Album · 1984
Purple Rain
by Prince & The Revolution
Purple Rain is a 1984 funk album by Prince and The Revolution. It runs 9 tracks across 44 minutes on Warner Records. Riffiter listeners rate it 4.7/5 from 21 ratings.
#1 in Best albums of 1984 · #1 in Best funk albums
Your rating
- 4.7 /5
- 21 ratings
- 94 /100
- 10 critics
- 9
- Tracks
- 44 min
- Runtime
- 126 bpm
- Tempo
- D major
- Key
Ratings
21 ratings · avg 4.7
Recent activity
alec miller4.0★
tyler!4.5★ace kun5.0★
Myles Cook4.5★
Rocket4.5★
@teabag3.5★
CAT575.0★- @octave5.0★
Reviews
2 reviews
- 5.0
- 5.0
28 people have played it start to finish
Critics
10 publications
- Chicago Sun-Times4/4
- The Rolling Stone Album Guide5/5
- Mojo5/5
- Pitchfork10/10
- The Guardian5/5
- AllMusic5/5
- Christgaus Record GuideA−
- Spin Alternative Record Guide9/10
- Blender4/5
- Entertainment WeeklyB
- Metacriticaggregate100/100
Scores collected from the English Wikipedia ratings box (CC BY-SA). Ratings belong to the publications; follow a link to read the review.
Purple Rain album cover
The Purple Rain cover was designed by Doug Handers, Laura LiPuma, Louis & Vaughn, Marie France and Prince, photographed by Ed Thrasher & Associates, Larry Williams, Ron Slenzak and Slenzak, and art-directed by Prince.
- Design
- Doug Handers, Laura LiPuma, Louis & Vaughn, Marie France, Prince
- Photography
- Ed Thrasher & Associates, Larry Williams, Ron Slenzak, Slenzak
- Art direction
- Prince
Your rating for the cover
Tracklist
9 tracks · 44 min · by Prince & The Revolution
Ranked head-to-head
1 vs 1
Stars say how much you like Purple Rain. They never settle which song on it you would defend. Pick between two at a time and the order builds itself.
Nobody has finished a run on this record yet. Rank Purple Rain's songs yourself →
Videos
4 videos
Ranked by listeners
top 5 · 9 rated tracks
According to Riffiter listeners, the best track on Purple Rain is Take Me With U — rated 4.9/5 by 5 listeners.
More by Prince
More like this
About
Purple Rain is the sixth studio album by American recording artist Prince and The Revolution and is the soundtrack album to the 1984 film Purple Rain. It was released on June 25, 1984 by Warner Bros. Records. Purple Rain is regularly ranked among the best albums in music history. Time magazine ranked it the 15th greatest album of all time in 1993, and it placed 18th on VH1's Greatest Rock and Roll Albums of All Time countdown. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it the second-best album of the 1980s and 76th on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Zounds magazine ranked it the 18th greatest album of all time. Furthermore, the album placed 4th in Plásticos y Decibelios' list of The Greatest Albums of All Time. Finally, in 2007, the editors of Vanity Fair labeled it the best soundtrack of all time and Tempo magazine named it the greatest album of the 1980s. In 2012, Slant Magazine listed the album at #2 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s" behind only Michael Jackson's Thriller.
Read moreRead less
That same year the album was added to the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically important, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States." The two main songs from Purple Rain, "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy", would top the U.S. singles charts and were hits around the world, while the title track would go to number two on the Billboard Hot 100. The 1000th issue of Entertainment Weekly dated July 4, 2008 listed Purple Rain at number one on their list of the top 100 best albums of the past 25 years. The RIAA lists it as having gone platinum 13 times over. To date, it has sold over 20 million copies worldwide, becoming the sixth best-selling soundtrack album of all time and one of the best-selling albums of all time.
In brief
- Is Purple Rain good?
- Riffiter listeners rate Purple Rain 4.7/5 from 21 ratings.
- What is the highest-rated track on Purple Rain?
- Take Me With U, rated 4.9/5 by 5 listeners on Riffiter.
- When was Purple Rain released?
- Purple Rain was released in 1984 on Warner Records.
- How many tracks are on Purple Rain?
- Purple Rain has 9 tracks, with a runtime of 44 minutes.
- What genre is Purple Rain?
- Purple Rain is catalogued under Funk, Pop, Pop Rock.
- What BPM is Purple Rain?
- Purple Rain runs at a median tempo of 126 BPM across its tracks, most often in D major, measured from audio analysis.
- What albums are similar to Purple Rain?
- Listeners of Purple Rain also rate Thriller by Michael Jackson, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars by David Bowie, 1 by The Beatles.
- Who produced Purple Rain?
- Purple Rain was produced by Prince and The Revolution. Prince produced 5 of them.
Credits
- Produced by
- Engineered by
- Played by
+4 moreShow fewer
Wendy MelvoinDavid ColemanNovi NovogSuzie Katayama- Vocals by
+2 moreShow fewer
Jill JonesApollonia
Credits and connections from Genius