Love	☆
Killing Joke	Night Time	☆
Level 42	World Machine	☆
LL Cool J	Radio	☆
Luther Vandross	The Night I Fell in Love	☆
Marillion	Misplaced Childhood	☆
Megadeth	Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!	☆
Miami Sound Machine	Primitive Love	☆
Mike and the Mechanics	Mike + the Mechanics	☆
Minutemen	3-Way Tie (For Last)	☆
New Order	Low-Life	☆
Oingo Boingo	Dead Man's Party	☆
Pat Benatar	Seven the Hard Way	☆
Pentagram	Pentagram	☆
Phil Collins	No Jacket Required	☆
Prefab Sprout	Steve McQueen	☆
Prince & the Revolution	Around the World in a Day	☆
R.E.M.	Fables of the Reconstruction	☆
Rites of Spring	Rites of Spring	☆
Robert Palmer	Riptide	☆
Run-D.M.C.	King Of Rock	☆
Rush	Power Windows	☆
Sade	Promise	☆
Simple Minds	Once Upon a Time	☆
Simply Red	Picture Book	☆
Stevie Wonder	In Square Circle	☆
Sting	The Dream Of The Blue Turtles	☆
Suzanne Vega	Suzanne Vega	☆
Talking Heads	Little Creatures	☆
Tears For Fears	Songs From The Big Chair	☆
The Cure	The Head On The Door	☆
The Fall	This Nation's Saving Grace	☆
The Highwaymen	Highwayman	☆
The Hooters	Nervous Night	☆
The Jesus and Mary Chain	Psychocandy	☆
The Outfield	Play Deep	☆
The Pogues	Rum Sodomy & the Lash	☆
The Power Station	The Power Station	☆
The Replacements	Tim	☆
The Sisters of Mercy	First and Last and Always	☆
The Smiths	Meat Is Murder	☆
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers	Pack Up The Plantation: Live	☆
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers	Southern Accents	☆
Tom Waits	Rain Dogs	☆
Various Artists	The Breakfast Club: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack	☆
Weird Al Yankovic	Dare To Be Stupid	☆
Whitney Houston	Whitney Houston	☆
ZZ Top	Afterburner	☆

---

Songs (?)		Wikipedia
A-ha	The Sun Always Shines on T.V.	☆
ABC	Be Near Me	☆
Anthrax	Armed and Dangerous	☆
Aretha Franklin	Freeway of Love	☆
Baltimora	Tarzan Boy	☆
Billy Joel	You're Only Human (Second Wind)	☆
Bruce Springsteen	Santa Claus Is Coming to Town	☆
Bryan Ferry	Slave to Love	☆
Bryan Ferry	Don't Stop the Dance	☆
Cheech And Chong	Born In East L.A.	☆
Clarence Clemons & Jackson Browne	You're a Friend of Mine	☆
David Lee Roth	Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody	☆
DeBarge	Rhythm of the Night	☆
Depeche Mode	Shake the Disease	☆
Dinosaur Jr.	Forget the Swan	☆
Dionne & Friends	That's What Friends are For	☆
Dire Straits	Money for Nothing	☆
Dire Straits	Walk of Life	☆
Dire Straits	Brothers in Arms	☆
Dire Straits	So Far Away	☆
Doug E. Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew	La Di Da Di	☆
Duran Duran	A View to a Kill	☆
Echo & The Bunnymen	Bring on the Dancing Horses	☆
Eddie Murphy	Party All the Time	☆
Eric Clapton	Forever Man	☆
Eurythmics	Would I Lie to You?	☆
Eurythmics & Aretha Franklin	Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves	☆
Falco	Rock Me Amadeus	☆
George Benson	Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You	☆
George Thorogood & The Destroyers	I Drink Alone	☆
Glenn Frey	You Belong to the City	☆
Godley & Creme	Cry	☆
Grace Jones	Slave to the Rhythm	☆
Hüsker Dü	The Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill	☆
Heart	These Dreams	☆
Heart	What About Love	☆
Heart	Never	☆
Howard Jones	Things Can Only Get Better	☆
Howard Jones	No One Is to Blame	☆
Huey Lewis & the News	The Power of Love	☆
Huey Lewis and the News	Back in Time	☆
Husker Du	Makes No Sense at All	☆
Husker Du	New Day Rising	☆
INXS	What You Need	☆
INXS	Listen Like Thieves	☆
Jan Hammer	Miami Vice Theme	☆
Jeff Beck & Rod Stewart	People Get Ready	☆
John Fogerty	Centerfield	☆
John Fogerty	The Old Man Down the Road	☆
John Mellencamp	R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A.	☆
John Mellencamp	Small Town	☆
John Mellencamp	Rain On The Scarecrow	☆
John Mellencamp	Lonely Ol' Night	☆
John Parr	St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)	☆
John Williams	The Mission (Theme for NBC News)	☆
Kate Bush	Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)	☆
Kate Bush	Cloudbusting	☆
Kate Bush	Hounds of Love	☆
Katrina & The Waves	Walking On Sunshine	☆
Killing Joke	Love Like Blood	☆
Koji Kondo	Ground Theme	☆
Level 42	Something About You	☆
Lionel Richie	Say You Say Me	☆
LL Cool J	I Can't Live Without My Radio	☆
Loverboy	Lovin' Every Minute of It	☆
Madonna	Into the Groove	☆
Madonna	Crazy for You	☆
Miami Sound Machine	Conga	☆
Miami Sound Machine	Bad Boy	☆
Mike & The Mechanics	All I Need Is a Miracle	☆
Mike + the Mechanics	Silent Running (on Dangerous Ground)	☆
Motley Crue	Home Sweet Home	☆
Mr. Mister	Broken Wings	☆
Mr. Mister	Kyrie	☆
New Order	The Perfect Kiss	☆
New Order	Love Vigilantes	☆
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds	Tupelo	☆
Nu Shooz	I Can't Wait	☆
Oingo Boingo	Dead Man's Party	☆
Oingo Boingo	Weird Science	☆
Oingo Boingo	Just Another Day	☆
Pat Benatar	Invincible	☆
Paul Hardcastle	19	☆
Paul Young	Every Time You Go Away	☆
Pet Shop Boys	Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)	☆
Phil Collins	Sussudio	☆
Phil Collins	Take Me Home	☆
Phil Collins	One More Night	☆
Phil Collins	Don't Lose My Number	☆
Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin	Separate Lives	☆
Power Station	Some Like it Hot	☆
Power Station	Get It On	☆
Prince & the Revolution	Raspberry Beret	☆
R.E.M.	Can't Get There From Here	☆
Ramones	My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)	☆
Rites of Spring	Hidden Wheel	☆
Rites of Spring	Persistent Vision	☆
Rites of Spring	For Want Of	☆
Robert Palmer	Addicted To Love	☆
Robert Palmer	I Didn't Mean to Turn You On	☆
Run-D.M.C.	King of Rock	☆
Sade	The Sweetest Taboo	☆
Sade	Never as Good as the First Time	☆
Sade	Is It a Crime	☆
Scritti Politti	Perfect Way	☆
Simple Minds	Don't You (Forget About Me)	☆
Simple Minds	Alive and Kicking	☆
Simple Minds	All the Things She Said	☆
Simple Minds	Sanctify Yourself	☆
Simply Red	Holding Back the Years	☆
Starship	We Built This City	☆
Stevie Nicks	Talk To Me	☆
Stevie Wonder	Part-Time Lover	☆
Stevie Wonder	Overjoyed	☆
Sting	If You Love Somebody Set Them Free	☆
Sting	Russians	☆
Sting	Fortress Around Your Heart	☆
Talk Talk	Life's What You Make It	☆
Talking Heads	Road to Nowhere	☆
Talking Heads	And She Was	☆
Tears for Fears	Everybody Wants to Rule the World	☆
Tears For Fears	Head Over Heels	☆
The Chicago Bears Shufflin' Crew	The Super Bowl Shuffle	☆
The Commodores	Nightshift	☆
The Cult	She Sells Sanctuary	☆
The Cure	In-Between Days	☆
The Cure	Close to Me	☆
The Dream Academy	Life in a Northern Town	☆
The Highwaymen	Highwayman	☆
The Highwaymen	Desperados Waiting for a Train	☆
The Hooters	And We Danced	☆
The Jesus & Mary Chain	Just Like Honey	☆
The Outatime Orchestra	Back to the Future (Main Theme)	☆
The Outfield	Your Love	☆
The Pogues	Dirty Old Town	☆
The Pogues	Sally MacLennane	☆
The Replacements	Bastards Of Young	☆
The Replacements	Here Comes a Regular	☆
The Replacements	Left Of The Dial	☆
The Smiths	The Boy With The Thorn In His Side	☆
The Waterboys	The Whole of the Moon	☆
Thompson Twins	Lay Your Hands on Me	☆
Til Tuesday	Voices Carry	☆
Tina Turner	We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)	☆
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers	Don't Come Around Here No More	☆
Tom Waits	Downtown Train	☆
Tom Waits	Rain Dogs	☆
USA For Africa	We Are the World	☆
Weird Al Yankovic	Dare to Be Stupid	☆
Whitney Houston	Greatest Love of All	☆
Whitney Houston	How Will I Know	☆
Whitney Houston	Saving All My Love For You	☆
Willie Nelson	Forgiving You Was Easy	☆
Yello	Oh Yeah	☆
ZZ Top	Sleeping Bag	☆

⇦ 1984

1986 ⇨