4Ever (album)

This article is about the Prince album. For other albums, see Forever § Albums.

4Ever, also known as Prince 4Ever, is a greatest hits album by American recording artist Prince, released on November 22, 2016, by NPG Records and Warner Bros. Records.^[1][2][3] It is the first Prince release following the musician's death on April 21, 2016.^[4]

4Ever
Greatest hits album by Prince
Released	November 22, 2016 (2016-11-22)
Recorded	December 1976 – May 1993
Genre	Pop rock funk
Length	155:06
Label	NPG Warner Bros.
Producer	Prince
Prince chronology
Hit n Run Phase Two (2015) 4Ever (2016) Anthology: 1995–2010 (2018)

Album information

The two-disc set features 40 songs from Prince's tenure with Warner Bros. Records and features recordings from all of his albums between 1978's For You and 1993's The Hits/The B-Sides. It is the first Prince compilation to include his number-one hit single "Batdance" from the soundtrack album to the 1989 film Batman.^[5] Aside from "Purple Rain", single edits of songs were used over album versions when possible.^[6]

4Ever features the first official release of the song "Moonbeam Levels", which had previously circulated on bootlegs of Prince's unreleased material in a low-quality form.^[7] The song had been recorded in 1982 during the sessions for 1999 and was subsequently considered for the unreleased 1988–89 album Rave unto the Joy Fantastic.^[8]

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[9]
The Irish Times	[10]
PopMatters	9/10[6]
The Sydney Morning Herald	[11]

4Ever received positive reviews from critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote in an AllMusic review that while 4Ever was not a definitive album, "in terms of consumer value, it might be the best single Prince compilation".^[9] Chris Gerard stated in a PopMatters review that "by and large, Prince 4Ever is [a successful compilation], and its inclusion of the lesser-known singles adds greatly to its appeal".^[6] Tony Clayton-Lea stated in the Irish Times that the compilation "may seem like a futile exercise" because Prince's hits were already well known, but it served as a great introduction to Prince's music.^[10] Craig Mathieson wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald that 4Ever was "the starter kit Prince greatest hits package", although he lamented that no songs released after 1993 could be included because they were past Prince's tenure with Warner.^[11]

Critics also anticipated that 4Ever was an indicator of more Prince music being released posthumously, given the inclusion of "Moonbeam Levels". Gerald said 4Ever was "obviously intended to be the opening salvo in what fans can expect to be many years worth of posthumous Prince releases".^[6] Mathieson also noted the abundance of unreleased Prince music in his review.^[11]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Prince, except where indicated.

Disc one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Album	Length
1.	"1999" (single version)		1999 (1982)	3:38
2.	"Little Red Corvette" (single version)		1999	3:08
3.	"When Doves Cry" (single version)		Purple Rain (1984)	3:48
4.	"Let's Go Crazy" (single version)		Purple Rain	3:50
5.	"Raspberry Beret"		Around the World in a Day (1985)	3:35
6.	"I Wanna Be Your Lover" (single version)		Prince (1979)	3:00
7.	"Soft and Wet"	Prince Chris Moon	For You (1978)	3:05
8.	"Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?"		Prince	3:50
9.	"Uptown" (single version)		Dirty Mind (1980)	4:12
10.	"When You Were Mine"		Dirty Mind	3:45
11.	"Head"		Dirty Mind	4:45
12.	"Gotta Stop (Messin' About)"		non-album single (1981)	2:57
13.	"Controversy" (single version)		Controversy (1981)	3:39
14.	"Let's Work" (single version)		Controversy	3:04
15.	"Delirious" (single version)		1999	2:41
16.	"I Would Die 4 U" (single version)		Purple Rain	3:00
17.	"Take Me with U" (single version)		Purple Rain	3:44
18.	"Paisley Park"		Around the World in a Day	4:45
19.	"Pop Life"		Around the World in a Day	3:45
20.	"Purple Rain"		Purple Rain	8:42

Disc two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Album	Length
1.	"Kiss" (single version)		Parade (1986)	3:46
2.	"Sign o' the Times" (single version)		Sign o' the Times (1987)	3:43
3.	"Alphabet St." (single version)		Lovesexy (1988)	2:26
4.	"Batdance" (single version)		Batman (1989)	4:07
5.	"Thieves in the Temple"		Graffiti Bridge (1990)	3:21
6.	"Cream"		Diamonds and Pearls (1991)	4:13
7.	"Mountains"	Prince Lisa Coleman Wendy Melvoin	Parade	4:00
8.	"Girls & Boys" (single version)		Parade	3:28
9.	"If I Was Your Girlfriend" (single version)		Sign o' the Times	3:46
10.	"U Got the Look"		Sign o' the Times	3:47
11.	"I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" (single version)		Sign o' the Times	3:41
12.	"Glam Slam" (single version)		Lovesexy	3:30
13.	"Moonbeam Levels"		Previously unreleased (1982)	4:06
14.	"Diamonds and Pearls" (single version)		Diamonds and Pearls	4:20
15.	"Gett Off" (UK single remix)		Diamonds and Pearls	4:00
16.	"Sexy MF"	Prince Levi Seacer Jr. Tony M.	Love Symbol Album (1992)	5:26
17.	"My Name Is Prince" (single version)	Prince Tony M.	Love Symbol Album	4:04
18.	"7" (single version)	Prince Lowell Fulsom Jimmy McCracklin	Love Symbol Album	4:23
19.	"Peach"		The Hits/The B-Sides (1993)	3:48
20.	"Nothing Compares 2 U" (single version)		The Hits/The B-Sides	4:19

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts 2016–2017 weekly chart performance for 4Ever Chart (2016–2017) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[12] 36 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[13] 64 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[14] 11 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[15] 46 Canadian Albums (Billboard)[16] 40 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[17] 10 French Albums (SNEP)[18] 41 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[19] 87 Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[20] 18 Irish Albums (OCC)[21] 15 Italian Albums (FIMI)[22] 64 New Zealand Heatseeker Albums (RMNZ)[23] 1 Portuguese Albums (AFP)[24] 29 Scottish Albums (OCC)[25] 22 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[26] 21 UK Albums (OCC)[27] 21 UK R&B Albums (OCC)[28] 2 US Billboard 200[29] 33 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[30] 4 2019 weekly chart performance for 4Ever Chart (2019) Peak position Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[31] 45

Year-end charts 2016 year-end chart performance for 4Ever Chart (2016) Position Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[32] 150 UK Albums (OCC)[33] 86 2017 year-end chart performance for 4Ever Chart (2017) Position Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[34] 152 US Billboard 200[35] 158 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[36] 63 Certifications Certifications for 4Ever Region Certification Certified units/sales United Kingdom (BPI)[37] Gold 100,000‡ ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.