Just for fun. Here are the top 20 selling albums of the 1980s.

1. Michael Jackson- Thriller (29.3 Million Sales)
2. AC/DC- Back in Black (19.1 Million Sales)
3. Bruce Springsteen- Born in the U.S.A. (15.9 Million Sales)
4. Guns N' Roses- Appetite for Destruction (15.6 Million Sales)
5. Whitney Houston- Whitney Houston (14.2 Million Sales)
6. Phil Collins- No Jacket Required (13.8 Million Sales)
7. Prince- Music from the Motion Picture "Purple Rain" (13.6 Million Sales)
8. Bruce Springsteen- Live: 1975-85 (3CD) (13.1 Million Sales)
9. Dire Straits- Brothers in Arms (12.9 Million Sales)
10. Bon Jovi- Slippery When Wet (12.9 Million Sales)
11. Def Leppard- Hysteria (12.6 Million Sales)
12. Dirty Dancing Soundtrack- Dirty Dancing: Original Soundtrack From The Vestron Motion Picture (12.5 Million Sales)
13. Michael Jackson- Bad (11.9 Million Sales)
14. U2- The Joshua Tree (11.8 Million Sales)
15. George Michael- Faith (11.2 Million Sales)
16. Madonna- Like a Virgin (10.9 Million Sales)
17. Lionel Richie- Can't Slow Down (10.9 Million Sales)
18. Whitney Houston- Whitney (10.8 Million Sales)
19. Van Halen- 1984 (10.1 Million Sales)
20. Top Gun Soundtrack- Top Gun Soundtrack (9.6 Million Sales)

Interestingly, only Michael Jackson (Thriller #1 and #13 Bad) and Whitney Houston (Whitney Houston #5 and Whitney #28) appear twice on the list. But Madonna just missed out with #16 (Like A Virgin) and #21 (True Blue).

There are two soundtracks on the list - Dirty Dancing at #12 and the Top Gun soundtrack at #20.

6 of the top 10 are solo artists.

 

i find the original list a little too rock-centric, alin's a little too new-wave, so i'll split the middle:

- new order (you can not downplay their influence & they sold enough)
- depeche mode
- metallica
- guns'n'roses (like you, i couldn't get into them at the time, but i now see their greatness)
- run dmc


- chuck

 

If U2 was the soundtrack of my youth, Depeche Mode was the warm up band. Once, I listed my 100 favorite Depeche Mode songs - and then listened to them all in a row.

Who didn't make out to Somebody! It was money.

I debated long and hard about Metallica. They were great and very influential. But they just didn't sell enough until the 1990s.

 

Let's see if the day-time crew wants to weigh in.

 

Man...
Tough call...
I'm a metal head, and for me, there was a lot of great metal in the 80's, and only a few today have the talent to play as well as some of those bands. Even some of the "hair" metal acts were immensely talented...

So for me... 80's rock...
1. Van Halen
2. Tesla! (one of the best bands few people know about. Check out Modern Day Cowboy for a drop the throttle song)
3. Ozzy
4. Judas Priest
5. Iron Maiden
6. Sanctuary (one of the best prog metal/rock bands ever)
7. Pretty Maids (prog metal forerunners: See Future World for a driving song!)
8. Metallica
9. Megadeth
10. Motorhead
11. Dio...

crap... gotta stop there...

 

Van Halen did it with 2 different lead singers, therefore they win even though I love GNR

 

If any of you have not read "Slash" yet, you should. It makes you wonder how many of those bands were even able to make music in the 80's.....much less incredible music. I am a huge fan of 80's rock and metal. However, Led Zep will always be number one in my book.

 

Journey
Boston
Kansas
Dire Straits
Eagles

 

Vince Neal's book is great as well.

 

I see it like this:

Beastie Boys
Huey Lewis & The News
AC/DC
2 Live Crew
Journey