Here's one for you chartists.

"Purple Rain" spent 24 weeks at #1 in 1984.

I think it's commonly thought of as the best selling album of that year.

But --- I remember, at that time watching Casey Kasem and he announced that the best-selling album of 1983 was also the best selling album of "1984: "Thriller" by Michael Jackson. I remember their list didn't even have "Purple Rain" on it; a major oversight obviously.

However -- today while reading about worldwise sales for "Thriller 25" thia article reads:

"The original Thriller went on to spend an astounding 80 consecutive weeks in the American Top 10, 37 of those at #1, while making history as the first and only record to be America's top-selling album two years running (1983 and 1984)."

So what's the real story?

Was 1984's best selling album "Purple Rain" or "Thriller?"

http://www.foxbusiness.co...181_1.html

I'm curious about this too. I guess it was #1 during those 24 weeks, but just barely... and I guess it didn't do so well during the other 28 weeks? Hard to believe though...

http://www.billboard.com/...&year=1984

EDIT: It was only released at the end of June 1984... so basically 6 months of 0 album sales... these year end album sales charts really don't mean much... albums released in the early months get higher chart positions (or the late months of the previous year)... Purple Rain released right in the middle of the year... so it won't get high on the year-end charts.

So over half of 1984 it did really well... over half of 1985 it did really well... but not well enough over the entire of 1984 or 1985 to get that number 1 year end position either time. If the year began in July instead of January, then Purple Rain would definitely be the #1 album of 1984.
[Edited 2/22/08 22:07pm]

When Doves Cry was the best selling single for sure...

coolcat said:

Thanks for the Billboard link; although for some reason it didn't work on the above this one did:

http://www.billboard.com/...&year=1984

Ahh! My memory of Casey Kasem all those years ago. For those that don't want to, or can't go to the link, Billboard lists the Top 5 albums of 1984 as:

1. Thriller
2. Huey Lewis and the News, "Sports"
3. Lionel Richie "Can't Slow Down"
4. Billy Joel "An Innocent Man"
5. Culture Club, "Colour By Numbers"

And since my memory served, I also remember, "Purple Rain" wasn't even in their Top 10 for the year!!

WTF!!!

Just like the first time I saw this, how could this be REMOTELY possible. "Purple Rain" with 24 weeks at #1 didn't even sell more than "Culture Club?"

Impossible.

And yet Billboard still shows this.

?????

Also, to add to the weirdness, Billboard lists "1999" as the 5th best selling album of 1983.

BTW, "Purple Rain" doesn't show up on the 1985 chart either.

C'mon chart folks, figure out this 25 year mystery!

sro100 said:

1999 was released October 1982... late enough so that most of its sales happened in 1983... year end 1982 would be very low... year end 1983 would be very high...

Problem with Purple Rain is it was released end of June... so around half its sales happened in 1984... half its sales happened in 1985...

Culture club colour by numbers was released in October 1983... so it has the advantage in 1984...

coolcat said:

Yeah, but --- "Purple Rain" sold a lot of copies that year, like over 10 million, if memory serves. So it wasn't a "weak" #1.

Again, if memory serves, it wasn't even in Billboard's Top 10; unfortunately Billboard's free archive doesn't have this information.

I always thought this was some form of "political" oversight or bias against the album. But, for the life of me, I could never figure out any possible logical reasons. Or, some Billboard person just mistakenly forgot to include it?

It's still just as much of a mystery today.

These charts are pre-soundscan so sales is not the sole determinate. I think it was based on a weekly points system. For example, a number 1 record would have 100 points and a number 100 record would have one point. Even though Prince was number 1 for 24 weeks, a record only has to be top 50 for 48 weeks to accrue a higher tally. Hope that makes sense.

Before 1991, the Billboard album chart was build according to a points system. In reality was more important the position of an album in the many local weekly sales reports than the number of copies that album sold in order to reach that position.

And the same criteria was used when building the year-end sales chart.
So it didn't matter how many copies "Purple Rain" sold each week, what counted for the final year ranking was the points "Purple Rain" gained for each of its each weekly Top-200 position. Conclusion: looking at that those Billboard year-end lists doesn't tell us nothing about an album sales during the year.

Based in the information available "Purple Rain" sold something between 8 and 9 million copies during 1984 in the USA. More likely it sold around 8.5-million copies. It was enough to be the best selling album that year? The only other candidates are Jackson's "Thriller" and Lionel Richie's "Can't Slow Down". Springsteen's "Born in the USA" by the end of 1984 had sold "only" around 4 million, its big sales started in 1985, even if it was #2 for 24 consecutive weeks behind "Purple Rain", but Prince's album was selling much more that "Born in the USA".

At the moment i really can't say which album sold more in 1984 but based in everything i know was a contest between "Thriller" and "Purple Rain" with "Can't Slow Down" coming in third place (being Prince's album the only one of these 3 released in 1984).