BILLBOARD MAGAZINE'S (MAGAZINE'S CHART) TOP 100 ALBUMS OF 1981*
No. Album-Artist-Label-Peak Month 1 HI INFIDELITY-REO SPEEDWAGON 2 DOUBLE FANTASY-JOHN & YOKO LENNON 3 KENNY ROGERS GREATEST HITS-KENNY ROGERS 4 CHRISTOPHER CROSS-CHRISTOPHER CROSS 5 CRIMES OF PASSION-PAT BENATAR 6 PARADISE THEATER-STYX 7 BACK IN BLACK-AC/DC 8 VOICES-Daryl Hall 9 ZENYATTA MONDATTA-Police 10 THE RIVER-Bruce Springsteen 11 The Turn Of A Friendly Card-Alan Parsons Project 12 Guilty-Barbara Streisand 13 Winelight-Grover Wahington,Jr. 14 The Jazz Singer-Neil Diamond 15 Mistaken Identity-Kim Carnes 16 Greatest Hits-Doors 17 Arc Of The Diver-Steve Winwood 18 Moving Pictures-Rush 19 Celebrate-Kool & The Gang 20 Face Value-Phil Collins 21 Hotter Than July-Stevie Wonder 22 Tattoo You-The Rolling Stones 23 Wild-Eyed Southern Boys-.38 Special 24 Juice-Juice Newton 25 Feels So Right-Alabama 26 The Gap Band III-The Gap Band 27 Long Distance Voyager-Moody Blues 28 Autoamerican-Blondie 29 Gaucho-Steely Dan 30 Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap-AC/DC 31 The Dude-Quincy Jones 32 Zebop-Santana 33 Super Trouper-Abba 34 Lost In Love-Air Supply 35 Loverboy-Loverboy 36 Street Songs-Rick James 37 Greatest Hits-Anne Murray 38 Working Class Dog-Rick Springfield-September 39 Nothing Matters And What If It Did-John Cougar 40 9 To 5 And Odd Jobs-Dolly Parton 41 Horizon-Eddie Rabbitt 42 The Nature Of The Beast-April Wine 43 Blizzard Of Oz-Ozzy Osbourne 44 Three For Love-Shalamar 45 Don't Say No-Billy Squier 46 Being With You-Smokey Robinson 47 Modern Times-Jefferson Starship 48 Against The Wind-Bob Seger 49 Hard Promises-Tom Petty & Heartbreakers 50 Fantastic Voyage-Lakeside 51 Making Movies-Dire Straits 52 Captured-Journey-March 53 Sheena Easton-Sheena Easton 54 Seven Year Ache-Rosanne Cash 55 The Game-Queen 56 A Woman Needs Love-Ray Parker,Jr. 57 Greatest Hits-Ronnie Milsap 58 Rockihnroll-The Greg Kihn 59 Drama-Yes 60 Glass Houses-Billy Joel 61 Nightwalker-Gino Vannelli 62 Triumph-Jacksons 63 Imagination-The Whispers 64 Freedom Of Choice-Devo 65 Dad Loves His Work-James Taylor 66 The One That You Love-Air Supply 67 Eagles Live-Eagles 68 In The Heat Of The Night-Pat Benatar 69 Franke & The Knockout-Franke & The Knockouts 70 4-Foreigner 71 Fair Warning-Van Halen-June 72 Another Ticket-Eric Clapton-May 73 Greatest Hits-Waylon Jennings 74 Face Dances-Who-May 75 Alive-Kenny Loggins 76 One Step Closer-Doobie Brothers 77 Fancy Free-Oak Ridge Boys 78 One More Somg-Randy Meisner 79 Mecca For Moderns-Manhattan Transfer 80 Stars On Long Play-Stars On Long Play 81 The Two Of Us-Yarbrough & Peoples 82 The Clarke/Duke Project-Stanley Clarke /George Duke 83 Hits-Boz Scaggs 84 Heart's Greatest Hits-Heart 85 Ghost Riders-Outlaws 86 My Melody-Deniece Williams 87 Remain In Light-Talking Heads 88 It Must Be Magic-Teena Marie 89 Foolish Behaviour-Rod Stewart 90 Aretha-Aretha Franklin 91 Rit-Lee Ritenour 92 Kings Of The Wild Frontier-Adam And The Ants 93 Extended Play-The Pretenders 94 Point Of Entry-Judas Priest 95 Precious Time-Pat Benatar 96 Evangeline-Emmylou Harris 97 In The Pocket Commodores 98 Share Your Love-Kenny Rogers 99 Stone Jam-Slave 100 Chain Lightning-Don McLean * As published in the December 26th,1981 issue of Billboard Magazine