Before you go on a tangent, stay with me.

Today, February 4, is the 40th anniversary of Janet's Control album. While not her debut album, it could easily serve as such. It launched Janet into a bona fide superstar.

Someone on social media mentioned,

"By at least one measure, Janet Jackson's "Control" (released #OTD 40 years ago) is the biggest recording juggernaut to come out of Minneapolis. Per Wiki, the album 'set a record for the longest continuous run of charting singles on the Hot 100, at 65 consecutive weeks'."

If you remove the movie element and simply work from the music (because we aren't measuring movie scores on a Billboard chart anyway), Control is likely bigger than Purple Rain.

Stay with me.

I'm certainly not arguing against Prince here. Not in the slightest. But let's look at facts for second.

Responding to the SM post, I obviously thought, "Well, Purple Rain." But was PR that kind of juggernaut? It wasn't released until the summer of 1984, losing six months of possible momentum. The album did hold at #1 for twenty-four consecutive weeks after only 4 weeks on the charts (debuting at #11). There were two #1 singles, but "Purple Rain" only hit #2 or #3 on most charts. Some now0-deleted charts had it at #1.

But did the singles have the lengthy staying power that "Nasty" or "What Have You Done For Me Lately" had? Prince wasn't exactly a video master. He (arguably lazily) released concert footage for three of the singles (if you include BIAS), used the movie footage mostly for the title track, and collage'd the rest. "When Doves Cry was arguably the more original of all the videos, with the band dancing, the close up shots, the iconic bathtub scene, etc.

By April, he was over it. The tour was over, and he was already pushing out ATWIAD. So, let's say 9 months of hardcore promotion and rotation.

By contrast, Janet's singles ranged from January 1986 (WHUDFML) to May 1987 (Pleasure Principle), with a lone UK-AUS-only November 1987 single for "Funny How Time Flies." That's 18 months of a single every 90-days (give or take), unique - and quite frankly iconic - videos for every single.

Both albums had nine songs with which to play and release.
Prince released 5 singles.
Janet released 7 singles (counting the UK single).

All of Janet's reached #1 on the Hot R&B or Dance Club charts. WITOY reached #1 on the Billboard Top 100, making it first "regular" #1.

In contrast, "I Would Die 4 U" barely hit the top 10 Billboard Top 100. "Purple Rain" missed the #1 spot (except on CashBox). Amazing, I know. "Take Me With U" was largely ignored, and didn't crack the top 20.

While Prince may have had a better deal and made more money (with an ensuing tour etc), Janet likely saw more overall success with the 18-months of Control-centric promotion.

Are both stellar albums? Of course. It's apple and oranges. But I can see why Prince was pissy about its release. While he's struggling through ATWIAD and Parade catching fire, and being laughed at for UTCM (he was, maybe not by us), he sat through Janet's firestorm of singles, award show appearances, performances, etc.

Dare I say, Control is an album Prince wishes he'd made first. (Oh TP, they're all Prince groove anyway.) Yes well, if they are, why didn't Prince make that album himself? Give me a comparison, song by song, of Control grooves on a Prince record. Just sayin'.

[Edited 2/4/26 19:04pm]

leecaldon said:

Is this supposed to be a serious post. Purple Rain about 3 times as many copies as Control, spending 6 months at the top of the charts. Control spent two weeks at #1.

As a massive Janet fan I'll say this: Rhythm Nation didn't even surpass Purple Rain. You cannot remove the movie fromt he equation. Prince was the 1st artist since The Beatles to have the #1 movie, album, song at the same time. Rarefied air that even Janet's older brother didn't touch.

leecaldon said:

Is this supposed to be a serious post. Purple Rain about 3 times as many copies as Control, spending 6 months at the top of the charts. Control spent two weeks at #1.

As noted, "the album 'set a record for the longest continuous run of charting singles on the Hot 100, at 65 consecutive weeks'." We're not talking overall sales per se. We're talking about the momentum and continuing success after the album's release.

lol...........yawn.

TrivialPursuit said:

leecaldon said:

Is this supposed to be a serious post. Purple Rain about 3 times as many copies as Control, spending 6 months at the top of the charts. Control spent two weeks at #1.

As noted, "the album 'set a record for the longest continuous run of charting singles on the Hot 100, at 65 consecutive weeks'." We're not talking overall sales per se. We're talking about the momentum and continuing success after the album's release.

So, based on how the US charts works, it got a lot of radio airplay. While millions more people had a copy of Purple Rain in their homes.

leecaldon said:

TrivialPursuit said:

As noted, "the album 'set a record for the longest continuous run of charting singles on the Hot 100, at 65 consecutive weeks'." We're not talking overall sales per se. We're talking about the momentum and continuing success after the album's release.

So, based on how the US charts works, it got a lot of radio airplay. While millions more people had a copy of Purple Rain in their homes.

excellent point

As a chart geek, I kinda get where this thread was going.. but 1+1+1 doesnt always =3

Control was a massively successful album.

PR was a cultural tidal wave.

Control established JJ as a commanding hit maker.

But PR cemented Prince as a game-changing revolutionary.

It's like winning the Stanley Cup vs. winning the Super Bowl.

Both are major accomplishments but definitely not the same.

Plus When I Think Of You sucks

[Edited 2/5/26 8:48am]

[Edited 2/5/26 8:50am]