Counting down my Top 50 Albums of 1981: #50 - 26

A breakdown of my top albums from 1981

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	Title	Artist	Billboard	CashBox	Rolling Stone
50	Something Special	Kool & The Gang	12	10	19
49	Every Home Should Have One	Patti Austin	36	62	43
48	Working Class Dog	Rick Springfield	7	16	17
47	October	U2	104	102	25
46	Orange Express	Sadao Watanabe
45	Something About You	Angela Bofill	61	66	50
44	Face Dances	The Who	4	3	2
43	Crazy for You	Earl Klugh	53	59

	Title	Artist	Billboard	CashBox	Rolling Stone
42	Waiata	Split Enz	45	41	40
41	Prince Charming	Adam & The Ants	94	85	41
40	Face Value	Phil Collins	7	12	4
39	Long Distance Voyager	The Moody Blues	1	1	1
38	Trust	Elvis Costello	28	27	11
37	As Falls Wichita...	Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays	50	61	36
36	Chariots of Fire	Vangelis	1	1	1
35	Sons & Fascination/Sister Feelings Call	Simple Minds

	Title	Artist	Billboard	CashBox	Rolling Stone
34	Mecca for Moderns	The Manhattan Transfer	22	26	11
33	Healing	Todd Rundgren	48	51	21
32	Raise!	Earth, Wind & Fire	5	5	6
31	Don't Say No	Billy Squier	5	8	6
30	If I Should Love Again	Barry Manilow	14	14	26
29	Abacab	Genesis	7	8	7
28	Escape	Journey	1	1	5
27	Speak and Spell	Depeche Mode	192
26	Freeze-Frame	The J. Geils Band	1	1	1

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These are my personal top 50 albums released in 1981. The following criteria was used on a very slippery sliding scale:

• How often I enjoyed the album at the time of release
• How often I've enjoyed the album over the years since
• Overall quality of the album

Chart information is from the US Billboard, CashBox, and Rolling Stone album charts.