CSPC: Prince Popularity Analysis

Physical Singles Sales – Part 2

As a reminder, the weighting is done with a 10 to 3 ratio between one album and one physical single.

Around the World in A Day (1985) – 717,000 equivalent albums

Paisley Park – 130,000
Raspberry Beret – 1,400,000
America – 230,000
Pop Life – 630,000

Parade (1986) – 1,068,000 equivalent albums

Girls & Boys – 280,000
Mountains – 530,000
Kiss – 2,500,000
Anotherloverholenyohead – 250,000

Sign ‘O’ The Times (1987) – 1,206,000 equivalent albums

Sign ‘o’ the Times – 1,330,000
U Got the Look – 1,490,000
If I Was Your Girlfriend – 330,000
I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man – 730,000
Hot Thing – 140,000

Lovesexy (1988) – 552,000 equivalent albums

Alphabet St. – 1,130,000
Glam Slam – 320,000
I Wish U Heaven – 390,000

Batman (1989) – 939,000 equivalent albums

The Future – 50,000
The Arms of Orion – 250,000
Partyman – 590,000
Scandalous – 180,00
Batdance – 2,060,000

Graffiti Bridge (1990) – 300,000 equivalent albums

New Power Generation – 260,000
Thieves in the Temple – 740,000

If no era equaled the magnitude of Purple Rain‘s success, the remaining 80s records all got at least one hit. Raspberry Beret sold well over a million while Kiss was truly huge at 2,5 million in spite of a fast decreasing market – globally nearly 20% drop from 1984 to 1986.

The era Sign ‘o’ the Times had as many as 3 US Top 10 hits. Its singles add for 4 million singles, the evidence of an artist that was still very successful even if he wasn’t dominant anymore. Albums Lovesexy and Batman each got one sizable hit too, Alphabet St. and Batdance, respectively.

Even Graffiti Bridge, largely seen as a flop album, still produced Thieves in the Temple, a Top 10 hit in most markets. It failed to sell a million mainly because of the lower market that had now dropped 35% since 1984.