The public have voted for the best decade in music history

Which decade produced the best music has long been a pub argument staple – and now it looks like we have a definitive answer – at least according to the public.

According to a new survey by YouGov, a quarter of Brits think that the 1980s were the best decade for music – beating the 1960s into second place. And it’s all down to the cross-generational appeal of artists like Prince, Madonna, Michael Jackson and the Smiths. 

The 1970s were third, with 16%, and the 1990s came fourth with a pretty measly 12%. Haven’t these people heard of Daphne and Celeste? 

“Those who were young in the 1960s feel much more strongly about the decade of their youth than people born later in the 20^th Century,” YouGov explain. “Of those who were aged 65 or over – who would have been at least eight years old at the beginning of the decade – 63% say the 1960s were the best decade for music.”

Predictably, people were generally big fans of music from their youths – people aged 55-64 preferred music from the 1970s, for example, and 28-42s liked the 1990s the best. 

It’s the younger generations who buck this trend, though – young people don’t particularly like modern music, it turns out. Just 14% of 18-24 year olds think the 2000s were the best decade for music and are way more likely to say the 1980s were the best decade. 

And the results also differed according to who people voted for. The majority of UKIP voters favoured music from the 1960s – something they have in common with those who vote Conservative. Labour voters, however, preferred the music of the 1980s.