And I mean, was it like taking the world by storm over a night? Wouldn't this be considered one of pop musics greatest achievements since he abandoned ship less than a year after the album dropped? I know that Thriller outsold this album beyond comprehension. But Michael had some stellar videos and the Moonwalk in -83 to back it up. And fill me in about Madonna's biggest work in the same decade. But Prince had a kinda lame montage video for WDC.....and that's all (And some movie ).

I'm sorry, could you please be more confusing? I almost understood your post.

Another possible heading for this post could be 'Somebody tell me how to Google'

It wasn't huge in the UK. It would be years later that Prince would have a run of #1 albums. Purple Rain reached #7 in the album charts although it did produce four top ten singles.

I would be interested to find out how the film did in the UK - does anyone know? IMDb doesn't really provide figures for the film outside of the US, only that it grossed $80 million worldwide.

It was that big

Wolfie87 said:

And I mean, was it like taking the world by storm over a night? Wouldn't this be considered one of pop musics greatest achievements since he abandoned ship less than a year after the album dropped? I know that Thriller outsold this album beyond comprehension. But Michael had some stellar videos and the Moonwalk in -83 to back it up. And fill me in about Madonna's biggest work in the same decade. But Prince had a kinda lame montage video for WDC.....and that's all (And some movie ).

It took the world by storm overnight. Maybe not the whole planet earth but in these areas:

2.

3.

It was an intense experience at the time.

I discovered him in 84.

one of the biggest events ever.

PR stayed at the top of the Billboard album chart for 24 straight,

consecutive weeks.

Every music fan acknowledged

this was the hottest.

It was a HUGE deal, all the people that thought Prince was just one of my "gay" crushes started liking him even more than I do. When Doves Cry, Let's Go Crazy, What's Love Got to do With it, Missing you were the songs of the summer, Purple Rain was the movie of the first part of the summer, and Pruple Rain (the album) stayed at no 1 on Billboard for what... 37 weeks in a row? Also, Erotic City and 17 Days were played very often in clubs, along with Jungle Love and Sex Shooter.

So yeah, it was a big cultural event, comparable to Saturday Night Fever or Sergeant Pepper -- that big.

I think for the moment it ended abruptly... When Prince wanted to end it... As it was indicated in the Lets Go Crazy and Alex Hann books... He just got tired of the whole Purple Rain persona, the same songs for the tour, he wanted to end it abruptly, less than a year, just ends the tour, not even taking it to overseas...

But yes to answer your question, for the time period I believe it was a huge cultural impact overnight... I'm sure Prince was the highest grossing musician that year... With the singles, album sales, The Time album, Apolonia 6 album, Shiela E album, man for WB just on album sales alone combined, must have been over 20 million sales in the U.S. alone not counting the world wide sales... On top of the movie, it was a huge pop culture event... He could've ridden off it for at least another year and make a world tour, but that's his genius, he didn't...

Aerogram said:

It was a HUGE deal, all the people that thought Prince was just one of my "gay" crushes started liking him even more than I do. When Doves Cry, Let's Go Crazy, What's Love Got to do With it, Missing you were the songs of the summer, Purple Rain was the movie of the first part of the summer, and Pruple Rain (the album) stayed at no 1 on Billboard for what... 37 weeks in a row? Also, Erotic City and 17 Days were played very often in clubs, along with Jungle Love and Sex Shooter.

So yeah, it was a big cultural event, comparable to Saturday Night Fever or Sergeant Pepper -- that big.

And the Glamorous Life, that one helped build the momentum too not to mention Sugar Walls and I Feel 4 You(Chaka Khan) all getting the news out there

OldFriends4Sale said:

Aerogram said:

It was a HUGE deal, all the people that thought Prince was just one of my "gay" crushes started liking him even more than I do. When Doves Cry, Let's Go Crazy, What's Love Got to do With it, Missing you were the songs of the summer, Purple Rain was the movie of the first part of the summer, and Pruple Rain (the album) stayed at no 1 on Billboard for what... 37 weeks in a row? Also, Erotic City and 17 Days were played very often in clubs, along with Jungle Love and Sex Shooter.

So yeah, it was a big cultural event, comparable to Saturday Night Fever or Sergeant Pepper -- that big.

And the Glamorous Life, that one helped build the momentum too not to mention Sugar Walls and I Feel 4 You(Chaka Khan) all getting the news out there

As well as his own albums... From 1982-1983 1999 sold under 2 million, it sold an addition 4 million because of Purple Rain, as well as Controversy and Dirty Mind sold an addition million each.