The album was sonically diverse in ways that reflected its construction: multiple production teams, multiple studios (Farmyard, Mayfair, Wessex, Good Earth, Abbey Road, and CBS), and a singer who was simultaneously adapting to all of it. What unified the record was the voice. Whatever the production approach, whatever the sonic texture of a given track, the same instrument was running through all of it — Tina Turner’s voice, which the Los Angeles Times described as melting vinyl.
What’s Love Got to Do with It was released as a single on May 1, 1984. It debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number ninety-two. It climbed. On September 1, 1984, it reached number one on the Hot 100, where it stayed for three weeks. It was simultaneously number one in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. It finished the year as the second-best-performing song of 1984 on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100.
It was, at forty-four years old, Tina Turner’s first number one single on the American pop chart.
The album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and number two in the UK, spending thirty-nine consecutive weeks in the US top ten. It was certified five times platinum in the US. Worldwide sales eventually passed twelve million copies.
## The 1985 Grammys: Four Awards for the Album That Changed Everything
The 27th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 26, 1985. Tina Turner arrived having been nominated in six categories. She left having won four.
The wins were:
— Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for “What’s Love Got to Do with It”
— Record of the Year for “What’s Love Got to Do with It”
— Song of the Year for “What’s Love Got to Do with It”
— Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for “Better Be Good to Me”