Legacy

With Pyromania and Hysteria both certified Diamond by the RIAA, Def Leppard are one of only five rock bands with two original studio albums selling over 10 million copies each in the US, alongside the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and Van Halen. Both Pyromania and Hysteria feature in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Def Leppard were among the most successful of the new wave of British heavy metal bands in the early 1980s. They combined the raw power of metal with a pop emphasis on melody, catchy hooks and vocal harmonies that, particularly later on, contrasted sharply with harsher contemporary metal and punk bands. Their early album On Through the Night (1980) appealed to metal fans like of Dimebag Darrell of Pantera and Jeff Hanneman of Slayer. Their hugely popular later albums, such as Hysteria (1987), were different due to their perfectionism in the studio, but appealed to a broad range of music fans.

In 2006, the band received a Sheffield Legends plaque in their hometown of Sheffield. Despite their huge commercial success, Elliott has said in an interview that he feels the band does not receive its fair share of respect from the British music press and he said the band had been barred from the BBC's Later with Jools Holland series because they were "not cool enough".

In 2025, Ultimate Classic Rock said Def Leppard were among the "Big Four" of glam metal, along with Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi and Poison. The following year, Loudwire said they were one of the "Big Four" bands of '80s rock, along with Van Halen, Guns N' Roses and Motley Crue.