1984 No. 1 Breakup Anthem Revived Iconic Queen of Rock's Career
You know a song is a major hit when it ends up inspiring a blockbuster movie of the same name. Of course, 1993's What's Love Got to Do With It is really about the singer of that song, the incomparable "Queen of Rock & Roll" herself, Tina Turner. But since "What's Love Got to Do With It" was the track that both revived and redefined Turner's career, the name of the film couldn't be more appropriate.
"What's Love Got to Do With It," spent three weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 following its 1984 debut, and a whopping 28 weeks on the charts overall. It went on to win three Grammys for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. But as Turner revealed in the 2021 HBO documentary Tina, she initially didn't want to sing the song. In fact, she thought it was "terrible."
"Did you know that when I first read the lyrics for 'What's love got to do with it,' I rejected the song?" Turner wrote in an Instagram post about the doc. "Crazy to think about that now. Hearing the song in the documentary 'TINA' was one of the most touching moments for me in the movie. It reminded me how far I've come."
Interestingly enough, Turner wasn't the first one to reject "What's Love Got to Do With It." Before that, Cliff Richard and Donna Summer also passed on the song, which was written by Terry Britten and Graham Lyle, according to Rolling Stone. (RS ranked "What's Love Got to Do With It" at #134 on the publication's list of "500 Greatest Songs of All Time," calling it "one of the great comebacks in rock history.")
Turner was at a low point in her career before the song came along; she'd been dropped by her record label and her marriage to Ike Turner had recently ended after years of domestic abuse, as chronicled in the movie.
After David Bowie, who was also signed to Capitol, helped get Turner re-signed in 1983, she released her fifth solo album, Private Dancer, featuring "What's Love Got to Do With It." Thus began a "new, triumphant phase of her career," as TIME put it.
Indeed, while What's Love Got to Do With It" was Turner's first and only #1 hit, she went on to have four more top 10 hits over the next two years, and continues to be considered a legend years after her death in 2023.
Copyright 2026 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
This story was originally published April 15, 2026 at 6:06 PM.