⇦ 1988

1990 ⇨

The Best Music of 1989

Here is a selection of the best albums and songs from 1989. Hall of Famers are highlighted in orange.

For a list of the top artists who made their debut recording in 1989, check out this list.

Albums (?)		Wikipedia
10,000 Maniacs	Blind Man's Zoo	☆
Aerosmith	Pump	☆
Alice Cooper	Trash	☆
Bad Religion	No Control	☆
Beastie Boys	Paul's Boutique	☆
Billy Joel	Storm Front	☆
Bonnie Raitt	Nick of Time	☆
Cher	Heart of Stone	☆
Chris Isaak	Heart Shaped World	☆
Dan Hartman	New Green Clear Blue	☆
De La Soul	3 Feet High and Rising	☆
Don Henley	The End Of The Innocence	☆
Exodus	Fabulous Disaster	☆
Faith No More	The Real Thing	☆
Fates Warning	Perfect Symmetry	☆
Fela Kuti	Beasts of No Nation	☆
Gloria Estefan	Cuts Both Ways	☆
Hirokazu Tanaka	Tetris	☆
Indigo Girls	Indigo Girls	☆
Janet Jackson	Rhythm Nation 1814	☆
Jeff Beck	Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop	☆
John Mellencamp	Big Daddy	☆
Jonathan Richman	Jonathan Richman	☆
Kate Bush	The Sensual World	☆
Keith Whitley	I Wonder Do You Think of Me	☆
King's X	Gretchen Goes to Nebraska	☆
L.A. Guns	Cocked and Loaded	☆
Lenny Kravitz	Let Love Rule	☆
Lisa Stansfield	Affection	☆
Lou Reed	New York	☆
Mötley Crüe	Dr. Feelgood	☆
Madonna	Like A Prayer	☆
Marillion	Seasons End	☆
MC Lyte	Eyes on This	☆
Michael Penn	March	☆
Ministry	The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste	☆
Neil Young	Freedom	☆
New Order	Technique	☆
Nine Inch Nails	Pretty Hate Machine	☆
Nirvana	Bleach	☆
Operation Ivy	Energy	☆
Overkill	The Years of Decay	☆
Paul McCartney	Flowers in the Dirt	☆
Peter Himmelman	Synesthesia	☆
Phil Collins	...But Seriously	☆
Phish	Junta	☆
Pixies	Doolittle	☆
Poco	Legacy	☆
Queen Latifah	All Hail the Queen	☆
Quincy Jones	Back on the Block	☆
Red Hot Chili Peppers	Mother's Milk	☆
Roy Orbison	Mystery Girl	☆
Rush	Presto	☆
Simple Minds	Street Fighting Years	☆
Soul II Soul	Club Classics Vol. 1	☆
Soundgarden	Louder Than Love	☆
Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble	In Step	☆
Tears For Fears	The Seeds Of Love	☆
Technotronic	Pump Up the Jam: The Album	☆
The B-52's	Cosmic Thing	☆
The Cult	Sonic Temple	☆
The Cure	Disintegration	☆
The Jesus and Mary Chain	Automatic	☆
The Rolling Stones	Steel Wheels	☆
The Stone Roses	The Stone Roses	☆
The Tragically Hip	Up to Here	☆
Tina Turner	Foreign Affair	☆
Tom Petty	Full Moon Fever	☆
Tracy Chapman	Crossroads	☆
Van Morrison	Avalon Sunset	☆
Voivod	Nothingface	☆
Warrant	Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich	☆
X Japan	Blue Blood	☆
XTC	Oranges And Lemons	☆

---

Songs (?)		Wikipedia
2 Live Crew	Me So Horny	☆
Aerosmith	Janie's Got a Gun	☆
Aerosmith	Love in an Elevator	☆
Aerosmith	What It Takes	☆
Alabama	Song of the South	☆
Alannah Myles	Black Velvet	☆
Alice Cooper	Poison	☆
Anthrax featuring Public Enemy	Bring Tha Noize	☆
Bad English	When I See You Smile	☆
Beastie Boys	Hey Ladies	☆
Billy Joel	We Didn't Start The Fire	☆
Billy Joel	I Go to Extremes	☆
Biz Markie	Just a Friend	☆
Bobby Brown	On Our Own	☆
Bonnie Raitt	Nick of Time	☆
Bonnie Raitt	Thing Called Love	☆
Cathy Dennis	Just Another Dream	☆
Cher	If I Could Turn Back Time	☆
Cher	Just Like Jesse James	☆
Chris Isaak	Wicked Game	☆
Clint Black	Killin' Time	☆
Cyndi Lauper	I Drove All Night	☆
Danny Elfman	The Batman Theme	☆
Danny Elfman	The Simpsons Theme	☆
De La Soul	Me, Myself And I	☆
De La Soul	The Magic Number	☆
De La Soul	Eye Know	☆
Depeche Mode	Personal Jesus	☆
Don Henley	The End of the Innocence	☆
Don Henley	The Heart of the Matter	☆
Don Henley	New York Minute	☆
Don Henley	The Last Worthless Evening	☆
Donna Summer	This Time I Know It's For Real	☆
Elvis Costello	Veronica	☆
Emmylou Harris	Heaven Only Knows	☆
Faith No More	Epic	☆
Faith No More	Falling to Pieces	☆
Faith No More	From Out Of Nowhere	☆
Fine Young Cannibals	She Drives Me Crazy	☆
Fine Young Cannibals	Good Thing	☆
Garth Brooks	If Tomorrow Never Comes	☆
Gloria Estefan	Get on Your Feet	☆
Great White	Once Bitten, Twice Shy	☆
Hirokazu Tanaka	Type A (Tetris)	☆
Howard Jones	Everlasting Love	☆
Indigo Girls	Closer to Fine	☆
James	Sit Down	☆
Janet Jackson	Rhythm Nation	☆
Janet Jackson	Love Will Never Do (Without You)	☆
Janet Jackson	Black Cat	☆
Janet Jackson	Escapade	☆
Janet Jackson	Miss You Much	☆
Jodi Benson	Part of Your World	☆
Jonathan Wolff	Seinfeld Theme	☆
Kate Bush	This Woman's Work	☆
Kate Bush	Love and Anger	☆
Kate Bush	The Sensual World	☆
King's X	Out of the Silent Planet	☆
Lenny Kravitz	Let Love Rule	☆
Linda Ronstadt Featuring Aaron Neville	Don't Know Much	☆
Lisa Stansfield	All Around the World	☆
LL Cool J	I Need Love	☆
Love and Rockets	So Alive	☆
Luther Vandross	Here and Now	☆
Mötley Crüe	Dr. Feelgood	☆
Mötley Crüe	Kickstart My Heart	☆
Madonna	Like a Prayer	☆
Madonna	Express Yourself	☆
Madonna	Cherish	☆
Mavis Staples	Christmas Vacation	☆
Michael Bolton	How Am I Supposed to Live Without You	☆
Michael Penn	No Myth	☆
Neil Young	Rockin' in the Free World	☆
New Order	Round & Round	☆
Nine Inch Nails	Head Like a Hole	☆
Nine Inch Nails	Terrible Lie	☆
Nine Inch Nails	Down In It	☆
Nirvana	About a Girl	☆
Peter Murphy	Cuts You Up	☆
Phil Collins	Another Day in Paradise	☆
Phil Collins	Something Happened on the Way to Heaven	☆
Phish	You Enjoy Myself	☆
Pixies	Wave Of Mutilation	☆
Pixies	Here Comes Your Man	☆
Pixies	Monkey Gone To Heaven	☆
Pixies	Debaser	☆
Pixies	Hey	☆
Pixies	Gouge Away	☆
Prince	Batdance	☆
Prince with Sheena Easton	Arms of Orion	☆
Public Enemy	Fight the Power	☆
Queen	I Want It All	☆
Queen Latifah & Monie Love	Ladies First	☆
Ramones	Pet Sematary	☆
Red Hot Chili Peppers	Higher Ground	☆
Richard Marx	Right Here Waiting	☆
Robin Beck	First Time	☆
Roy Orbison	You Got It	☆
Samuel E. Wright	Under the Sea	☆
Simple Minds	Belfast Child	☆
Simply Red	If You Don't Know Me by Now	☆
Skid Row	18 and Life	☆
Skid Row	I'll Remember You	☆
Soul II Soul	Back to Life (However Do You Want Me)	☆
Soul II Soul	Fairplay	☆
Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble	Crossfire	☆
Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble	The House is Rockin'	☆
Taylor Dayne	With Every Beat of My Heart	☆
Tears For Fears	Sowing The Seeds Of Love	☆
Technotronic	Pump Up the Jam	☆
Technotronic	Move This	☆
Tesla	Love Song	☆
The B-52's	Love Shack	☆
The B-52's	Roam	☆
The B-52's	Channel Z	☆
The Bangles	Eternal Flame	☆
The Cult	Fire Woman	☆
The Cure	Pictures of You	☆
The Cure	Love Song	☆
The Cure	Lullaby	☆
The Cure	Disintegration	☆
The Cure	Fascination Street	☆
The Jesus & Mary Chain	Head On	☆
The KLF	3 a.m. Eternal	☆
The Replacements	I'll Be You	☆
The Smithereens	A Girl Like You	☆
The Stone Roses	Fool's Gold	☆
The Stone Roses	I Wanna Be Adored	☆
The Stone Roses	I Am the Resurrection	☆
The Stone Roses	Waterfall	☆
The Stone Roses	She Bangs The Drums	☆
The Tragically Hip	New Orleans is Sinking	☆
The Tragically Hip	Blow at High Dough	☆
They Might Be Giants	Birdhouse In Your Soul	☆
Tina Turner	The Best	☆
Tom Petty	Free Fallin'	☆
Tom Petty	I Won't Back Down	☆
Tom Petty	Runnin' Down A Dream	☆
Tom Petty	Yer So Bad	☆
Tone Loc	Funky Cold Medina	☆
Vince Gill	When I Call Your Name	☆
Warren Zevon	Splendid Isolation	☆
XTC	The Mayor Of Simpleton	☆
Young M.C.	Bust a Move	☆

⇦ 1988

1990 ⇨