Recommendations of the Editorial team
Prince’s “When Doves Cry” is one of the biggest hits of the 1980s. The “Purple Rain” single, released in 1984, rose to number one on the “Billboard” charts in the USA alone. Everyone should know the song, right?
Far from it! As an analysis by “Kworb” shows, On January 2nd, the Prince classic was recorded most frequently by the music recognition app Shazam in the USA, but also in the UK. So number one in the Shazam statistics for America and the UK.
The frequent recognition of “When Doves Cry” that day may be related to “Stranger Things.” The song was featured in the series finale, which aired on New Year’s Eve (New Year’s Day in Europe due to the time difference).
If you can’t place “When Doves Cry”, call Shazam for help. Certainly also because the title is barely mentioned in the song itself – “How can you just leave me standing…?” sounds much more prominent. Still, it’s unbelievable that many “Stranger Things” fans don’t know the song. In Germany, “When Doves Cry” was only in 13th place among the most viewed Shazam songs. So: Either the piece is better known here – or people didn’t want to use the Shazam app (or don’t know what kind of app it is).
“Purple Rain” better known than “When Doves Cry”?
The data looks different for the second Prince Needle drop in the “Stranger Things” finale. “Purple Rain” only climbed to number seven on Shazam’s most searched songs – in Chile. The USA is in 14th place, the United Kingdom is in 16th place and Germany is only in 71st place in the global ranking.
The fact that “Purple Rain” was less sought after doesn’t have to do with the fact that it’s more popular than “When Doves Cry.” Since Prince intones the song title an incredible seven times per chorus, everyone recognizes the song faster.
Whether “When Doves Cry” and “Purple Rain” spark viral moments similar to Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” from season four remains to be seen. The fifth season of “Stranger Things” upsets many viewers (including those from Generation Z) because it is so bad. It doesn’t help that the “Stranger Things” showrunners, the Duffer Brothers, are once again trying to hit the tear duct with David Bowie’s “Heroes” in the credits.