On this day in 1984: ‘Purple Rain’ the movie-starring Prince opened at cinemas across the U.K. with special late night previews. The film grossed more than $80 million at the box office and became a cult classic.

On this day in 1985: Brothers In Arms’ by Dire Straits started a nine-week run at #1 on the U.S. album charts. The album also topped the charts in 25 other countries and went on to sell over 20 million copies worldwide.

On this day in 1986: UB40 with guest vocals from Chrissie Hynde was at #1 on the U.K. singles chart with their version of the Sonny Bono song ‘I Got You Babe’ a hit for Sonny & Cher in 1965.

On this day in 1987: Fleetwood Mac released ‘Little Lies’ from their fourteenth studio album Tango in the Night. The single reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #5 in the U.K.

Also on this day in 1987: The largest pre-order of albums in the history of CBS Records occurred as 2.25 million copies of Michael Jackson’s ‘Bad’ album were shipped to record stores in the U.S. The LP followed the Jackson album, ‘Thriller’ the biggest Jackson-seller of all time (over 35 million copies sold). ‘Bad’ went on to sell over 13 million copies.