Private Dancer is the fifth solo studio album by Tina Turner. It was released on May 29, 1984 through Capitol Records and was her first album released through the label. Recording sessions for the album took place at several studios in England and was overseen by four different production teams, including Rupert Hine, and Martyn Ware of Heaven 17. A radical departure from the rhythm and blues sound Turner had performed with her former husband and performing partner Ike Turner, the tracks in the album are a mixture of uptempos and ballads, inspired by pop and rock genres; it also features elements of smooth jazz and R&B.
 
After several challenging years of going solo after divorcing Ike, Private Dancer propelled Turner into becoming a viable solo star, as well as one of the most marketable crossover singers in the recording industry. It became a worldwide commercial success, earning multi-platinum certifications in Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. To date, it remains her best-selling album in North America. Private Dancer produced seven singles, including "What's Love Got to Do with It", "Better Be Good to Me", "Private Dancer", and "Let's Stay Together". Positively received by critics on release for Turner's ability to give energy and raw emotion to slickly-produced professional pop/rock songs, its long term legacy is that the softening of her raw Southern soul style produced a "landmark" in the "evolution of pop-soul music". The album was promoted throughout 1985 in a 177-date worldwide tour entitled the Private Dancer Tour.
 
The album was released on May 29, 1984 and became an outstanding global commercial success. The album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 chart for ten consecutive weeks and remained in the top ten for 39 weeks from August 1984 to May 1985. It was eventually certified 5× platinum in the United States. In Germany, the album went 5× gold becoming one of the best selling albums in history. Private Dancer peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart, where it was certified 3× platinum, remaining on the charts for 150 total weeks. It was certified 7× platinum for the shipment of over 700,000 copies in Canada by the Canadian Recording Industry Association. The album has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.
 
The album produced a number of highly successful singles including "What's Love Got to Do with It" which went to number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there for three weeks. At the 1985 Grammy Awards, Private Dancer won four of the six awards for which it was nominated. No less than seven of the album's ten tracks (nine in the U.S.) were released as singles: "Let's Stay Together", which was a UK Top 10 hit and a US Top 30 hit; "Help!"; "Better Be Good to Me"; "Private Dancer"; "I Can't Stand the Rain" and "Show Some Respect" (1985).