Sign "O" The Times
by Prince

Album
Sign "O" The Times by Prince
Year: 1987
Release date: 1987-03-30
Overall rank: 167th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
81/100 (from 964 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 5 albums of 1987 (3rd)
Award Top 50 albums of of the 1980s (22nd)
Award Top 200 albums of all time (167th)

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Prince bestography

Sign "O" The Times is ranked as the best album by Prince.

Prince album bestography « Higher ranked (71st)
Purple Rain This album (167th)
Sign "O" The Times Lower ranked (467th) »
1999

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

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Sign "O" The Times track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 83 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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#
Track
Rating/Comments
1.
Track pick (890 - 237 votes)
Sign "O" The Times
Average Rating: 89 (237 votes)Comments: View 2
2.
Play In The Sunshine
Average Rating: 82 (158 votes)Comments: View 0
3.
Housequake
Average Rating: 81 (158 votes)Comments: View 2
4.
The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker
Average Rating: 84 (169 votes)Comments: View 0
5.
It
Average Rating: 80 (152 votes)Comments: View 0
6.
Starfish And Coffee
Average Rating: 84 (180 votes)Comments: View 1
7.
Slow Love
Average Rating: 84 (157 votes)Comments: View 0
8.
Hot Thing
Average Rating: 81 (155 votes)Comments: View 0
9.
Forever In My Life
Average Rating: 78 (141 votes)Comments: View 0
10.
U Got The Look
Average Rating: 84 (177 votes)Comments: View 0
11.
Track pick (860 - 184 votes)
If I Was Your Girlfriend
Average Rating: 86 (184 votes)Comments: View 1
12.
Strange Relationship
Average Rating: 82 (150 votes)Comments: View 0
13.
Track pick (870 - 192 votes)
I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
Average Rating: 87 (192 votes)Comments: View 1
14.
The Cross
Average Rating: 84 (154 votes)Comments: View 0
15.
It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night
Average Rating: 80 (141 votes)Comments: View 0
16.
Adore
Average Rating: 84 (147 votes)Comments: View 2

Track pick (1000 - 100 votes) Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

Sign "O" The Times rankings

Sign "O" The Times rankings summary
Overall rank: 167th | 1980s rank: 22nd | 1987 rank: 3rd  Overall chart history
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings).Help Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 1 hour ago)

Sign "O" The Times collection

Sign "O" The Times ratings

Average Rating: 
81/100 (from 964 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 3 ratings for this album.  | Show all 964 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
85/100
 !		4 days ago Siromynian  Ratings distribution  1,77374/100
 
90/100
 !		09/25/2026 16:10 morphee  Ratings distribution  1,21883/100
 
70/100
 !		09/14/2026 20:24 Foxforce5  Ratings distribution  48575/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 81.1/100, a mean average of 79.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 81.2/100. The standard deviation for this album is 17.6.


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Sign "O" The Times favourites

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Sign "O" The Times forum mentions

This album has been referenced 208 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From BestEverAlbums 09/29/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5450): By DeusExMackia
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by DeusExMackia () 1. by (1971) 2. by (1985) 3. by (1988) 4. by (1984) 5. by (1967) 6. (1987) 7. (1991) 8. (1996) 9. by (1976) 10. (1972) 11. by (1973) 12. (2016) 13. by by (2019) 15. by by (1972) 18. by (1979) 19. by (2020) 20. (1977) 21. by…”
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From BestEverAlbums 09/24/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5445): By MW19704U
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by MW19704U () 1. by (1973) 2. by (1967) 3. by (1972) 4. by (1998) 6. (1970) 7. by (1968) 8. by by (1969) 10. by by by (1994) 15. by (1982) 16. by (2003) 17. by (1968) 19. by (2002) 20. (1966) 21. by by (1979) 23. by (1970) 24. by by by (1980)…”
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From BestEverAlbums 09/18/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5439): By joedec
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by joedec () 1. (1989) 2. by (1982) 4. (1990) 5. by (1980) 7. by by (1993) 10. by (1985) 11. by by by (1988) 14. by (1977) 16. by (1987) 17. by (1987) 18. by (1971) 19. by (1979) 20. by (1984) 22. by (1972) 23. by (1979) 24. by (1968) 25. by by…”
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Sign "O" The Times comments

Showing latest 5 comments | Show all 59 comments |
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
Rating:  
100/100
From 08/04/2016 00:59 | #172272 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Prince's first album after abandoning The Revolution and in my opinion his best. The 80s weren't a great time for music from my perspective but this is definitely an outlier and my favorite album from that decade
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 8
Reply
Rating:  
100/100
From 12/09/2018 10:08 | #226584 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
My personal favourite album Prince ever released. This kaleidoscopic double album captures Prince at the peak of his studio craft and holds many of his greatest songs as a result.

Track Picks:
Sign 'O' the Times
The Ballad of Dorothy Parker
Starfish and Coffee
Slow Love
If I Was Your Girlfriend
I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man
Adore
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 6
Reply
Rating:  
100/100
From 10/11/2016 22:23 | #176728 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Massive album in terms of its length. Large diversity that are packed with great tracks like Adore, I Could Never Take the Place, and If I Was Your Girlfriend. Leaves me amazing how Prince wrote, performed, and produced much of the record
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 6
Reply
Rating:  
100/100
From 11/10/2013 03:23 | #91642 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Nowhere near as accessible as Purple Rain, but overtly diverse. Not as concise either, which makes it all the more appealing. Like London Calling, the White Album and Melon Collie and Infinite Sadness. A great double album.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 3
Reply
From 06/05/2010 07:13 | #12573 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Forgetting the fact that as a whole this is a work of eclectic genius, this double album tour-de-force features "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" which just may be the best song of the entire 1980's.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 3
Reply
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Best Albums of  1987
1. The Joshua Tree by U2
2. Appetite For Destruction by Guns N' Roses
3. Sign "O" The Times by Prince
4. Strangeways, Here We Come by The Smiths
5. You're Living All Over Me by Dinosaur
6. Document by R.E.M.
7. Bad by Michael Jackson
8. Music For The Masses by Depeche Mode
9. Sister by Sonic Youth
10. Substance by New Order