Who Was The REAL Queen Of The 80s? From Someone Who Never Lived In The 80s

10/20/2025

The 1980s. Music, fashion, movies, and neon colors were everywhere! But people love to fight about who truly ruled the 80s. As someone who didn't exist in the 80s, this is my opinion as a mega-fan of the 80s. Whitney Houston? Cyndi Lauper? Madonna? Maybe even Joan Jett or Stevie Nicks? Let's break it down.

I guess the best way to start is by looking at the numbers. If we look at the top five best record-sales of the decade, Madonna is the only female artist on the list. Her best selling album, "Like A Virgin", sold over 21 million copies worldwide. Insane! But let's be honest, not a lot of people care about stats. They care about influence and just the vibes. Stats have an important role but nobody remembers that kinda stuff after a while. So let's see what else there is.

We all know that the 80s were a time of big hair, bold fashion, and MTV. Who took over all that? Cyndi Lauper would be my vote in the hair and fashion department. Her colorful and quirky style was everywhere. She had the hit song 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' But of course, no matter how awesome Cyndi was, Madonna was the one who took over the world. Her outfits were everywhere. People were dressing in the way she did. Her music videos were played on repeat on MTV. So think about it. Madonna was really taking over the world.

So we know the queen of the 80s. Madonna won by a landslide. Yes, that was a Stevie Nicks pun. But seriously, Madonna was the queen of the 80s. Her album sold the most, her influence was obvious, and her power was EVERYWHERE. But just because she was the supposed 'queen' of the 80s doesn't mean that everyone else wasn't bad. For example, my favorite lady from the 80s is Joan Jett. I could write a whole blog post about her. She was and is one of the best people I can name, since Joan pushed boundaries like no one else ever have. I'll write about her another time.