RODSERLING said:

Purple Rain should be updated to 17* Platinum by the RIAA in the US, sure. But what about its singles? When Doves Cry : should be at 5*Platinum Originally certified Platinum for 2 millions ( the last single being certified with these old rules). Sold in fact 1,500,000 7' and 250'000 12'. Digital sales + streaming = 3.362.000 Purple Rain : should be at 4*Platinum Certified Gold for 1 million in 1984. Digital + streaming = 3,413,000 Let's Go Crazy : eligible for 3*Platinum Certified Gold as a physical single for 1 million copies. Digital + Streaming = 2,189,000 I Would Die 4 U : eligible at 1*Platinum Digital sales : 686,350 as of 16th May of 2016. #7 most streamed Prince tracks on Spotify Darling Nikki : eligible at Gold Digital : 399,261, as of 2th May of 2016 #13 most streamed song on Spotify Erotic City : eligible at Gold 386,644, as of 2th May of 2016 #21 most streamed song on Spotify The great loser of the album is Take Me With U. A flop when released on single, with about 100k digital tracks sold last time it appearrd on charts, and #23 on Prince Spotify ( It was the worst possible choice for a 5th single. We can't even distinguish Prince's voice on this one. What happened when they decided to release that as a single? Commercial suicide. [Edited 12/12/21 4:23am]

"Take Me With U" would have done better than number 25 if Prince hadn't moved on. WB would have been able to push it into the top 20 at least but look at the timeline: "Take Me With U" peaked at the end of March. ATWIAD was released 2 weeks later. "Raspberry Beret" began its run up the chart in mid-May. Warner Bros had to cut the promotion for "Take Me With U" short and move on to the next project. It was definitely the least of the 5 singles but it would have done better if they could have kept promoting it. That was a recurring issue between WB and Prince that obviously would explode in the 90s.

But yes, I wish the estate would update his certifications. Looking beyond Spotify his Apple Music, Amazon, YouTube, and Tidal combined streams might be enough to nudge some songs up another level (like taking a gold single to platinum or pushing a song at 1.7 million over 2). Plus you have songs like 1999, Little Red Corvette, and Kiss that would be upgraded. Billy Joel recently had his updated and it took his singles certifications from 12 million to 27 million. I don't think Prince would get that big of a boost but his total of 10 million is not accurate. His totals are so much more impressive than where his decades old certifications currently stand.

[Edited 12/12/21 10:30am]

[Edited 12/12/21 10:34am]

RODSERLING said:

renfield said:

2 months between each single was the norm for Purple Rain singles. Take Me With U was a mistake as a single. It could have done better, sure, especially with a b-side ( Electric Intercourse?) Darling Nikki was maybe banned from the radios in the US, but in Europe it would have been a smash hit. Would have done better than IWD4U and Let's Go Crazy, that's for sure. To me, the obvious 5th single was the Beautiful Ones. Would have been a top ten hit in the US, and a standard song. WB wanted to go like Thriller with 7 singles, but as you underlined it, Prince didn't want. Purple Rain was a tremendous success in English speaking countries, but it was rather shy elsewhere. I think Darling Nikki and Beautiful Ones were the ones which would havve picked up in EuropeEurope, were there more time. I will try to do the other tracks to update in certifocations this week, some are really surprising.

Better than LGC? That song is one of the most catchy, energetic, accessible, radio-friendly hits in his catalogue. It was perfect fusion of rock (guitars) and dance (synths).

People point to MJ's music as integrating white and black music, but Billy Jean was an R&B song that with a guitar solo pasted on. In contrast, the call-and-response of the guiatrs ans synths throughout LGC made it fully integrated and a truly genre-spanning song. At that moment in time, that's exactly what the audience was looking for.

RODSERLING said:

renfield said:

2 months between each single was the norm for Purple Rain singles. Take Me With U was a mistake as a single. It could have done better, sure, especially with a b-side ( Electric Intercourse?) Darling Nikki was maybe banned from the radios in the US, but in Europe it would have been a smash hit. Would have done better than IWD4U and Let's Go Crazy, that's for sure. To me, the obvious 5th single was the Beautiful Ones. Would have been a top ten hit in the US, and a standard song. WB wanted to go like Thriller with 7 singles, but as you underlined it, Prince didn't want. Purple Rain was a tremendous success in English speaking countries, but it was rather shy elsewhere. I think Darling Nikki and Beautiful Ones were the ones which would havve picked up in EuropeEurope, were there more time. I will try to do the other tracks to update in certifocations this week, some are really surprising.

Better than LGC? That song is one of the most catchy, energetic, accessible, radio-friendly hits in his catalogue. It was perfect fusion of rock (guitars) and dance (synths).

People point to MJ's music as integrating white and black music, but Billy Jean was an R&B song that with a guitar solo pasted on. In contrast, the call-and-response of the guiatrs ans synths throughout LGC made it fully integrated and a truly genre-spanning song. At that moment in time, that's exactly what the audience was looking for.