Purple Rain (Album)

Purple Rain is the sixth studio album by American recording artist Prince, the first to feature his band the Revolution, and is the soundtrack to the 1984 film of the same name. It was released on June 25, 1984 by Warner Bros. Records.

In the United States the album debuted at number 11 on the Billboard 200 the week of July 14, 1984 with approximately 1.5 million copies sold. After four weeks on chart, it reached number one on August 4, 1984. The first two singles from the album, “When Doves Cry” and “Let’s Go Crazy”, topped the US singles charts, and were hits around the world, while the title track went to number two on the Billboard Hot 100. Purple Rain was present on the Billboard 200 for one hundred twenty two weeks.

Prince and the Revolution won a 1984 Grammy Award for Purple Rain, for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal,[9] the four composers (Nelson, Coleman, Prince, and Melvoin) won Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media, and the album was nominated for Album of the Year. Purple Rain also won an Oscar for Best Original Song Score in 1985. As of 2008, it has sold over 25 million copies worldwide, making it the third-best-selling soundtrack album of all time. The album was certified 13-times platinum (diamond) by the RIAA. Purple Rain is regularly ranked among the best albums in music history and is widely regarded as Prince’s magnum opus along with his 1987 double album Sign o’ the Times. In 2012, the album was added to the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry list of sound recordings that “are culturally, historically, or aesthetically important”.