Here Are the Top 25 Songs of the ‘80s

The 1980s was unlike any other decade in music history. The ‘80s gave birth to MTV, and with it epic music videos that stand as iconic to this day. The ‘80s also was the decade in which hip-hop, synth pop, and techno got their legs while artists from Michael Jackson and Madonna to Foreigner and Queen released massive hits that solidified their places in any best-ever discussions. The ‘80s were rad, and the music is proof.

Of course, any discussion about best and greatest and most monumental or culture-changing is subjective, but there are clear ways to track which music actually had the biggest impact—in the form of record sales, radio plays, and awards won, among other measurements.

Stacker wanted to see which songs from the ‘80s were truly the best and decided to use Billboard as the standard bearer. Billboard's chart rankings consist of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming data to help determine which songs from the 1980s were the cream of the crop. We looked through the charts and compiled the perfect list of the top 25 songs from the decade.