Sinéad O’Connor hit #1 with “Nothing Compares 2 U”

Nothing Compares 2 U Sinéad O’Connor

Writer(s): Prince (see lyrics here) Released: February 11, 1990 First Charted: January 20, 1990 Peak: 14 US, 14 BA, 13 CB, 14 GR, 13 RR, 2 AC, 23 AR, 11 MR, 14 UK, 15 CN, 18 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 2.02 US, 0.67 UK, 3.5 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 543.63 video, 288.49 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details. Awards (Prince): Awards (Chris Cornell):

About the Song: In the mid-‘80s, Prince was such a hit-making machine that he gave some away. Chaka Khan, Sheila E, Sheena Easton, and the Bangles all took Prince compositions to the U.S. top 10. One of the songs that got away, however, was the “dramatic, yearning, haunting and beautiful” LW “Nothing Compares 2 U.” Prince wrote the song for The Family, a group whose most notable success came as past and future members of Prince’s backing bands. TB Unlike the R&B and pop leanings of other artists who’d had hits with Prince songs, Sinéad O’Connor was an Irish alternative rock artist with one album under her belt which hadn’t produced any U.S. pop hits. When she covered “Nothing Compares 2 U,” no one could have predicted how huge it would become, much less that it would be the #1 song of 1990. RS500 Her performance is what made it a blockbuster. O’Connor holds back as if she can barely contain the emotion behind her voice. TC Within the same line, she sounded like she might “trail off into a breathy near-sob or let loose with a heartbroken wail.” AMG The “intensely heartfelt performance” TB was accented by a stark video which keyed in on O’Connor’s face. Four minutes in, she sheds a single tear, which she told VH1’s 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s, was evoked by the line “All the flowers that you planted, Mama in the back yard/ All died when you went away,” and the feelings it stirred regarding her complicated relationship with her late mother. WK However, she has also cited as a split just two days before with manager Fachtna O’Ceallaigh as the reason. KL Either way, there is a sincerity in the moment that captures the purity of the song. Even Prince himself couldn’t top it. In 1993, he released a live-in-the-studio duet with Rosie Gaines for his 3-CD The Hits/The B-Sides collection, but it didn’t have the quality that made O’Connor’s version definitive. When Prince died in 2016, Chris Cornell – best known as the lead singer of Soundgarden – released a version of him singing the song live as a tribute to Prince. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Prince DMDB encyclopedia entry for Chris Cornell AMG All Music Guide TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Page 691. KL Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh (2005). 1000 UK Number One Hits: The Stories Behind Every Number One Single Since 1952. London, Great Britain: Omnibus Press. Page 354. LW Alan Lewens (2001). Popular Song – Soundtrack of the Century. Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 169. RS500 Rolling Stone (12/04). “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 240. WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 1/20/2013; last updated 7/26/2023.