| January 8 issue | ||
| Rocky Sharpe & The Replays | Rock-It to Mars | 6 |
| Dollar | The Paris Collection | 6 |
| Jermaine Jackson | Jermaine | 6 |
| Showaddywaddy | Bright Lights | 5 |
| Black Slate | Amigo | 5 |
| Queen | Flash Gordon | 2 |
| The Clash | Sandinista! | 5½ |
| Linton Kwesi Johnson | LKJ in Dub | 7 |
| January 22 issue | ||
| Boomtown Rats | Mondo Bondo | 7½ |
| Elvis Costello | Trust | 9 |
| The Runaways | Flaming Schoolgirls | 2 |
| Steve Winwood | Arc of a Diver | 5 |
| UFO | The Wild, the Willing, and the Innocent | 5 |
| Basement 5 | 1965-1980 | 6 |
| Gen X | Kiss Me Deadly | 2 |
| Mtume | In Search of the Rainbow Seekers | 8 |
| Rose Royce | Golden Touch | 6 |
| February 5 issue | ||
| Sheena Easton | Take My Time | 7 |
| Pearl Harbour | Don't Follow Me, I'm Lost Too | 6 |
| Phil Collins | Face Value | 5 |
| Heatwave | Candles | 8 |
| The Stranglers | The Meninblack | 6 |
| Mike Batt | Waves | 3 |
| Splodgenessabounds | Splodgenessabounds | 3 |
| Styx | Paradise Theatre | 2 |
| The dB's | Stands for Decibels | 8 |
| February 19 issue | ||
| UK Subs | Diminished Responsibility | 2 |
| The Barracudas | Drop Out with The Barracudas | 5½ |
| Moon Martin | Street Fever | 6 |
| Jets | Jets | 5 |
| Nash the Slash | Children of the Night | 4 |
| Walkie Talkies | Surveillance | 6 |
| Joe Sample | Voices in the Rain | 7 |
| The Boys | Boys Only | 6½ |
| The Selecter | Celebrate the Bullet | 5½ |
| Nine Below Zero | Don't Point Your Finger | 5 |
| March 5 issue | ||
| Sister Sledge | All American Girls | 6 |
| Stray Cats | Stray Cats | 5 |
| Rainbow | Difficult to Cure | 7 |
| Gang of Four | Solid Gold | 7½ |
| Eric Clapton | Another Ticket | 3 |
| Marvin Gaye | In Our Lifetime | 7½ |
| Todd Rundgren | Healing | 6 |
| Brian Briggs | Brian Damage | 7 |
| Defunkt | Defunkt | 8½ |
| Spandau Ballet | Journeys to Glory | 7 |
| March 19 issue | ||
| New Musik | Anywhere | 6½ |
| Russ Ballard | Into the Fire | 3 |
| James Brown | Rapp Payback | 6½ |
| Detroit Spinners | Labour of Love | 6 |
| The Spizzles | Spikey Dream | 6 |
| Tata Vega | Giving All My Love | 4 |
| Shona Laing | Tied to the Tracks | 3 |
| The Vapors | Magnets | 4 |
| Wilko Johnson | Ice on the Motorway | 4 |
| Linx | Intuition | 8 |
| April 2 issue | ||
| The Shakin' Pyramids | Skin 'Em Up | 5 |
| Rico | That Man is Forward | 8 |
| Change | Miracles | 5 |
| Landscape | From the Tea Rooms of Mars to the Hell Holes of Uranus | 8 |
| Chas'N'Dave | Mustn't Grumble | 4 |
| Slade | We'll Bring the House Down | 6 |
| The Who | Face Dances | 4 |
| British Electronic Foundation | Music for Stowaways | 9 |
| Diana Ross | To Love Again | 6 |
| Status Quo | Never Too Late | 7 |
| April 16 issue | ||
| Dave Edmunds | Twangin | 7½ |
| Incognito | Jazz Funk | 8 |
| Public Image, Ltd. | Flowers of Romance | 8 |
| Stiff Little Fingers | Go for It | 7 |
| The Cure | Faith | 7 |
| Whitesnake | Come An' Get It | 4½ |
| The Jags | No Tie Like a Present | 4 |
| Cockney Rejects | Greatest Hits, Vol 3 | 11 |
| Roger Taylor | Roger Taylor's Fun in Space | 3 |
| B.A. Robertson | Bully for You | 6 |
| April 30 issue | ||
| Gillan | Future Shock | 4 |
| Girlschool | Hit and Run | 5 |
| Tenpole Tudor | The Swords of a Thousand Men | 7 |
| REO Speedwagon | Hi Infidelity | 4 |
| The Keys | The Keys Album | 5 |
| Quincy Jones | The Dude |
7½
|
| Sharon Redd | Sharon Redd | 8 |
| Snips | La Rocca | 6 |
| The Isley Brothers | Grand Slam | 5 |
| The Scars | Author! Author! | 8 |
| May 14 issue | ||
| The Undertones | Positive Touch | 9 |
| Holly and The Italians | The Right to be Italian | 4 |
| The Plastics | Welcome Back | 7½ |
| Split Enz | Waiata | 7 |
| The Lambrettas | Ambience | 7 |
| The Tubes | The Completion Backward Principle | 4 |
| Ruts DC | Animal Now | 8 |
| Albania | Are You All Mine | 7 |
| Kraftwerk | Computer World | 4 |
| The Beat | Wha'ppen? | 7 |
| Squeeze | East Side Story | 9 |
| The Cramps | Psychedelic Jungle | 8 |
| The Searchers | Play for Today | 5 |
| May 28 issue | ||
| Original Mirrors | Heart-twango and Raw-beat | 7 |
| Richard Strange | The Phenomenal Rise of Richard Strange | 6½ |
| Joe Walsh | There Goes the Neighborhood | 5 |
| Shakatak | Drivin' Hard | 7 |
| Grace Jones | Nightclubbing | 8 |
| Bill Nelson | Quit Dreaming and Get on the Beam | 8 |
| Classic Nouveaux | Night People | 6 |
| Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers | Hard Promises | 7 |
| Wild Horses | Stand Your Ground | 4 |
| The Psychedelic Furs | Talk, Talk, Talk | 8 |
| Sparks | Whomp That Sucker | 6 |
| Positive Noise | Heart of Darkness | 5 |
| Toyah | Anthem | 3 |
| June 11 issue | ||
| Elton John | The Fox | 5 |
| Echo and The Bunnymen | Heaven Up Here | 9 |
| Doll by Doll | Doll by Doll | 8 |
| Jean-Michel Jarre | Magnetic Fields | 7 |
| UB40 | Present Arms | 7½ |
| Ken Lockie | The Impossible | 6 |
| Phil Seymour | Phil Seymour | 4 |
| Black Uhuru | Red | 7½ |
| Eddy Grant | Can't Get Enough | 9 |
| June 25 issue | ||
| Killing Joke | What's This For | 7½ |
| Third World | Rock the World | 5 |
| TV Smith's Explorers | The Last Words of the Great Explorer | 5 |
| Duran Duran | Duran Duran | 4 |
| Magazine | Magic, Murder, and the Weather | 7 |
| Siouxsie and The Banshees | Juju | 5 |
| Thompson Twins | A Product of... | 6 |
| Peter Tosh | Wanted Dread & Alive | 4 |
| Yoko Ono | Season of Glass | 3 |
| Modern Eon | Fiction Tales | 8 |
| Barbara Dickson | You Know It's Me | 4 |
