The Most Successful Rock Stars of the ’80s

Music in the 1980s blended many styles, shaping rock's true heart and soul. Merriam-Webster defines rock music as “popular music usually played on electronically amplified instruments and characterized by a persistent, heavily accented beat.” Pop can spill over into rock. The most successful rock stars of the '80s might lean more toward pop, but their influence on rock music is difficult to ignore.

Choosing the most successful rock stars of the ‘80s also required a bit of blending when it came to choosing the right criteria for who made the list. Three questions came to mind.

• Who sold the most albums?
• Whose songs spent the most time on the charts?
• Who made the most money?

Finding data is harder because the internet came much later. As a result, I followed the path of who sold the most albums per Billboard records. I also relied on Pollstar's top touring artists and Statista's breakdown of the best-selling artists of all time. From there, I picked out artists who I know were huge in the 80s. I chose rock stars over rock bands.

Using the Wayback Machine to access Billboard's end-of-the-year charts. I built a list of every 80s musician who appeared in the top 10 of the year-end Top 200 artists for each year in the 1980s. Next, I had to make decisions on when a pop star qualified as a rock or pop-rock star and create a cohesive list.

Here are the 18 most successful rock stars from the ‘80s and the songs and albums that made them famous. I’m ranking these rock stars in alphabetical order. (If you want to explore other decades, read The Most Successful Rock Stars of All Time.) 

Bryan Adams ranks 71st on the top-grossing artists list. His gross box office sales reached $342,222,336 with over 7.3 million tickets sold. He's always been a favorite '80s rock artist to me because of his song "The Best Was Yet to Come." I love that song. It was one of the side-two tracks off his third album "Cuts Like a Knife," which also happens to be the song that brought him a lot of success.

Pat Benatar's "Crimes of Passion" was 5. on Billboard's list of top-selling albums in 1981. It also earned her a Grammy for "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance." From that album was the hit "Hit Me With Your Best Shot," a song I feel was just as overplayed then as it is now. "Hell Is for Children" or her cover of Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights" are the songs from that album that I always felt deserved far more attention.

With gross box office ticket sales of $306,514,774, Phil Collins is also one of the top-grossing performers. His career started with Genesis, but he went solo in the 1980s. He released four solo albums in the 80s, and "…But Seriously" outperformed them reaching 1. in 10 countries. My favorite of his 80s albums is "Hello, I Must Be Going." In the song "Don't Let Him Steal Your Heart Away," my heart always broke for the man in those lyrics.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, John Cougar used the stage name "Johnny Cougar," but 1983's "Uh-Huh" added his real name creating "Cougar Mellencamp." He dropped Cougar for 1991's "Whenever We Wanted." While his name went through some change, his music remained gritty and told stories of everyday America. "American Fool" became his first 1. album in 1981, boasting the hits "Hurts so Good" and "Jack & Diane." It would be in the top 5 albums for all of 1982. "Scarecrow" in 1985 is a 5x platinum album and landed him three 1. songs. Shortly after "Scarecrow's" release, Mellencamp joined Willie Nelson and formed Farm Aid, a yearly event where funds raised go to farms across the U.S.

As the little sister, I feel Janet Jackson is often overlooked for her influence on female rock artists today. She was 16 when her first album came out in 1982. Two years later, her second album started to move away from the sugary pop sound. It was "Control" that I think showed her rock side, and it was also when she stepped away from her father's control. Her album "Control" ended at 5. for the bestselling albums of the year (1987). "Control" was her third studio album, and showed a new side with songs like "Nasty" and "What Have You Done for Me Lately." With over $227 million in gross box office sales, she deserves her place on this list.

He's called the "King of Pop," but Michael Jackson had several rocking songs in his career. "Thriller" is one of the songs that comes to mind as far more rock than pop. "Black and White" is another, but you can't deny that Eddie Van Halen's guitar work in "Beat It" puts that song into the rock genre. Jackson was the first artist to have a top 10 song in five different decades:

• "Ben" – 1970s
• "Billie Jean" – 1980s
• "Black or White" – 1990s
• "You Rock My World" – 2000s
• "Love Never Felt So Good" – 2010s

On the list of Pollstar's "Top Touring Artists," Billy Joel is 11th at over $1.18 billion. He had success in the '70s, but "Glass Houses" ranked 4. of the top albums in 1980. My parents had it on 8-track, and my baby brother loved it so it's an album I know by heart. The crashing glass in "You May Be Right" is a song opening I'll never forget. Joel won the "Best Rock Vocal Performance – Male" and "Favorite Pop/Rock Album" Grammy for that album, cementing his place as one of the most successful rock stars of the '80s.

Only the Rolling Stones and U2 have higher gross box office sales than Elton John. He's just retired, but his gross sales reached $1.74 billion with more than 19.7 tickets sold. His legendary career is undeniable, and the 1980s saw many hits. He released nine albums in the '80s and a live album with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. In addition to his music, he championed AIDS research and joined Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick and Stevie Wonder on "That's What Friends Are For" and donated all profits to AIDS research.

That Huey Lewis has lost his hearing to Meniere's disease was sad news. He can't hear music, which makes it hard to write or play anymore. However, he is happy to see Broadway's "The Heart of Rock and Roll" celebrate his music. "Sports" was one of his first albums to make it onto Billboard's 1984 end-of-the-year top five albums. "Fore!" performed just as well and ended in seventh place in 1987.

I admit I never got the same thrill from Madonna's music as my friends did. She's more pop, but I'll give her a nod as she was one of a handful of singers in the '80s who helped open the door for today's female rockers to not be ashamed of their sexuality. Her box office grosses for more than 11.6 million tickets sold comes to almost $1.39 billion, which is impressive. "Like a Virgin" was her first 1. Billboard hit, and "Crazy For You," "Into the Groove" and "Open Your Heart" followed shortly after.

Richard Marx is probably the biggest surprise on this list. I know he was popular, but his self-titled album in 1987 ended up in Billboard's top 10 for the year. In fact, it ended at 8. and went 3x platinum. His music career started as a songwriter, penning "What About Me?" for Kenny Rogers, Kim Carnes and James Ingram. His hit "Don't Mean Nothing" would skyrocket him onto the charts and earn him a Grammy nomination for "Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male."

At the end of 1988, "Faith" was the top album. After years of success with Andrew Ridgeley in Wham, Michael released his debut "Faith." The songs "Faith," "Father Figure," I Want Your Sex," "One More Try" and "Monkey" were all well-known hits from that album. Michael won a Grammy for "Album of the Year." He won two American Music Awards "Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist" and "Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist" all from his debut album.

Petty worked with his band the Heartbreakers, but his name usually was front and center. His concert ticket gross sales came to $340,201,810. He also teamed up with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne (ELO) and Roy Orbison to form the Traveling Wilburys in the late '80s. "Damn the Torpedoes" was the 5. album in 1980. Four hit songs came off that album:

• "Don't Do Me Like That"
• "Even the Losers"
• "Here Comes My Girl"
• "Refugee"

Prince started in the late-1970s, but the '80s saw him releasing eight albums His songs "1999" and "Little Red Corvette" from the album "1999" gave him his first two top 10 hits. However, it would be "Purple Rain," both the soundtrack and the movie, that caught attention. Prince gained the honor of being the first artist with a 1. album, single and movie at the same time.

In his career, Springsteen has won a total of 20 Grammy awards, and two of his albums, including the '80s "Born in the U.S.A.," are in the Grammy Hall of Fame. His hit song "Born in the U.S.A." is often played as a song of pride for the country, but it's actually about all of the poor treatment of Vietnam soldiers when they returned from war. Four of his 1980s albums did well, but "Born in the U.S.A." made him one of the most successful rock stars of the 80s. He's also fourth on the list of highest gross box office earnings for his concerts at over $1.5 billion.

With box office gross earnings of $796,050,406, Stewart is in the top 20 touring artists of all time. His career started in the 1960s as a member of the Jeff Beck Group and then Faces. In the 80s, he showed his success as a solo artist wouldn't slow down. "Foolish Behavior" was the first of six original albums released in the decade, and 1981's "Young Turks" did well around the world. He also had several other hits in the top 10, including "Infatuation," "Lost in You" and "My Heart Can't Tell You No."

The Police were still huge in the 1980s, but their breakup was imminent. Sting opted to work on solo projects and released his first solo album in 1985. "Dream of the Blue Turtles" hit 2. on the Billboard chart and landed a Grammy nomination for "Album of the Year." It went 3x platinum with over 3 million certified sales. His concert ticket sales top 6.55 million with $368,547,305 in gross box office earnings.

With concert ticket sales of over 5 million and box office grosses of $282,241,376, Turner did very well for herself as a solo artist. She may have started as part of a husband-wife team in Ike & Tina, but her time to shine hit in the '80s when she released "Private Dancer." Her song "What's Love Got to Do With It" is in the Grammy Hall of Fame, but I have always found "We Don't Need Another Hero," where she belts out "Is it all or nothing?" to be a great example of her ability to rock in the 80s.

Some of the very best music in the '80s came from the movies. Any John Hughes movie had a glorious soundtrack to go with it. Check out The Most Underrated Movies of the 1980s and build a list of soundtracks worth listening to.