This book (and the buying public) strongly disagrees with me about 1982

So I found this book, 100 Best Selling Albums of the 80s, edited by Peter Dodd, Justin Cawthorne, Chris Barrett, & Dan Auty, first published in the UK in 2004 (my copy is a 2009 edition) and hoped that maybe, just maybe, that it would provide defnitive proof that 1982 is the greatest year in pop music.  The methodology isn't thoroughly explained, but I'm guessing that the sales numbers from the US were added to the sales numbers from the UK and then the albums were ranked accordingly.  It should be noted that the data includes sales made after December 31, 1989.  The editors compiled US data from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and UK data from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).  To date, I've examined similar lists at Rolling Stone, Best Ever Albums, Dave's Music Database, Popjustice, Slant, Pitchfork, and most recently Paste.  Again, 1987 places at the top and even though a 1982 album was the #1 best seller of the decade, my beloved 1982 finishes in the cellar.  Ridiculousness.

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Using the same formula (album #1 received 100 points, album #2 received 99 points, and so on through #100 receiving 1 point, 5050 total points available), here are the results:

		1987 Number of albums: 12 Points: 799
		1983 Number of albums: 14 Points: 734
		1986 Number of albums: 13 Points: 685
		1984 Number of albums: 9 Points: 571
		1985 Number of albums: 11 Points: 511
		1988 Number of albums: 9 Points: 495
		1989 Number of albums: 10 Points: 437
		1980 Number of albums: 8 Points: 379
		1981 Number of albums: 7 Points: 241
		1982 Number of albums: 7 Points: 198

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The 7 top sellers on the list which were released in 1982 are:

1	Thriller	Michael Jackson
62	Business as Usual	Men at Work
81	American Fool	John Cougar
82	Mountain Music	Alabama
90	Lionel Richie	Lionel Richie
96	1999	Prince
97	Asia	Asia

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RS	BEA	DMDB	PM	Slant	PF	Paste	Book
1980	1984	1986	1987	1989	1987	1986	1987
1984	1987	1989	1984	1987	1981	1989	1983
1982	1989	1987	1983	1986	1989	1980	1986
1987	1986	1984	1982	1983	1988	1984	1984
1983	1980	1985	1988	1984	1980	1987	1985
1986	1988	1983	1986	1988	1985	1988	1988
1988	1983	1980	1989	1982	1983	1985	1989
1985	1982	1988	1985	1980	1986	1983	1980
1981	1985	1982	1980	1981	1984	1982	1981
1989	1981	1981	1981	1985	1982	1981	1982

RS = Rolling Stone, BEA = Best Ever Albums, DMDB = Dave's Music Database, PM = Popmatters, PF = Pitchfork, Book = 100 Best Selling Albums of the 80s (2009)

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