Album · Prince
Sign “☮︎” the Times by Prince
Sign “☮︎” the Times is an album by Prince, released in 1987. 6 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 47 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Sign O The Times”, on 34 lists with a best position of #8.
Sign o' the Times, Prince's ninth album, spilled out on March 31, 1987, a double album on Paisley Park and Warner Bros. It was his first solo record after he broke up the Revolution, and it was pieced together from a pile-up of abandoned projects recorded across 1986 and 1987: Dream Factory, the Camille album he meant to release under another name, and the triple set Crystal Ball, which the label talked him down to 2 discs.
Prince produced it himself, and it sprawls in every direction: funk, soul, psychedelic pop, electro and rock, with nods to avant-pop and the hip hop then breaking through. The beats come from a Linn LM-1 drum machine, a Fairlight synthesizer stands in for other instruments, and on four songs he sings in the higher-pitched voice of his alter ego Camille. The subjects turn serious, social ills and spirituality, even as "U Got the Look" struts. It was his fifth album in five years, it topped the Pazz & Jop poll for 1987, and it drew an Album of the Year nomination at the Grammys.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Sign “☮︎” the Times on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sign O The Times | 34 | #8 | – | 1987–2026 | |
| 2 | The Cross | 7 | #690 | – | 1999–2005 | |
| 3 | U Got The Look | 2 | #3 | – | 1987–2021 | |
| 4 | I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man | 1 | #158 | – | 2018 | |
| 5 | Starfish & Coffee | 2 | #504 | – | 2018–2021 | |
| 6 | If I Was Your Girlfriend | 1 | #19 | – | 1987 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.