"When Doves Cry" became one of Prince's signature songs. "Spin" magazine ranked No. 6 of all time. "Rolling Stone" ranked "When Doves Cry" No. 52 on its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (second only to "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five among 1980s songs). In 2006, VH1's "The 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s" ranked the song at No. 5. On October 13, 2008, the song was voted No. 2 on Australian VH1's Top 10 Number One Pop Songs countdown. The "80 of the 80s" podcast ranks it as the No. 59 song of the decade.