Prince's 'When Doves Cry' Ranked No. 8 in Rolling Stone's Best Summer Songs List

Prince owned 1984 with Purple Rain, his sixth studio album. Purple Rain spent 24 consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200, and produced several hit songs, including No. 1 singles "Let's Go Crazy" and "When Doves Cry."

The latter was the first No. 1 hit for The Purple One. Released in May 1984, "When Doves Cry" began a five-week run atop the Billboard Hot 100 on July 7. It would finish the year at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Year-End Hot 100.

The impact of "When Doves Cry" has endured beyond 1984. To this day, it is still regarded as one of the top songs of the 1980s, as well as an all-time summer anthem, according to Rolling Stone.

"When Doves Cry" cracks best summer tracks list

In June 2022, Rolling Stone unveiled its picks for "The Best Summer Songs of All Time." Checking in at No. 8 was "When Doves Cry," sandwiched between "Vacation" by The Go-Gos and "School's Out" by Alice Cooper.

"The all-time king of summer hits. From "Raspberry Beret" to "U Got The Look" to "Alphabet Street," Prince served," Rolling Stone said. "But he never shut down a summer like he did in 1984, when he dropped Purple Rain. "When Doves Cry" was radical avant-garde freak funk, but also a Number One hit - the ultimate Prince combo.

More accolades for Prince's signature song

The same year Rolling Stone placed "When Doves Cry" among the top 10 on its all time summer songs ranking, American Songwriter slotted the track No. 2 on its list of Prince's top 10 songs.

Additionally, in 2024, Rolling Stone ranked "When Doves Cry" at No. 37 on its list of all "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time."

"Even by Prince standards, it's eccentric; after single-handedly recording the stark, brokenhearted song in the studio, he decided to erase the bass track from the final mix," Rolling Stone wrote. "According to the engineer, Prince said, "Nobody would have the balls to do this. You just wait - they'll be freaking." He was right. Prince made it the soundtrack's first single - and 1984's most avant-garde pop record became his first American Number One hit, keeping Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" out of the top spot."

Going further back, NME named "When Doves Cry" its No. 2 pop song of all time in 2011. Lastly, earlier this year, "When Doves Cry" came in at No. 26 on SiriusXM's list of the top 500 songs from the 1980s.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jun 11, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published June 11, 2026 at 7:01 AM.