I've compiled a list of a number of musical genres that were introduced or became popular during the 1980s. Please arrange these genres in a list with your opinion in terms of what most represents the decade, and don't be afraid to list your favorites/least favorites.

-New Wave
-New Romantic
-Post-Punk
-Hardcore
-Synthpop
-Glam (Hair) Metal
-Death Metal
-Thrash Metal
-Power Metal
-College Rock
-Freestyle
-Italo Disco
-Hi Nrg
-Neotraditonalist Country
-Urban Country (think Urban Cowboy)
-Chicago House
-Detroit Techno
-Old School Rap
-Golden Age Hip Hop
-Quiet Storm R&B
-Electrofunk
-New Age
-New Jack Swing
-Gothic/Deathrock
-Dark Industrial
-Smooth Jazz

I've compiled a list of a number of musical genres that were introduced or became popular during the 1980s. Please arrange these genres in a list with your opinion in terms of what most represents the decade, and don't be afraid to list your favorites/least favorites.


I'll be listing the genres from most 80s as bold and least 80s in italics.

-New Wave
-New Romantic
-Post-Punk
-Hardcore
-Synthpop
-Glam (Hair) Metal
-Death Metal
-Thrash Metal
-Power Metal
-College Rock
-Freestyle
-Italo Disco
-Hi Nrg
-Neotraditonalist Country
-Urban Country (think Urban Cowboy)
-Chicago House
-Detroit Techno
-Old School Rap
-Golden Age Hip Hop
-Quiet Storm R&B
-Electrofunk
-New Age
-New Jack Swing
-Gothic/Deathrock
-Dark Industrial
-Smooth Jazz

From most to least 80s:

Hi-NRG - Pretty much the standard of all typically 80s music. There may have been a small handful of songs in this style that came out in the early 90s, but they still exuded a full-on 80s tone.

Post-Punk - Though this got its real start in 1979 with Joy Division and several bands forming around the same time, it held a strong chart presence until the start of the 90s, from the early 80s all the way to the era of U2's Joshua Tree.

Electrofunk - Extremely vital to the early and mid-80s; funk in the 70s, even the late 70s, wasn't really electro.

Freestyle - I thought this referred to freestyle as in improvised rap, but apparently it's actually just a cousin of italo disco and Hi-NRG. Whatever the case, it's definitely an extremely 80s genre, even though there was a small handful of freestyle hits in the early 90s, like Kathy Troccoli's "Everything Changes."

Old School Rap - This became popular pretty much at the very beginning of the 80s and can be clearly distinguished from 90s hip hop.

Glam (Hair) Metal - This maintained strength for much of the early 90s, but it's also one of the first things that comes to people's minds when they think of the 80s.

Thrash Metal - Many of the most popular rock albums of this decade were of this style, even though Rust in Peace wasn't until 1990.

Smooth Jazz - In addition to musicians like Kenny G becoming really popular this decade, smooth jazz was the foundation to a lot of 80s television themes, which gives it quite an 80s flavor even though it wasn't the biggest chart-topper.

Synthpop - This also had its origins in the 70s, but it was also one of the most identifiably 80s styles of music, influencing several other genera in the process. It's ranked away from the top, however, because arguably the definitive album of its kind, Violator, was released in 1990 and led to the genre being highly relevant through 1995.

Italo Disco - This is highly comparable to Hi-NRG, though it survived further into the 90s.

New Romanticism - This stuff was heavily influenced by 70s glam rock, but it was also an integral part of what made MTV MTV in the 80s.

New Wave - This genre's creative peak was mostly in the late 70s (think Blondie, early Cars, Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, etc.), which is why it's not as high on here as you might think.

Chicago House - A pretty 80s type of music, though not the first to cross people's minds.

Golden Age Hip Hop - This carried into the early 90s, but many of the most important hip hop albums came out in the late 80s.

College Rock - A popular, if fairly underground 80s movement.

New Age - Enya may have gotten her start this decade, but she and other new age acts were more prevalent during the 90s and even the early 2000s.

Power Metal - More of a 90s/2000s thing, though you did have some bands such as ManOwar.

Hardcore - Underground.

New-Jack Swing - I see this as basically the definitive 90s pop genre, even though there was a lot of fairly distinctly 80s new jack swing, too.

Death Metal - This saturated the market more in the 90s.

Quiet Storm R&B - Was somewhat popular in the 80s, but not really identifiably 80s.

Neotraditionalist Country - This peaked more in the early 90s, though it existed in the late 80s.

Gothic/Deathrock - Underground, not distinctly 80s.

Dark Industrial - Ditto.

Detroit Techno - What even is Detroit techno?

Urban Country - Same. Whatever this is, it's certainly too underground to define the 80s much at all!

Here is my opinion:

Most '80s

-Synthpop
-Italo Disco
-New Romantic
-Hi Nrg
-New Wave
-Freestyle
-Glam (Hair) Metal
-Electrofunk
-Post-Punk
-Quiet Storm R&B
-Old School Rap
-Thrash Metal
-College Rock
-Smooth Jazz
-New Age
-Chicago House
-Urban Country (think Urban Cowboy)
-New Jack Swing
-Dark Industrial
-Golden Age Hip Hop
-Detroit Techno
-Power Metal
-Hardcore
-Neotraditonalist Country
-Death Metal
-Gothic/Deathrock

Least '80s