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A closer listen to the decade that brought us everything from Run-DMC to Mötley Crüe to Rick Astley.

Pop Music

If you're making a throwback playlist, you can't forget the&nbsp;<a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-pop-songs-2020/music-lover?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">best pop songs</a> of the '80s. Including unforgettable classics and old school dance hits, the list of '80s pop songs features popular artists, like Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Prince, and David Bowie. Moonwalk down&nbsp;memory lane with the top pop songs of the 1980s.&nbsp;Vote up the best '80s pop songs, and add your favorites if they're missing from the list.

Relationships

From &quot;Every Rose Has It&#39;s Thorn&quot; by Poison to &quot;Separate Ways&quot; by Journey, there are many good &#39;80s breakup songs that are perfect to listen to when you&#39;re going through a split of your own. Let&#39;s rank the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-breakup-songs-2020/music-lover?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">best breakup songs</a> from the &#39;80s with the help of votes, and determine which lovesick tracks deserve to be called the greatest.

&quot;Missing You&quot; by John Waite is a fantastic &#39;80s breakup songs that describes what it&#39;s like to be in denial about missing someone after being dumped. &quot;Love Is a Battlefield&quot; is a Pat Benatar classic that describes the hardships of love, while Scandal&#39;s &quot;Goodbye To You&quot; is an &#39;80s&nbsp;song about breaking up from the perspective of the initiating the breakup. Other great &#39;80s breakup songs are &quot;Don&#39;t You Want Me&quot; by Human League, &quot;(There&#39;s) Always Something There to Remind Me&quot; by Naked Eyes, and &quot;Careless Whisper&quot; by George Michael.

Add your favorite tracks to the list if they&#39;re not already here, so other people can vote them up along with the existing entries. The song must be a song released in the 1980s that&#39;s about breaking up with someone.

1980s

So much of music in the &#39;80s was defined by the new wave movement, but what are your favorite songs from the genre? Let&#39;s rank the best &#39;80s new wave songs that truly defined the decade, with the help of your votes.

Many people think of new wave songs when they think of the 1980s, and it&#39;s no wonder why. Tracks like Kajagoogoo&#39;s &quot;Too Shy&quot; and Soft Cell&#39;s &quot;Tainted Love&quot; are the types&nbsp;of songs&nbsp;you&#39;ll always sing along to if you hear them on the radio. Even if you don&#39;t listen to &#39;80s music, you surely know the lyrics to &quot;I Ran&quot; by A Flock of Seagulls. Another fantastic new wave song from the &#39;80s is &quot;People Are People&quot; by Depeche Mode, despite the fact that the song&#39;s writer, Martin Gore, has been quoted as saying it&#39;s one of his least favorite.

Vote up the top &#39;80s new wave hits and dance your problems away! There are so many good &#39;80s new wave songs, so please add your own additions to the list if they aren&#39;t here already.

80s Music

Electric Avenue

After checking out the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/top-one-hit-wonders-2010s/jovaughnbrown" target="_blank">most popular one-hit wonders of the 2010s</a>, enjoy this&nbsp;list of the greatest songs by &#39;80s one-hit wonders. Are you looking for your favorite &#39;80s songs, but don&rsquo;t know who the artist is? Browse through this list of the greatest songs by &#39;80s one-hit wonders to see if your favorite song made the list. Then you can see who the artist is and search for the album to listen to sometime. Ordered from the most popular one-hit song wonders from the &#39;80s to the least popular, you can find some great music by picking from the top of the list. Go ahead and vote for your favorite songs and artists as well, and they will get raised higher on the list.

Feel free to copy and paste from the list to make your own list of favorite &#39;80s music. That way, you will never forget the male and female artists who wrote, sang, and performed your favorite &#39;80s songs again! If you don&rsquo;t see your favorite song or artist listed, go ahead and add it to the list. Then others can vote for it and you can see where it ranks on the list of <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/greatest-80s-pop-songs/ranker-music?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">great 80s songs</a> by one-hit wonders.

The &#39;80s was a memorable time period. With movies like Footloose, Top Gun and the Karate Kid that are renowned the world over, music played a big part in making these films special. There were a lot of great songs and music from this time, but some of the best songs were from one-hit wonders of the &#39;80s and can sometimes be hard to find. By utilizing this list, you may just find that one great &#39;80s song that you loved to listen to! Cheers to the one hit wonders of the &#39;80s for bringing us some of most memorable songs of the decade. To the eighties!

Karaoke and &#39;80s music is a match made in heaven, but what are the very best tracks you can choose when it&#39;s your turn to belt one out? From &quot;Bohemian Rhapsody&quot; to &quot;Take on Me,&quot; let&#39;s rank the very best &#39;80s karaoke songs that are sure to win the crowd over every time.

It may be a tad overdone, but &quot;Don&#39;t Stop Believin&quot; by Journey is basically a cheat card for getting the crowd pumped up. Another great &#39;80s karaoke song is &quot;I Wanna Dance With Somebody&quot; by Whitney Houston, which has a chorus that everyone will be singing along with. Other great &#39;80s songs for karaoke include &quot;Take On Me&quot; by a-Ha (if you&#39;re good at hitting those high notes) and &quot;Africa&quot; by Toto.

What constitutes a good <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/worst-karaoke-songs-2010s/maggie-clancy" target="_blank">karaoke song</a> is pretty subjective, so if your favorite go-to &#39;80s hit isn&#39;t already here, add it to the list!

If you're making a Valentine's Day playlist or just looking for old school romantic songs, here are the best love songs of the '80s. Including classic slow jams&nbsp;and rock ballads, the list of '80s love songs features popular artists, like Air Supply, Lionel Richie, Madonna, and Whitney Houston. Feel the romance&nbsp;with the top love songs of the '80s.&nbsp;Vote up the best '80s love songs, and add your favorites if they're missing from the list.

Here are the greatest &#39;80s party songs, ranked by fans everywhere. It may be the 21st century, but people are still obsessed with the 1980s. People still regularly host &#39;80s themed parties where people put on their best Michael Jackson jackets and apply way too much hairspray. These parties are great for catching up with old friends, but they are also the perfect opportunity to take control of the playlist and blast some of the biggest hits of the decade. The most popular &#39;80s party songs will get everyone off their feet and reminiscing about the good old days before everyone had a smartphone in their pocket.&nbsp;

No &#39;80s party is complete without playing most of the songs on this &#39;80s music&nbsp;playlist. There are tracks that will have people getting up off from the couch and doing the moonwalk. Others are a bit more laid back and good for when it&#39;s time to bring the festivities to a close. They all encapsulate a certain, bygone era, and they will put smiles on everyone&#39;s faces.&nbsp;

Use this list of &#39;80s party songs whenever you are in charge of the music. As each track plays, just look around at everyone smirking with joy as they listen to the songs that played during their high school dances. Partiers of all ages are encouraged to vote.&nbsp;

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I&#39;ll Be There for You

The absolute worst songs from the 1980s, voted on by the Ranker community. The &#39;80 were known for lots of &quot;worst&quot; things: big bangs, acid-wash jeans, leg warmers, and music. The &#39;80s were a compilation of some of the best and some of the worst music of all time, and unfortunately for our ears, the bad stuff is pretty bad. But thankfully, that&#39;s what this list is for!&nbsp;

Even though some of these bands were wildly successful in the &#39;80s, that doesn&#39;t mean their music is all great. What are the worst songs from the &#39;80s? That&#39;s up for you to decide. This list is votable and re-rankable, so vote up which songs you think are the absolute worst, and vote down the ones you like a little more. Don&#39;t see a song that may deserve top billing on this playlist? Be sure to add it.

What are the best dance songs from the period best known for mullets, jelly bands, and jean jackets? To answer that question, let&#39;s rank the best &#39;80s dance songs that truly defined the decade and inspired all of the dance music that followed in the &#39;90s and beyond.

&quot;Everybody Have Fun Tonight&quot; by Wang Chung is one of those songs that doesn&#39;t just earworm into your brain for hours, it&#39;s something you can move to! The single is one of the best known songs the group released, and a great&nbsp;place to start when ranking the best dance&nbsp;songs from the &#39;80s. Salt-N-Pepa helped define the generation for dancers across the world with &quot;Push It,&quot; but you don&#39;t have to look much further than the King of Pop&#39;s incredibly popular classic &quot;Beat It,&quot; which helped launch Michael Jackson&#39;s solo career. Other popular hits from the decade that just force a listener to move include Madonna&#39;s &quot;Into the Groove,&quot; Men Without Hats&#39; &quot;The Safety Dance,&quot; and Whitney Houston&#39;s &quot;I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me).&quot;

Vote up your favorite &#39;80s dance songs&nbsp;on this ranked list, and add any tracks that aren&#39;t here already.

Though many of the best ballads to come out of the 80s come in the form of power ballads, that&#39;s not to say they all do. In fact, the top 80s ballads span a range of genres and even tempos, but they all have one thing in common: they&#39;re ballads. What exactly is a ballad? Though there may be some room for argument, ballads are typically those songs consisting of love-infused lyrics&mdash;but they don&#39;t have to be. Ballads tell stories, so they can often be seen as narratives set to song. Whatever the true definition may be, we all have our idea of ballads and, therefore, we all have our favorites when it comes to the best 80s ballads of all time. What are&nbsp;yours?

Again, the 80s was a great time for power ballads&mdash;many of which came from those guys with big hair and tight&nbsp;pants. However, the 80s graced us with more than just a bunch of epic power ballads that climb from slow intros to all-out instrumentals accompanying a love story. From Eurythmics&#39; &quot;Here Comes the Rain Again&quot; to &quot;Total Eclipse of My Heart&quot; by Bonnie Tyler, the greatest 80s ballads certainly don&#39;t stick to a single genre. Nevertheless, they all&nbsp;possess that classic 80s sound.

What are you favorite ballads of the 80s? Do you think they can be called the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-ballads-of-all-time/ranker-music" target="_blank">best ballads ever</a>? Check out the list of the most popular 80s ballads below and vote up your top choices. If you see something is missing from the list, feel free to add it. You can also vote on the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-90s-ballads/ranker-music" target="_blank">top ballads of the 90s</a>&nbsp;while you&#39;re at it.

Here are the greatest &#39;80s R&amp;B songs, ranked by fans everywhere. The 1980s were a transformative decade for R&amp;B. The genre of rhythm and blues used to be its own genre, but in the &#39;80s, it began to incorporate elements of hip hop into the music. The genre gradually became more homogenized, and a select group of high-profile R&amp;B artists dominated the charts. This was all thanks to producer L.A. Reid, who produced some of the biggest hits of the era. From George Michael&nbsp;to Janet Jackson, many prominent artists rose to superstardom during this time. On this R&amp;B throwback playlist, you&#39;ll have the chance to slow dance to some of the smoothest jams ever made.

Which track do you think deserves the top spot? The King of Pop, Michael Jackson, made numerous R&amp;B hits you will be able to choose from. Marvin Gaye was also a major artist of the time, and plenty of people&nbsp;still turn on his music when they are in the mood for romance. There are no wrong answers. Every song on this list is a hit in its own right. You can help determine what the most popular R&amp;B songs of the &#39;80s are.&nbsp;

What are the best songs about a girl to come out of the '80s?&nbsp;To answer that question, let's rank the best '80s songs about a girl that truly defined the decade and made the world wonder who some of these captivating ladies actually were.If you asked anyone what the number one song about a girl from the '80s might be, odds are you would immediately hear about &quot;Roxane&quot; from The Police. If you're especially unlucky, they might even try belting out a lyric or two! The decade is full of songs about girls, and the Police's most recognizable track is no exception. Other songs from the 1980s about a specific lady include Toto's &quot;Rosanna&quot; and one just about everyone knows, Rick Springfield's &quot;Jessie's Girl,&quot; which is about a girl whose name is left completely out of the song. Other catchy tunes about women include&nbsp;Dexys Midnight Runners's &quot;Come on Eileen&quot; and Michael Jackson's &quot;Billie Jean.&quot;Vote up your favorite '80s&nbsp;songs about a girl on this ranked list, and add any tracks that aren't here already.

Rock

Step into the Ranker time machine, and enjoy the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-rock-songs-2020/music-lover?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">best rock songs</a> of the &#39;80s. Including classic rock hits&nbsp;and popular&nbsp;jams, the list of &#39;80s rock songs features some of the greatest bands ever, like The Police, U2, Van Halen, and Pink Floyd. Take a trip down memory lane with the top rock songs of the 1980s.&nbsp;

Vote up the best &#39;80s rock songs, and add your favorites if they&#39;re missing from the list.

What is it about &#39;80s songs that makes them so inherently uplifting? Many &#39;80s songs are extremely upbeat, so it&#39;s no surprise they usually put you in a good mood.&nbsp;&nbsp;Let&#39;s rank the most motivational &#39;80s songs from the best decade of music, featuring songs with uplifting lyrics that are&nbsp;sure to put a smile on your face.

Journey&#39;s &quot;Don&#39;t Stop Believin&quot; is easily one of the most motivational &#39;80s songs. The title of the song was actually inspried by keyboard player Jonathan Cain&#39;s father, who delivered the message whenever Cain&nbsp;felt like giving up on his musical dreams. Another great uplifting &#39;80s song is Survivor&#39;s &quot;Eye of the Tiger,&quot; which was used as the main theme song for Rocky III. Fun fact: Sylvester Stallone originally wanted to use &quot;Another One Bites The Dust&quot; as the theme, but requested that Survivor record something orignial after getting rejected by Queen. Other great &#39;80s songs that will put you in a good mood are classics like John Parr&#39;s &quot;St. Elmo&#39;s Fire&quot; and Joe Esposito&#39;s &quot;You&#39;re The Best.&quot;

Vote up your favorite inspirational songs from the &#39;80s below, and add your own selections if you don&#39;t see them here already!

What are the best synth songs from the period best known for music created from computers and synthesized musical instruments? To answer that question, let&#39;s rank the best &#39;80s synth songs that truly defined the decade and inspired all of the synth music that followed in the &#39;00s and beyond.

One of the very best synth songs to hit the airwaves also has one of the most memorable music videos from the decade with A-Ha&#39;s &quot;Take On Me.&quot; The &#39;80s is full of amazing music created with synthesizers you&#39;ve probably been dancing to the groove with since they first came out. Falco&#39;s &quot;Rock Me Amadeus&quot; helped inspire a new generation of musicians with its catchy lyrics and synthetic beat that took the entire world by storm. The decade featured more hits in this genre than nearly any other sub-genre of pop music with hits like &quot;Just Can&#39;t Get Enough,&quot; &quot;Sweet Dreams,&quot; and &quot;Time After Time&quot; continuing to find a place on the radio more than 30 years since its debut.

Vote up your favorite &#39;80s synth songs&nbsp;on this ranked list, and add any tracks that aren&#39;t here already.

Here are the greatest &#39;80s alternative songs, ranked by fans everywhere. The 1980s were a great time for alternative rock. During this decade, alternative rock was still predominantly an underground movement. Many artists found success finding fans through college radio and independent fanzines. Bands quickly realized they did not need major label representation to have an impact, and this resulted in some of the best rock music of all time. This list contains the most popular alternative songs of the &#39;80s, as voted on by rock music lovers from around the world.&nbsp;

The beginning of the &#39;80s saw the dominance of such acts as Duran Duran and Black Flag. Toward the tail end of the era, a new type of band began to emerge. <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/bands-like-nirvana/music-lover?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Bands like Nirvana</a> and R.E.M. were just finding their voice. While these type of artists truly rose to fame in the &#39;90s, it was only due to alternative artists of the &#39;80s that they even had a chance of finding success.&nbsp;

If you have ever wanted to find all of the best &#39;80s alternative songs in one place, then this &#39;80s throwback playlist makes for the perfect resource. Use all of your hair spray and put on as many bracelets as you can find because you are about to vote for the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/greatest-90s-alternative-songs/ranker-music?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">top alternative songs</a> of the &#39;80s.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Guns N' Roses

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The greatest and most prolific artists of music&#39;s most colorful decade are remembered on this list. This list is based solely on the artists&#39; work in the 1980s. Though, there may be better George Michael, better RHCP, better Sade, or better Sting (okay, maybe not better Sting), in previous or later decades, we will acknowledge each artists for the impact they made in the &#39;80s. What was your favorite 1980s music? Who do you think were the greatest musical artists of the &#39;80s? Remember, some of these artists were responsible for the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/worst-songs-of-the-80s/ranker-music">worst songs of the 80s</a> as well as the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/greatest-songs-by-80s-one-hit-wonders/ranker-music">greatest &#39;80s one hit wonders</a>.&nbsp;

From synth pop, to hair metal, to the rise of punk rock, to the fall of disco, to the birth of hip-hop, all genres are recognized, including classic albums, as long as they were the best of the best during this fabulous decade. Do you prefer &#39;80s rock bands over top pop from the era? Which popular &#39;80s&nbsp;bands would no &#39;<a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/greatest-80s-party-songs/ranker-music?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">80s party music</a> playlist be complete without?

Vote up all of your favorite &#39;80s bands and <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/madonna-controversial-moments/kelly-patrick" target="_blank">artists who transformed the music scene</a> during the decade, and add anyone who isn&#39;t already on the list. Just make sure they&nbsp;were making some of the top &#39;80s music we know and love.

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It can be cathartic to get in touch with your emotions by listening to sad songs. There are a lot of great &lsquo;80s sad songs if you&rsquo;re looking to make an emotional playlist.&nbsp;

So, what are some of the best sad &lsquo;80s songs? &quot;Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want This Time,&quot;&nbsp;by The Smiths is definitely one of the most memorable depressing &lsquo;80s songs. It&rsquo;s featured during one of the saddest moments of the John Hughes &lsquo;80s classic, Pretty in Pink. &quot;With or Without You&quot; by U2 is another example of sad &lsquo;80s music. There are a good number of sad &lsquo;80s love songs as well.

Be sure to vote up the sad songs from the &lsquo;80s that you love most. If you don&rsquo;t see your favorite sad songs of the &lsquo;80s, then feel free to add it below.&nbsp;

What are the best songs to come from the British Isles during the &#39;80s? Let&#39;s not forget, some of the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-best-rock-bands-of-all-time?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">greatest bands of all time</a> originated in Great Britain, and while the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, U2, and many more began long before the 1980s, that doesn&#39;t mean the decade doesn&#39;t have a lot of hits. Let&#39;s rank the best &#39;80s songs from British artists that truly defined the decade not just in the UK, but around the world.

The 1980s was a great decade for British songs, which becomes all the more clear if you&#39;ve ever heard a little tune called &quot;Bohemian Rhapsody&quot; by Queen. In fact, just about every major hit from Queen was released during the 1980s, but that was hardly the only band to kick out killer tracks in the &#39;80s. George Michael released a few amazing tracks including &quot;Faith&quot; and &quot;Wake Me Up Before You Go Go&quot; while Culture Club dropped &quot;Karma Chameleon,&quot; which is probably running through your head right now after simply reading the title. Other amazing hits to come from the decade include &quot;Shout&quot; by Tears for Fears, &quot;Leave In Silence&quot; by Depeche Mode, and The Eurythmics&#39; &quot;Sweet Dreams&quot; among many obvious others from artists like Billy Idol and Phil Collins.

Vote up your favorite British &#39;80s songs, and add as many to the list as you like!

What are the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-punk-songs-2020/music-lover?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">best punk songs</a> to hit the charts during the 1980s? When you think about the 1980&#39;s, the decade featured a ton of new(ish) genres, and while punk began more in the 1970s, the &#39;80s featured some of the best tracks the genre had to offer. Let&#39;s rank the best &#39;80s punk songs that helped to define the decade and establish a genre that persists to this day.

Punk songs from the 1980s include a wide variety of tracks from the genre. Folks who aren&#39;t too familiar with punk have likely sang along to hits like &quot;Should I Stay or Should I Go&quot; by The Clash while fans who know the genre a bit more than most are likely listening to Suicidal Tendencies&#39; &quot;Institutionalized&quot; even to this day. The decade also featured many memorable bands like The Ramones, which dropped huge hits like &quot;Psycho Therapy&quot; before undergoing a genre shift that would take the band into more of a pop style. Other incredible tracks that helped to define the decade often associated with the genre itself include &quot;Mirror in the Bathroom,&quot; &quot;Orgasm Addict,&quot; and &quot;This Ain&#39;t No Picnic&quot; by The Minutemen.

Vote up your favorite &#39;80s&nbsp;punk songs on this ranked list, and add any tracks that aren&#39;t here already.

Oh Yeah, It's '80s Night

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Grab a&nbsp;mic and a friend&nbsp;for the best &#39;80s duets to sing at karaoke. From R&amp;B and&nbsp;country&nbsp;to show tunes and pop music, this list of famous &#39;80s duet songs has somthing for everyone, including male and female duets.&nbsp;

Vote up the best duets of the &#39;80s perfect for karaoke night, and add your favorites if they&#39;re missing from the list.&nbsp;

The 50+ Best '80s Karaoke Duets, Ranked By Fans

The Best '80s Duets For Karaoke Night

Song

Top Music List: Top 10 Music Lists and Entertaining Rankings

music

Ranker Music

Gender

Women

Region

American

West Coast US

Us States

Up Where We Belong

Islands in the Stream

(I've Had the) Time of My Life

Nothing's Gonna Stop Us

I Just Can't Stop Loving You

Don't Know Much

Never Gonna Let You Go

I Knew You Were Waiting for Me

The Next Time I Fall

Don't Fall in Love With a Dreamer

Tonight I Celebrate My Love

Almost Pardise

Separate Lives

Stop Draggin' My Heart Around

Suddenly

Close My Eyes Forever

Leather and Lace

Baby, Come to Me

What Have I Done to Deserve This

Endless Love

Fairytale of New York

Can't We Try

Hold Me

Never Knew Love Like This Before

How Do You Keep The Music Playing?

Grab a&nbsp;mic and a friend&nbsp;for the best '80s duets to sing at karaoke. From R&amp;B and&nbsp;country&nbsp;to show tunes and pop music, this list of ...