It's generally agreed upon that the top artists of the 80s are MJ, Madonna, and Prince in that order. However, I'm curious as to exactly how popular Whitney was at the time. She exploded on the scene and was everywhere from her debut to the end of the decade which outlasts Prince's peak of commercial success in 1984/1985 though one can say that Prince's rise to stardom from 1980-1984 counts as well.

Purple Rain was astronomical so I hear and Prince was pretty much the face of music in 1984 and his popularity waned in 1985 with ATWIAD coincidentally the year of Whitney's greatly successful debut. Was the Purple Rain era a bigger deal and more impactful than Whitney's 80s streak or is it the other way around?

wasn't Whitney's true superstar potential unleashed during the first half of the '90s, anyway?

Depends on how you look at it i think. Whitney sold more records and scored bigger hits, while she only started in half of the 80´s.

But i think prince had a much bigger impact. Especially as a live artist, but also with the critics.

Besides Purple Rain, Prince was never a huge seller for an artist his statue, a lot of singles didn´t go any where in the 80´s. (In the 90´s either )

Whitney was way more commercial. A very safe choice for a big audience.

To me Prince was way bigger.

nextedition said:

Depends on how you look at it i think. Whitney sold more records and scored bigger hits, while she only started in half of the 80´s.

But i think prince had a much bigger impact. Especially as a live artist, but also with the critics.

Rock critics never really rate adult contemporary type acts or ballad singers. Whitney was way bigger than Prince in the USA during the 1980s. At one point in the 1980s, she had 7 number 1 singles in a row, the first person to do so. Michael Jackson & Madonna didn't do that. According to Vainandy, Whitney did have an impact, she killed the funk bands and made AC popular in R&B.

JoeTyler said:

wasn't Whitney's true superstar potential unleashed during the first half of the '90s, anyway?

Yeah but she still had great star power in the 80s.

I swear some kind of music god portal or something opened up back in 1958. Prince, Madonna and MJ were all born the same summer lol

MickyDolenz said:

nextedition said:

Depends on how you look at it i think. Whitney sold more records and scored bigger hits, while she only started in half of the 80´s.

But i think prince had a much bigger impact. Especially as a live artist, but also with the critics.

Rock critics never really rate adult contemporary type acts or ballad singers. Whitney was way bigger than Prince in the USA during the 1980s. At one point in the 1980s, she had 7 number 1 singles in a row, the first person to do so. Michael Jackson & Madonna didn't do that. According to Vainandy, Whitney did have an impact, she killed the funk bands and made AC popular in R&B.

Whitney was bigger, especially in commercial terms. You can't fade those hits.

nextedition said:

Depends on how you look at it i think. Whitney sold more records and scored bigger hits, while she only started in half of the 80´s.

But i think prince had a much bigger impact. Especially as a live artist, but also with the critics.

Besides Purple Rain, Prince was never a huge seller for an artist his statue, a lot of singles didn´t go any where in the 80´s. (In the 90´s either )

Whitney was way more commercial. A very safe choice for a big audience.

To me Prince was way bigger.

I lean this way as well but at the same time can't help but question exactly how big (i.e. how popular/ how big of an impact was had by) Whitney in the 80s compared to Prince. While Prince was present throughout the entire decade and Whitney only half and of course, both being very different artists it's interesting that the year Whitney dropped her debut album which exploded on the music scene and shot up in popularity is the same year Prince was riding high from Purple Rain and followed up with an album (ATWIAD) that contributed/ signalled a decline in his popularity.

ScarletScandal said:

I swear some kind of music god portal or something opened up back in 1958. Prince, Madonna and MJ were all born the same summer lol

Technically, Prince was born in the spring but can get away with it since he was born in June. To add further detail, all are from the Midwest too " />

Cinny said:

MickyDolenz said:

Rock critics never really rate adult contemporary type acts or ballad singers. Whitney was way bigger than Prince in the USA during the 1980s. At one point in the 1980s, she had 7 number 1 singles in a row, the first person to do so. Michael Jackson & Madonna didn't do that. According to Vainandy, Whitney did have an impact, she killed the funk bands and made AC popular in R&B.

Whitney was bigger, especially in commercial terms. You can't fade those hits.

But it's not only about the hits, is it?

I don't remember Whitney doing huge tours in the 80's. Prince sold out stadiums in Europe in the 80's.

MotownSubdivision said:

ScarletScandal said:

I swear some kind of music god portal or something opened up back in 1958. Prince, Madonna and MJ were all born the same summer lol

Technically, Prince was born in the spring but can get away with it since he was born in June. To add further detail, all are from the Midwest too " />

But June is a summer month...

Cinny said:

Whitney was bigger, especially in commercial terms. You can't fade those hits.

Power ballads was a big thing in the 1980s too. Look at Lionel Richie, Chicago/Peter Cetera, Heart, Air Supply, etc. Those hair metal acts generally had their bigger hits with ballads. Adult contemporary radio was a factor during that time. The popularity of adult contemporary is why VH-1 was created.

I am like everyone else, it depends on how you look at it..overall though, Whitnney may have had more number ones, but Prince was the mega star..just riding off the success with Purple Rain, made him a huge star..the questions should be, who were bigger female stars in the 80s, WHITNEY, MADONNA, or JANET? or who were the biggest stars of the 80s?..MICHAEL, WHITNEY, MADONNA< JANET, PRINCE, or ETC

fred12 said:

I am like everyone else, it depends on how you look at it..overall though, Whitnney may have had more number ones, but Prince was the mega star..just riding off the success with Purple Rain, made him a huge star..the questions should be, who were bigger female stars in the 80s, WHITNEY, MADONNA, or JANET? or who were the biggest stars of the 80s?..MICHAEL, WHITNEY, MADONNA< JANET, PRINCE, or ETC

But Whitney's debut sold more than Purple Rain.

[Edited 7/9/15 9:48am]

whitney was more successful than prince, she came out in 1985 and dominated, her 2 albums in the 80s were probably bigger than all of prince's albums together. prince only had 1 mega era in his entire career and that was purple rain.of course prince was the bigger live act but there has always been huge live acts that wasnt huge sellers or chart toppers.when you use the term BIGGER artists it usually means commercial success and popularity.whitney was selling millions,charting #1 hits, winning awards, magazine covers,endoresments,ect...all of that =bigger.

lowkey said:

there has always been huge live acts that wasnt huge sellers or chart toppers.

Like The Grateful Dead. They only had one hit single (Touch Of Grey) and it came in the mid-1980s and they began in the 1960s.

fred12 said:

I am like everyone else, it depends on how you look at it..overall though, Whitnney may have had more number ones, but Prince was the mega star..just riding off the success with Purple Rain, made him a huge star..the questions should be, who were bigger female stars in the 80s, WHITNEY, MADONNA, or JANET? or who were the biggest stars of the 80s?..MICHAEL, WHITNEY, MADONNA< JANET, PRINCE, or ETC

janet had the majority of her success in the 90s. control was a game changer but it was her only real success of that decade, rhythm nation came out in late 1989 but its run was really the early 90s. also janet never even toured in the 80s. the 80s belonged to michael, madonna,prince and then whitney came along and took over the 2nd half of the decade.

lowkey said:

janet had the majority of her success in the 90s. control was a game changer but it was her only real success of that decade, rhythm nation came out in late 1989 but its run was really the early 90s. also janet never even toured in the 80s. the 80s belonged to michael, madonna,prince and then whitney came along and took over the 2nd half of the decade.

Lionel Richie & Def Leppard sold really big then too and maybe Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, Genesis/Phil Collins, & Van Halen, both with Roth & Hagar.

I think Def Leppard outsold Prince too. People forget about their popularity today, but they were huge.

ScarletScandal said:

MotownSubdivision said:

Technically, Prince was born in the spring but can get away with it since he was born in June. To add further detail, all are from the Midwest too " />

But June is a summer month...

He was born in a summer month but not during the actual season. Summer doesn't start until the third week of the month just like all other seasons.

[Edited 7/13/15 15:20pm]

fred12 said:

I am like everyone else, it depends on how you look at it..overall though, Whitnney may have had more number ones, but Prince was the mega star..just riding off the success with Purple Rain, made him a huge star..the questions should be, who were bigger female stars in the 80s, WHITNEY, MADONNA, or JANET? or who were the biggest stars of the 80s?..MICHAEL, WHITNEY, MADONNA< JANET, PRINCE, or ETC

I'm a 90s baby so I just wanted clarification on the subject.

Besides, those other questions have been asked millions of times already and weren't the subjects I was curious about anyway.

MickyDolenz said:

lowkey said:

janet had the majority of her success in the 90s. control was a game changer but it was her only real success of that decade, rhythm nation came out in late 1989 but its run was really the early 90s. also janet never even toured in the 80s. the 80s belonged to michael, madonna,prince and then whitney came along and took over the 2nd half of the decade.

Lionel Richie & Def Leppard sold really big then too and maybe Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, Genesis/Phil Collins, & Van Halen, both with Roth & Hagar.

of course there were other huge artists in the 80s but most were white rock or pop and i dont think they had the same cultural impact of the mj's,madonna's,prince,s.

nextedition said:

Cinny said:

Whitney was bigger, especially in commercial terms. You can't fade those hits.

But it's not only about the hits, is it?

I don't remember Whitney doing huge tours in the 80's. Prince sold out stadiums in Europe in the 80's.

No, but you can bet that if had Whitney bothered to tour, it would only be more evidence of her selling power.

People who're talking about hits and such seem to forget that this is strictly eighties... in which case, Prince wins. He had more hits than her in the decade. She may have pulled ahead in the '90s, but since the OP's asking about the '80s, Prince wins.

And LOL, just because Prince's only astronomical success was Purple Rain doesn't mean he didn't go ahead to have a lot of success afterwards.. 1985-1990, post-PR, he had more than fifteen top-tens *worldwide*, and more than her in the US too. Actually if you look at the stats, charts-wise, Prince was the most successful artist worldwide of the '80s http://tsort.info/music/s2tstg.htm

Again, charts-wise I know Whitney ended up being the bigger hit (her formula and promotion were perfect), a lot of these millions of records+hits came in the '90s, especially with Bodyguard. I don't know about 'popularity' (which is subjective, especially since both were huge stars anyways), but Prince was more successful in the '80s

[Edited 7/9/15 11:32am]

MickyDolenz said:

I think Def Leppard outsold Prince too. People forget about their popularity today, but they were huge.

Nope. Prince is certified for 62 mil, Def Leppard is certified for 41 mil

lowkey said:

whitney was more successful than prince, she came out in 1985 and dominated, her 2 albums in the 80s were probably bigger than all of prince's albums together. prince only had 1 mega era in his entire career and that was purple rain.of course prince was the bigger live act but there has always been huge live acts that wasnt huge sellers or chart toppers.when you use the term BIGGER artists it usually means commercial success and popularity.whitney was selling millions,charting #1 hits, winning awards, magazine covers,endoresments,ect...all of that =bigger.

Prince had all these too. If you mean Whitney was having more of these than him in the late-80s you're right. But look at the entire decade, with 1999/Purple Rain era intact, and things change a bit

CharismaDove said:

MickyDolenz said:

I think Def Leppard outsold Prince too. People forget about their popularity today, but they were huge.

Nope. Prince is certified for 62 mil, Def Leppard is certified for 41 mil

I'm talking about in the 1980s, not total sales. I was around then. I remember. Look at the sales of Def Leppars individual albums in the 1980s. Vanilla Ice's debut sold more than Prince's albums except Purple Rain.

Again, I think some people are pitting Prince's career against Whitney's, which is why she's coming off extra successful. If you really do look at the '80s stats, like the OP asks, Prince edges ahead. The '90s is a whole different story.

MickyDolenz said:

CharismaDove said:

Nope. Prince is certified for 62 mil, Def Leppard is certified for 41 mil

I'm talking about in the 1980s, not total sales. I was around then. I remember. Look at the sales of Def Leppars individual albums in the 1980s. Vanilla Ice's debut sold more than Prince's albums except Purple Rain.

you're right. Rock bands tend to sell a lot of albums, with less emphasis on singles

MickyDolenz said:

Vanilla Ice's debut sold more than Prince's albums except Purple Rain.

Also true, but no one wants to recall that other acts eclipsed Prince in popularity at certain periods in time.

[Edited 7/9/15 11:45am]