My 2 cents:

Bigger:

Michael Jackson

Madonna

Whitney

Better:

Prince

Janet

George Michael

[Edited 7/16/15 8:53am]

[Edited 7/16/15 8:54am]

As far as sales & success, its a debate that will never end or be answered. As far as personal accomplishments and overall happiness I'd say Madonna won with Prince at a close 2nd, soley based on how well received their projects are and have been received. Both continue to challenge and inspire, maintaing some semblence of "normalcy" in their careers for decades upon decades. MJ, Whitney, and George have had devastating personal issues. I consider Janet more of a 90s Icon.

mancabdriver said:

I'm pretty sure Def Leppard & Lionel Richie sold more than Janet in the 1980s

[Edited 7/16/15 9:32am]

TheGoldStandard said:

I don't think U2 was any more popular than other 1980s acts like Motley Crue, Billy Joel, Hall & Oates, Phil Collins, Foreigner, Van Halen, Pat Benatar, Journey, Don Henley, Huey Lewis And The News, ZZ Top, Poison, Bruce Springsteen, Bryan Adams, Whitesnake, Guns & Roses, etc.

Journey was so popular they got a video game. I think they might have been the first act to get one.

MickyDolenz said:

NorthC said:

MickyDolenz said:

I don't think U2 was any more popular than other 1980s acts like Motley Crue, Billy Joel, Hall & Oates, Phil Collins, Foreigner, Van Halen, Pat Benatar, Journey, Don Henley, Huey Lewis And The News, ZZ Top, Poison, Bruce Springsteen, Bryan Adams, Whitesnake, Guns & Roses, etc.

Oh yes, they were. Pat Benatar and Billy Joel didn't sell out football stadiums in Europe. Springsteen and Guns N Roses did, but in Europe, U2 was the biggest band of the decade. Maybe it took them a little longer to break through in America and we just like different things on both sides of the Atlantic. Just like Kate Bush never had big hits in America, but over here, she did. [Edited 7/16/15 10:34am]

I don't know about Europe. I'm talking about the USA. The US is a bigger market. Platinum in the US is more than it is in other countries.

MickyDolenz said:

I don't think U2 was any more popular than other 1980s acts like Motley Crue, Billy Joel, Hall & Oates, Phil Collins, Foreigner, Van Halen, Pat Benatar, Journey, Don Henley, Huey Lewis And The News, ZZ Top, Poison, Bruce Springsteen, Bryan Adams, Whitesnake, Guns & Roses, etc.

Not all of them were quite on the same level of popularity though. Bruce is probably the hottest act of the bunch with Phil Collins as a close second overall. I wouldn't know how to rank the rest though if I'd have to guess, acts like Pat Benatar and ZZ Top would be at the low end of the popularity spectrum.

MotownSubdivision said:

Not all of them were quite on the same level of popularity though. Bruce is probably the hottest act of the bunch with Phil Collins as a close second overall. I wouldn't know how to rank the rest though if I'd have to guess, acts like Pat Benatar and ZZ Top would be at the low end of the popularity spectrum.

I don't know about other countries, but hair metal bands were really popular in the US at the time. MTV constantly played Bon Jovi videos. Ratt had an album that sold 3 million and they had others that went at least platinum, and they weren't even the biggest of the bunch. Metal Health by Quiet Riot was a popular album too.

Alabama, the country band, had several multiplatinum albums in the 1980s and so did Randy Travis. The Dirty Dancing soundtrack was popular too and maybe the ones for Beverly Hills Cop The Big Chill and Miami Vice as well. Both Dirty Dancing & Miami Vice had more than one album released.

Billboard puts out an issue every year of the most popular acts & records of the year for each chart. It's only for that year and not for any future sales. So some might have sold more in the long run. These are the biggest pop albums for each year. The lists goes to either 100 or 50 depending on the year, but I only got the 1st 25. In order, the years are 1980 - 1981 - 1982 - 1984 - 1985 - 1986. I couldn't find the issues for the other years.

I found 1987.

I think the problem with looking up sales in Wiki or whatever is that you're not seeing the contemporary popularity when the albums were released. You're seeing total sales. Some acts & albums kept selling throughout the decades like Bruce Springsteen and others not so much like Kim Carnes. Those lists was published during the years in question, so are more accurate in telling what was bought and who was popular.

I'm really surprised to see Billy Ocean and Bryan Adams above Prince.

kitbradley said:

I'm really surprised to see Billy Ocean and Bryan Adams above Prince.

I listened to pop radio and watched MTV, so I'm not surprised about Bryan Adams. Like a few other albums on the lists, Purple Rain was popular in 2 different years. That it's up that high the 1984 list at all, when it came out later in the year than others can tell you it sold pretty well.

MickyDolenz said:

Prince was obviously bigger in the 80's. In fact, Only, I mean ONLY Michael Jackson was bigger, and even that was subject to debate. Now my personal opinion on the matter, as much as I LOVE Michael Jackson, he never had an album that sounded as perfect as Purple Rain. Not even his Legendary Thriller album. In fact, I say Purple Rain by itself beats Michael Jackson's entire career! Speaking of which.......nevermind.

[Edited 7/17/15 14:42pm]

NorthC said:

I have to do it all from memory and Bon Jovi had hits in Holland, but they surely did not have the best selling album of 1987.

I think performers usually have more success in their home country. Maybe a small percentage get any sort of international fame. Like Bollywood singers are probably more popular in India than in the US.

Scarfo said:

Prince was obviously bigger in the 80's. In fact, Only, I mean ONLY Michael Jackson was bigger, and even that was subject to debate. Now my personal opinion on the matter, as much as I LOVE Michael Jackson, he never had an album that sounded as perfect as Purple Rain. Not even his Legendary Thriller album. In fact, I say Purple Rain by itself beats Michael Jackson's entire career! Speaking of which.......nevermind.

[Edited 7/17/15 14:42pm]

Don't get carried away now...

No,I don't think that is subject to debate Thriller is the biggest selling-album of all-time.It's not really debatable.

Scarfo said:

Prince was obviously bigger in the 80's. In fact, Only, I mean ONLY Michael Jackson was bigger, and even that was subject to debate.

SoulAlive said:

the media, commercial media and urban media and then the greater public at large crushed Whitney Houston and drove her to the brink after the 80s ended.....

Graycap23 said:

Actually it is subject 2 debate. Thriller musically can't touch Princes 1980's work. It is the video concepts that got thriller over. Not the music.

There were 7 singles released and 4 of them had no videos, including the 1st one with Paul McCartney. What about Off The Wall? It is the 3rd most popular album of 1980. There was no MTV in 1980. What about Whitney? Her videos weren't flashy. Or the 7 acts (not counting the Miami Vice soundtrack) who are ahead of Prince in 1985. I don't think Bruce Springsteen, Bryan Adams, Wham!, Tina Turner, and Phil Collins were really known for concept videos. Other than Purple Rain & 1999, Prince's other albums didn't even make the Top 25 popular albums of the years posted. Kenny Rogers and Kool & The Gang has more albums on them.

Graycap23 said:

SoulAlive said:

No,I don't think that is subject to debate Thriller is the biggest selling-album of all-time.It's not really debatable.

Actually it is subject 2 debate. Thriller musically can't touch Princes 1980's work. It is the video concepts that got thriller over. Not the music.

that's subjective I'm talking about sales and impact only.Thriller was HUGE and its impact is indisputable.

Graycap23 said: