Billboard chart flashback: ‘When Doves Cry’ by Prince soared to #1 in July 1984

For anyone old enough to remember the summer of 1984, there’s one song that probably comes to mind.

“When Doves Cry” by Prince.

The lead single from the “Purple Rain” soundtrack, “When Doves Cry” was actually released two months before the highly-anticipated film rolled into cinemas. And thanks to a haunting melody and a provocative music video, the song quickly flew up the Billboard Hot 100. In July, it knocked out “The Reflex” by Duran Duran to take the perch in the number-one spot. “When Doves Cry” would remain there for five weeks, until “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr. scared it away in August. (“Who you gonna call?”)

“When Doves Cry” notably managed to keep Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” from dancing its way to number-one. The first single from the Boss’s classic “Born in the U.S.A.” album, “Dancing in the Dark” held steady at number-two for four weeks. (Three of those weeks were right below “When Doves Cry.”)

Aided by the success of “Purple Rain” at the box office, the hits kept on coming from the movie’s soundtrack. “Let’s Go Crazy” became its second number-one song in September. The title track “Purple Rain” then stormed its way to number-two in November. And the final two singles, “I Would Die For U” and “Take Me with U,” were taken to number-eight and number-25 in February and March 1985, respectively. Meanwhile, “Purple Rain” spent nearly six months atop the Billboard 200 album chart.

“Purple Rain” had turned into pure gold. (Or in its case, certified platinum.)

Though “When Doves Cry” itself was curiously shut out at the 1985 Grammy Awards, Prince and the Revolution did receive trophies for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal as well as Best Original Score of an Album Written for a Motion Picture or Television Special for the film soundtrack as a whole. “Purple Rain” also competed for Album of the Year, but lost the race to Lionel Richie for “Can’t Slow Down.”

Prince did receive a pretty good consolation prize in the form of the Oscar for Best Original Song Score for “Purple Rain” at the 57th Academy Awards. It was his first and only Oscar nomination.

Prince remained a fixture on the Billboard Hot 100 for the rest of the 1980s, with hits like “Raspberry Beret” (number-two in 1985), “Kiss”  (number-one in 1986), “U Got the Look” (number-two in 1987) and “Batdance” (number-one in 1989).

While Prince continued to write and record songs until his untimely death by accidental drug overdose in 2016, he never achieved the same glory that “Purple Rain” brought him in 1984. But four decades after “When Doves Cry” soared to number-one, the song still has the same chilling effect on listeners. It’s little wonder that Prince ruled the Billboard chart that summer.

The lyrics say it all: “How can you just leave me standing / Alone in a world so cold? / Why do we scream at each other? / This is what it sounds like / When doves cry.”

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