Hindsight: Billboard Album Predictions, August 1984

Billboard's own description of its Album Reviews page:

SPOTLIGHT - Predicted to hit top ten on Billboard's Top LPs & Tape chart or to earn platinum certification.
POP - Picks in [this category] predicted to hit the top half of the chart...
RECOMMENDED - Other releases predicted to chart in the respective format; also, other albums of superior quality.

Could cash and/or cocaine incentives have also influenced which albums were featured? Probably, but let's not nitpick. Instead, let's see how the prognosticators fared during the month of August 1984:

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SPOTLIGHT (Top Ten or RIAA platinum status prediction) with eventual chart peak and RIAA status

Title	Artist	Peak	RIAA
Signs of Life	Billy Squier	11	Platinum	✓
Lights Out	Peter Wolf	24	-	☓
Primitive	Neil Diamond	35	Gold	☓

POP category (Top 100 prediction) with eventual chart peak

Title	Artist	Peak
VOA	Sammy Hagar	32	✓
In the Heat	Southside Johnny & The Jukes	164	☓
New & Improved	Jane Fonda Workout	135	☓
Legend	Bob Marley & The Wailers	54	✓
Bullish	Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass	75	✓
Right By You	Stephen Stills	75	✓
In Rock We Trust	Y&T	46	✓
Go Insane	Lindsey Buckingham	45	✓
L.A. is My Lady	Frank Sinatra	58	✓
Metropolis	Soundtrack	110	☓
Sound-System	Herbie Hancock	71	✓
1100 Bel Air Place	Julio Iglesias	5	✓
Electric Dreams	Soundtrack	94	✓
The Blitz	Krokus	31	✓

RECOMMENDED category (Top 200 prediction) with eventual chart peak.

Title	Artist	Peak
The Best of	Kansas	154	✓
The Wildest Wish to Fly	Rupert Hine	-	☓
The Coyote Sisters	The Coyote Sisters	201	☓
Aura	King Sunny Ade & His African Beats	-	☓
Instincts	Romeo Void	68	✓
Ten from Texas	Various Artists	-	☓
One Heart for Sale	The Stompers	-	☓
Get On Your Back! (EP)	The Backsters	-	☓
Walking the Razor's Edge	Helix	69	✓
BTO	Bachman Turner Overdrive	191	✓
Let Them Eat Metal	The Rods	-	☓
The Story of a Young Heart	A Flock of Seagulls	66	✓
Love and Politics	X-Teens	-	☓
Live and Let Dance	The Untouchables	-	☓
Best of, Vol. II	The Lovin' Spoonful	-	☓
Strange Frontier	Roger Taylor	-	☓
Channel	Channel	-	☓
Disguise	Chuck Mangione	148	✓
Bachelor Party	Soundtrack	203	☓
His Best Recordings	Dee Clark	-	☓
Wonder Women, Vol. 2: The History of the Girl Group Sound	Various Artists	-	☓
The Best of	Jon & Vangelis	-	☓
Stranger to Stranger	Industry	-	☓
Twilight of Idols	Fashion	-	☓
Heartland	Roxette	-	☓
Born to Metalize	Various Artists	-	☓

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Final tally for August, 1984: 18 of 43 for a .419 batting average.

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