Billboard’s Greatest Pop Star of 1984: Prince
(In 2018, the Billboard staff released a list project of its choices for the Greatest Pop Star of every year, going back to 1981. Read our entry below on why Prince was our Greatest Pop Star of 1984 — with our ’84 Honorable Mention runner-ups, Rookie of the Year and Comeback of the Year pop stars at the bottom — and find the rest of our picks for every year up to present day here.)
Who is this kid?
That was the refrain echoed by music fans and industry executives alike when Prince Rogers Nelson unceremoniously strolled onto the scene in April 1978 with debut studio album For You. At that point, he was a 19-year-old unknown, already with the brashness to credit himself as having produced, arranged, composed and performed all of his album’s tracks.
Six years and six albums later, Prince laid to rest any further questions, letting the entire country know exactly who he was with the essential (and quintessential) Purple Rain. The June ’84 release dynamically showcased the Purple One’s formidable skill set as an innovative and fearless songwriter, producer, musician and singer. And this time around, Prince added a twist — bringing to the forefront the creative acumen of his tight-knit rock band The Revolution, comprised of Wendy Melvoin (guitar/vocals), Lisa Coleman (keyboards/piano, vocals), Matt “Doctor” Fink (keyboards, vocals), Brown Mark (bass guitar, vocals) and Bobby Z (drums).
The result? Purple Rain’s vibrant and seamless fusion of R&B, pop, rock and dance, which yielded four top 10 Hot 100 singles, leading off with back-to-back Hot 100 No. 1 hits: the plaintive “When Doves Cry” and the frenetic ode to living life to its fullest, “Let’s Go Crazy.” (Even the non-singles certainly made an impression: the sexually suggestive “Darling Nikki” forced label Warner Bros. to affix the album with Parental Advisory stickers in accordance with the times.) The nine-track set debuted at No. 11 on the Billboard 200 the week of July 14, 1984, and four weeks later, the album unseated Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A. to claim the No. 1 slot. In addition to holding down that position for 24 consecutive weeks and spending more than 30 weeks in the top 10, Purple Rain remained on the Billboard 200 for 122 weeks, eventually being certified Diamond by the RIAA.
Purple Rain could no doubt have stood on its own. But the sixth studio album in Prince’s growing musical arsenal also doubled as the soundtrack for a film by the same name. Hitting theaters a month after the accompanying LP’s debut, Purple Rain the movie starred Prince as — appropriately enough — “The Kid,” a young and talented Minneapolis musician beset by problems at home and in his romantic and creative lives. Featuring several club performance scenes and co-starring his then-collaborators Apollonia and Morris Day and The Revolution, Purple Rain racked up $68 million domestically, against a budget of just over $7 million.
Prince completed the Purple Rain trifecta with a national tour of the same name. Launching Nov. 4, 1984 and wrapping April 7, 1985, the tour marked the incendiary live debut of The Revolution and Melvoin’s introduction as the band’s new guitarist. On board as opening acts: Sheila E. and Apollonia 6, both of whom were then in the midst of pop successes with Prince-penned hits (“The Glamorous Life” and “Sex Shooter,” respectively).
Purple Rain received four Grammy nominations that December, including album of the year and producer of the year, non-classical for Prince and The Revolution. The album did win two awards, for best rock vocal performance by a duo or group and best score soundtrack for visual media. (Prince also picked up a third Grammy for best R&B song, for Chaka Khan’s inventive cover of his composition “I Feel for You.”) A couple of months into the new year, Prince was presented with an Academy Award for best original song score for Purple Rain — further sealing his status alongside Michael Jackson, Madonna and Bruce Springsteen as a totemic figure in ‘80s pop.
Honorable Mention: Cyndi Lauper (“Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” “Time After Time,” “She Bop”), Bruce Springsteen (Born in the U.S.A., “Dancing in the Dark,” “Born in the U.S.A.”), Wham!/George Michael (Make It Big, “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” “Careless Whisper”)
Rookie of the Year: Madonna
In 1984, Madonna climbed out of a cake and into immortality. Her performance of “Like a Virgin” at the first-ever MTV Video Music Awards that September, featuring the 26-year-old writhing on the Radio City Music Hall stage in a long, flowing wedding dress, quickly proved one of pop music’s most iconic national debuts, setting the rising dance-pop singer-songwriter on the path to global superstardom. Both “Like a Virgin” and its parent album of the same name would go on to top the Billboard charts; by the next year, Madonna’s stated ambition “to rule the world” had been fully realized.
Comeback of the Year: Tina Turner
Tina Turner starred in one of music’s most memorable comebacks when “What’s Love Got to Do With It” spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100. Some 13 years had elapsed since she and ex-husband Ike Turner reached the top 5 with “Proud Mary,” and since splitting with the abusive Ike, she returned with a new look and a new energy. Aside from “Love,” Turner’s fifth solo album Private Dancer yielded two more top 10 singles: “Better Be Good to Me” and the title track. The former won Turner a Grammy for best female rock vocal, while “Love” nabbed record and song of the year.
(Read on to our Greatest Pop Star of 1985 here, or head back to the full list here.)
