At year's end, "Rain Dogs" was ranked number 1 among the "Albums of the Year" for 1985 by "NME". In later assessments, "Pitchfork" listed "Rain Dogs" as 8th best album of the 1980s, and "Slant Magazine" listed the album at number 14 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s". "Rolling Stone" listed it as number 21 on its list of "100 Best Albums of the Eighties," as well as listing the album at 399 in its 2012 update of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The album was also included in the book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".