List of Billboard 200 number-one albums of 1985

Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991, Billboard estimated sales from a representative sampling of record stores nationwide, using telephone, fax or messenger service.^[1] Data were based on rankings made by the record stores of the best-selling records, not on actual sales figures.^[2][3]

Prince and The Revolution: Purple Rain, which stayed at the top for two weeks in 1985, and twenty-two weeks in 1984; and Around the World in a Day, which spent three weeks at number one in June. Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A., which spent four weeks at number one in 1984, topped the chart again for three weeks, ending at the top of the 1985 year-end chart,^[4] helped by the success of his Born in the U.S.A. Tour that visited North America, Europe and Australia.^[5][6][7] Recording artist Madonna released her second studio album Like a Virgin in November 1984, reaching the top of the chart for three weeks in February 1985. The dance-pop oriented album adapted some of the sound elements of the 1970s disco group Chic,^[8] and included "Material Girl" and "Like a Virgin", the two songs that made her an icon and an international celebrity.^[9][10] In May, the album sold four and a half million copies,^[11] and by the end of the year it was certified six times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).^[12]

USA for Africa or United Support of Artists for Africa, released a charity recording for famine relief efforts in Ethiopia. We Are the World, which included the title track, written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and performed by forty-five vocalists, including Jackson, Ritchie, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, Cyndi Lauper, Diana Ross, Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner and Stevie Wonder,^[18][19] was certified triple platinum by the RIAA,^[12] and won four awards at the 28th Grammy Awards.^[20]

computer-animated video of "Money for Nothing",^[24] the album spent nine weeks at the top, and sold over three million copies by the end of the year.^[12] Rock band Heart released a self-titled album that sold more than two million copies in 1985, and contained four top ten songs, including the number-one single "These Dreams".^[25]