Once Upon a Time in the Top Spot: Sinead O’Connor, “Nothing Compares 2 U”

Well, that’s just perfect: as we’re sitting here at Rhino, still reeling from the news of Prince’s death, we attempt to set aside our grief by writing today’s birthday and anniversary posts, and the find that the first one on the docket is…the anniversary of a Prince-composed song hitting the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100.

Irony, thy name is Prince.

Although Sinead O’Connor’s version of “Nothing Compares 2 U” topped the charts 26 years ago today, on April 21, 1990, the song’s origins date back to half a decade before that, when The Family, a Paisley Park Records band released it on their self-titled debut album. The album also turned out to be The Family’s swan song, and as their version of “Nothing Compares 2 U” was not released a single, the song might well have fallen into obscurity if O’Connor hadn’t opted to record it for her sophomore album, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got.

In 2014, O’Connor admitted in an interview with the Norwegian station NRK that the success she found with “Nothing Compares 2 U” did not particularly result in her and Prince becoming besties. “I did meet him a couple of times,” said O’Connor. “We didn’t get on at all. In fact, we had a punch-up.”

Their unfortunate encounters aside, O’Connor’s version of Prince’s composition was a gargantuan commercial success, hitting #1 not only in the US but also in the UK, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Germany, Mexico, Norway, Sweden… Truly, the list goes on and on. “Nothing Compares 2 U” stayed in the top spot in America for four weeks, earning platinum status and eventually ending up as the third best-selling single of 1990. The video was a smash as well, winning MTV Video Music Awards for Best Post-Modern Video, Best Female Video, and Video of the Year.

Although O’Connor’s subsequent singles came nowhere near hitting the same heights as “Nothing Compares 2 U,” the song nonetheless established the singer as a force to be reckoned with and an artist whose work was likely always going to be worth checking out.