The 20 Greatest 80s Music Videos: Our Ultimate Countdown

Before YouTube, before TikTok and before you could watch virtually any music video whenever you wanted, there was MTV.

The arrival of music television changed pop culture almost overnight. Suddenly, a great song wasn't enough. Artists needed a visual identity, a memorable performance, a bizarre storyline, a spectacular dance routine—or preferably all four.

The 1980s became the decade when music videos stopped being little promotional films and became events in their own right.

Some were funny. Some were strange. Some were ridiculously expensive. Some involved elaborate choreography, groundbreaking special effects or technology that looked like it had arrived from the future.

And some were simply a band standing in a room looking incredibly cool.

So, after an entirely scientific process involving absolutely no scientific methodology whatsoever, we've picked our 20 greatest 80s music videos.

Naturally, you may disagree.

In fact, we're counting on it.

20. Men at Work — Down Under

We begin with one of the most instantly recognisable Australian music videos of the decade.

Men at Work's "Down Under" is packed with oddball characters, surreal moments and enough Australian imagery to make you want to book a flight to Sydney immediately.

The video doesn't take itself too seriously, and that's exactly why it works. There are colourful characters, bizarre situations and plenty of visual jokes surrounding Colin Hay and the band.

It feels like Australia as seen through the slightly warped imagination of an MTV viewer who has never actually been there.

Add one of the decade's most recognisable songs and you've got an unforgettable piece of 80s pop culture.

19. Madonna — Material Girl

Madonna knew exactly how to create an image.

For "Material Girl", she borrowed heavily from the glamorous Hollywood musical tradition, surrounding herself with tuxedo-clad dancers and recreating the sparkling atmosphere of classic movie musicals.

The visual centrepiece is Madonna herself, dressed in pink and performing for a room full of adoring men.

It was glamorous, theatrical and knowingly over-the-top—and it helped establish Madonna as far more than simply another pop singer.

18. David Bowie & Mick Jagger — Dancing in the Street

Put David Bowie and Mick Jagger in the same music video and you already have a recipe for chaos.

The video for "Dancing in the Street" is gloriously ridiculous. The two rock legends spend much of the video dancing, strutting and generally behaving as though they've just discovered that someone left the MTV cameras running.

And that's the charm.

It doesn't try to be sophisticated. It simply captures two enormous personalities having fun with each other.

The song was recorded as part of the 1985 Live Aid era, with proceeds supporting famine relief, but the video became a pop-culture moment all by itself.

Serious rock credibility? Absolutely.
Completely serious music video? Not even slightly.

17. Bryan Adams — Summer of '69

Few songs capture youthful nostalgia quite like "Summer of '69", and its video embraces that feeling by looking back at music, friendship and the reckless optimism of youth.

Bryan Adams is shown performing with his band alongside images that evoke the memories and emotions contained within the song.

It isn't packed with revolutionary special effects or million-dollar sets.

It doesn't need them.

The appeal is the feeling. The video makes the song look like a memory being replayed, which perfectly suits one of the most nostalgic rock songs of the decade.

And let's be honest: once that guitar riff starts, you're probably going to sing along anyway.

16. The Buggles — Video Killed the Radio Star

Few music videos could have been more appropriate for the birth of MTV.

"Video Killed the Radio Star" was the first music video broadcast on MTV in the United States, instantly giving the song a permanent place in television history.

The video itself plays with the relationship between old and new technology, mixing futuristic imagery with studio performances and television screens.

There is something wonderfully ironic about a song warning about the power of video becoming the first video shown on a television network dedicated to music videos.

That's one heck of an opening act.

15. ZZ Top — Gimme All Your Lovin'

ZZ Top discovered the secret formula for an unforgettable 80s video:

Take two enormous beards, one pair of sunglasses, three extremely cool cars, some glamorous women and a healthy dose of supernatural weirdness.

Somehow, it worked.

"Gimme All Your Lovin'" introduced the world to the band's increasingly cartoonish visual identity, with the bearded Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill appearing almost like characters from an exaggerated comic book version of rock 'n' roll.

The cars, the hot rods and the mysterious women became as memorable as the song itself.

It was pure MTV-era ZZ Top—and impossible to mistake for anyone else.

14. Madonna — Like a Prayer

Madonna's videos had already become events by 1989, but "Like a Prayer" pushed things to another level.

The video combined religious imagery, racial themes, symbolism and a dramatic storyline, creating a visual that immediately attracted enormous attention and controversy.

Madonna dances among burning crosses, enters a church and interacts with imagery that deliberately challenges conventional expectations surrounding religion and pop music.

Whether viewers loved it or hated it, nobody could accuse Madonna of playing it safe.

It demonstrated something important about the music video: by the end of the 1980s, these weren't simply advertisements for records anymore.

They could provoke arguments, dominate newspapers and become cultural talking points all by themselves.

13. Run-DMC & Aerosmith — Walk This Way

Few music videos helped change popular music quite as dramatically as "Walk This Way".

The video tells the story of two completely different musical worlds occupying the same building.

On one side, you've got Aerosmith rehearsing their hard-rock sound.

On the other, Run-DMC are performing their hip-hop version of the song.

Eventually, the wall between them literally gets smashed apart.

It's about as subtle as a sledgehammer—but it doesn't need to be subtle.

The meeting of Run-DMC's hip-hop style and Aerosmith's rock sound helped demonstrate that these two musical worlds didn't have to remain separate.

The result became one of the defining crossover moments of the decade.

12. Guns N' Roses — Welcome to the Jungle

If the 1980s taught us anything, it's that Guns N' Roses were not particularly interested in subtle introductions.

"Welcome to the Jungle" is gritty, dangerous and unmistakably rock 'n' roll.

The video follows Axl Rose arriving in Los Angeles and being confronted by the chaotic world around him, while the band performs with an intensity that practically punches through the television screen.

The visual style matches the song perfectly: dark, aggressive and slightly unhinged.

And then there's Slash.

The hat. The sunglasses. The guitar.

Some people simply walk into a music video.

Slash arrives looking like a rock star who was genetically engineered in a secret laboratory.

11. U2 — With or Without You

Not every great 80s music video needed explosions, dancers or expensive cars.

Sometimes you just needed Bono looking intensely emotional while the rest of U2 performed.

The video for "With or Without You" is relatively simple compared with some of the spectacular productions elsewhere on this list, but that simplicity works beautifully with the song.

Bono's expressive performance gives the video an almost hypnotic quality, while the restrained visuals allow the emotion of the music to take centre stage.

It is a reminder that the best music videos don't always need to shout.

10. Bruce Springsteen — Born in the U.S.A.

Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." is one of those songs where the music video adds another layer to the story.

The video focuses heavily on Springsteen's working-class image, his band and the atmosphere surrounding his live performances.

But there's an important distinction between the patriotic appearance of the title and the much more complicated themes within the song itself.

The famous American imagery surrounding Springsteen became one of the defining visual representations of his career.

And yes, that denim, that bandana and that massive American flag behind him practically scream 1980s.

9. Cyndi Lauper — Girls Just Want to Have Fun

If there is one music video that looks like someone accidentally turned the entire decade of the 1980s into a television programme, it's this one.

"Girls Just Want to Have Fun" is colourful, energetic, ridiculous and completely infectious.

Cyndi Lauper leads a cast of characters through a chaotic celebration filled with dancing, outrageous fashion and enormous personality.

Her mother and father even appear in the video, with Lauper's real-life mother playing an important part in the story.

Most importantly, the video feels like fun.

It isn't trying to look cool.

It isn't trying to look sophisticated.

It wants you to get up, dance around the living room and embarrass yourself in front of absolutely nobody.

8. Bon Jovi — Livin' on a Prayer

Before Bon Jovi became one of the biggest stadium rock bands on the planet, they needed to convince audiences that they belonged there.

"Livin' on a Prayer" did exactly that.

The video begins with the band working their way through a soundcheck and eventually explodes into a huge concert performance.

The visual progression mirrors the band's own rise: from struggling musicians to an enormous arena act.

Then comes the famous moment when Jon Bon Jovi is lifted above the crowd.

It looks dangerous.

It looks spectacular.

And it looks like the exact sort of thing a record executive would have been terrified of allowing anyone to do today.

7. Duran Duran — Rio

Duran Duran understood early that music videos could turn a band into a fantasy.

"Rio" is perhaps the perfect example.

Beautiful beaches, glamorous locations, sailing boats, strange characters and a band dressed like they had just stepped out of the world's most fashionable yacht club.

The video created an exotic dream world that felt impossibly far away from everyday life.

And that was exactly the point.

Duran Duran weren't simply selling a song.

They were selling a lifestyle.

For teenagers watching MTV in bedrooms across the world, Rio looked like the most glamorous place on Earth.

6. Genesis — Land of Confusion

And then there was the terrifying world of puppets.

"Land of Confusion" took Genesis into completely unexpected territory by surrounding the band with grotesque puppet versions of famous politicians and celebrities.

The puppets were created by the team behind Spitting Image, giving the video its instantly recognisable satirical appearance.

Phil Collins also gets turned into a puppet, which is arguably one of the greatest achievements in puppet technology of the 1980s.

Beneath all the comedy, the song dealt with serious political anxiety and fears about the direction of the world.

The video simply decided that the best way to communicate those concerns was with terrifying rubber politicians.

We approve.

5. Dire Straits — Money for Nothing

In 1985, computer animation still looked like something that belonged in a science-fiction film.

Then along came "Money for Nothing".

The video's computer-generated characters looked crude by modern standards, but at the time they were astonishing.

Two animated workmen watch music videos on television while commenting on the ridiculous lifestyle of rock stars.

The joke was wonderfully self-aware: a song complaining about musicians getting rich from television was itself becoming a huge hit because of television.

It looked strange.

It looked futuristic.

It looked like 1985 had just discovered the computer.

4. Robert Palmer — Addicted to Love

Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" might be the greatest example of a music video understanding the power of a single visual idea.

Palmer stands at the centre of the frame in an immaculate suit, singing and playing guitar while a group of expressionless models perform behind him.

That's basically the entire concept.

And somehow, it became one of the most recognisable images of the decade.

The models' identical appearance, choreographed movements and blank expressions created a striking contrast with Palmer's confident performance.

It was stylish, minimalist and instantly memorable.

It also became one of those videos that could be parodied almost immediately because everyone knew exactly what the visual joke was.

3. Michael Jackson — Thriller

At number three, we reach the music video that completely changed the rules.

Calling "Thriller" a music video almost feels unfair.

It is essentially a short horror film with a pop song hiding inside it.

Directed by John Landis, the film begins with Michael Jackson and his date watching a horror movie before descending into a nightmare involving werewolves, zombies and one of the most famous dance routines ever created.

The production values were enormous compared with the typical promotional clips of the time.

The makeup effects, costumes, choreography, storyline and cinematography all helped transform "Thriller" into an event.

And then came the zombies.

Michael Jackson's choreography with the undead became instantly iconic and has been copied, parodied and recreated countless times ever since.

Decades later, those opening horror-movie scenes, the werewolf transformation and the zombie dance remain instantly recognisable.

That's not just a great music video.

That's pop-culture history.

2. A-ha — Take on Me

At number two, we have a video that looked like it had escaped from the pages of a comic book.

"Take on Me" combined live-action footage with pencil-sketch animation, creating a visual style that had never quite been seen before in mainstream pop.

A young woman sitting in a café becomes drawn into a comic-book world where Morten Harket and the band exist as animated characters.

The boundary between the real world and the illustrated world gradually disappears, producing one of the most imaginative music videos of the entire decade.

The animation was painstakingly created using a technique known as rotoscoping, allowing the animators to trace over live-action footage to create remarkably fluid movement.

The result still looks incredible today.

And that is quite an achievement considering we now live in an age where Hollywood can make entire armies disappear using computers.

🥇 1. Peter Gabriel — Sledgehammer

And at number one...

We couldn't really give it to anyone else.

Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer".

Where do you even begin?

The video is an explosion of stop-motion animation, claymation, surreal imagery, strange creatures, dancing food, flying fruit and Peter Gabriel's face doing things that human faces were never really designed to do.

It is bizarre.

It is colourful.

It is funny.

It is completely unforgettable.

And most importantly, it perfectly demonstrates what made 1980s music videos so exciting: nobody seemed entirely sure what was possible, so filmmakers simply tried everything.

🥚 An Eggcellent Beginning

The video opens with Gabriel lying beneath a blanket before a series of increasingly strange images begin to unfold.

The production combines stop-motion, pixilation, clay animation and practical effects to create a constantly changing visual world.

At one point Gabriel appears surrounded by dancing vegetables.

At another, his face becomes part of an enormous animated head.

And somehow it all makes perfect sense.

Or perhaps it doesn't.

That's probably why it's brilliant.

📺 The Perfect MTV Video

"Sledgehammer" was practically engineered for the MTV generation.

You couldn't simply hear it playing in the background.

You had to look at the screen.

Every few seconds something new appeared, meaning the viewer never quite knew what was going to happen next.

The video also benefited from an incredible amount of craftsmanship. Rather than relying entirely on computer-generated effects, much of its surreal imagery was created through painstaking practical animation techniques.

The result was a video that felt handmade, imaginative and completely unlike anything else on television.

🎬 So What Made an 80s Music Video Great?

Looking back at these twenty videos, there isn't really one formula for success.

"Thriller had horror".

"Take on Me" had groundbreaking animation.

"Sledgehammer" had... whatever Sledgehammer had.

Duran Duran had glamour. ZZ Top had cars and beards. Madonna had controversy. Genesis had terrifying puppets. Run-DMC and Aerosmith broke down musical barriers, while Dire Straits helped demonstrate what computer animation could eventually become.

And then there were videos like Girls Just Want to Have Fun, which simply reminded everyone that watching a music video was supposed to be fun.

That might be the biggest difference between the 1980s and today.

Back then, you couldn't instantly search for a video on your phone. If your favourite song appeared on MTV, you had to hope you were sitting in front of the television at exactly the right moment.

And if you had a VHS recorder?

Congratulations.

You were basically running your own television network.

📼 The MTV Generation

The greatest 80s music videos didn't just promote songs.

They created fashion trends, introduced new artists to millions of viewers and gave musicians entirely new ways to express themselves.

MTV helped turn artists into visual brands.

Michael Jackson became a cinematic superstar. Madonna constantly reinvented herself. Duran Duran transformed themselves into glamorous international icons. Peter Gabriel turned experimental animation into mainstream entertainment.

Even relatively simple performance videos could become memorable because audiences had developed a new relationship with their favourite musicians.

You didn't just listen to your favourite artists anymore.

You watched them.

📺 Final Thoughts

Choosing twenty music videos from an entire decade is almost impossible.

We could have included Prince, Whitney Houston, INXS, The Cars, Wham!, Tears for Fears, Pet Shop Boys, Queen, Culture Club, Billy Idol, Depeche Mode, Eurythmics and dozens of others.

And before anyone starts writing an angry email about your favourite being missing...

Yes, we know.

That's the problem with lists like this.

There are simply too many great ones.

But that's also what makes the 1980s such a fascinating decade for music television. Artists weren't afraid to experiment. Directors were given increasingly ambitious budgets. New technology was appearing almost every year, while stop-motion, animation, practical effects and good old-fashioned imagination were still essential ingredients.

The result was an extraordinary collection of videos that still look distinctive decades later.

"The 1980s didn't just give us great music. It gave us a reason to watch it."

So whether your personal number one is Thriller, Take on Me, Sledgehammer or something we haven't even mentioned, there's one thing we can probably agree on:

They don't make them quite like this anymore.

And maybe that's what makes the great 80s music videos so much fun to revisit.

Turn on the television.

Turn up the volume.

Grab the hairspray.

And whatever you do...

Don't touch that dial.