Here are the albums in the top 100 that I had:

4. Byrne / Eno. My Life in the Bush of Ghosts: revelatory

64. Ultravox, Rage in Eden: liked it. I was trying to keep up with the times.

76. Kinks, Give the People What They Want: I've always thought that the 80's Kinks are underrated by the critics; this is one of the best from that era

89. Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays, As Falls Wichita, so Falls Wichita Falls. Don't remember it; I was trying to get into Pat Metheny at the time--I think I liked it.

Going a little further:

129. David Byrne, Catherine Wheel. Didn't click for me.

140. Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Penguin Cafe Orchestra. There's a Caravan connection (the violinist played with them). Pretty good but not really memorable.

172. Alvin Lucier, I Am Sitting in a Room. Technically I didn't own this as an album but discovered it during the online / streaming era. I think it's the greatest composition of the 20th century (and have written about it here: https://medium.com/the-riff/alvin-luciers-i-am-sitting-in-a-room-eec8a352b112 Someone just clapped for this article--yay!

190. Joe Jackson's Jumpin' Jive. Pretty good as I remember. Still trying to keep up with the times.

So, in my very limited experience, "Bush of Ghosts," "Give the People What They Want," and "I Am Sitting in a Room" are the only redeeming features of 1981. I'll have to go with your award to the whole year as the worst. The bad stuff isn't (probably) that bad, and the good stuff for the most part isn't that good.