This Day in Top 40 History: August 4

Breakthrough Hits and Milestones

• 1984: Purple Rain, Prince's soundtrack to the movie of the same name, reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200, where it stayed for 24 consecutive weeks. It remains one of the best-selling soundtracks ever, with over 25 million copies sold worldwide.
• 1987: The album Dirty Dancing: Original Soundtrack was released. It included the hit singles "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" and "Hungry Eyes." The album spent 18 weeks at the top of the album charts.
• 1990: Mariah Carey's debut single Vision of Love started a four-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The single received three GRAMMY Award nominations and won the award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

Cultural Milestones

• 1901: Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans. Armstrong had multiple chart-topping songs during his career as a jazz musician, including "Hello, Dolly!" and "What a Wonderful World."
• 1958: The Billboard Hot 100 chart was introduced. Ricky Nelson became the first artist to have a song hit No. 1 on this singles chart with "Poor Little Fool."
• 1972: Michael Jackson released his single "Ben," which was part of the soundtrack for the movie of the same name. It was Jackson's first solo song to reach No. 1 on the charts.

Notable Recordings and Performances

• 1980: John Lennon and Yoko Ono began recording Double Fantasy in New York after a five-year hiatus. The album was released just a few months before John Lennon's untimely death — it went on to chart at No. 1 and won the GRAMMY for Album of the Year.
• 2024: Lollapalooza 2024 concluded on this day, with headliners including SZA, Megan Thee Stallion, Blink-182, and Hozier performing over the music festival's four days.

Industry Changes and Challenges

• 1990: During a New Kids On the Block concert in Canada, armed robbers broke into the stadium, threatened employees who were counting the money, and stole the proceeds from the band's souvenir sales.
• 2021: Forbes reported that Rihanna was the world's wealthiest female musician. Her net worth came from a combination of proceeds from her music career and her entrepreneurial pursuits in makeup and fashion.