Showing posts with label greatest love of all. Show all posts
Showing posts with label greatest love of all. Show all posts

Friday, August 9, 2013

Whitney Houston: Top 50 Songs

Whitney Houston would have been 50 years old today. Here are her top 50 songs according to the DMDB. The list was originally posted on the blog on February 12, 2012 (In Memory of Whitney Houston. As with most DMDB lists, rankings are determined by chart stats, sales figures, airplay, ranking in the overall DMDB (which aggregates all-time best-of lists), and an aggregate of best-of lists focused just on Whitney Houston songs.

1. I Will Always Love You (1992)
2. I Wanna Dance with Somebody (1987)
3. How Will I Know (1985)
4. Greatest Love of All (1986)
5. Exhale (Shoop Shoop) (1995)

Check out a vocal-only version here to see just how astonishing her singing was when the
“’80s dance-pop cheese” was stripped away.

6. Saving All My Love for You (1985)
7. Didn’t We Almost Have It All (1987)
8. I’m Your Baby Tonight (1990)
9. All the Man I Need (1990)
10. I Have Nothing (1993)

11. Where Do Broken Hearts Go (1988)
12. So Emotional (1987)
13. I’m Every Woman (1993)
14. When You Believe (with Mariah Carey, 1998)
15. You Give Good Love (1985)

16. It’s Not Right, But It’s Okay (1999)
17. One Moment in Time (1988)
18. Run to You (1993)
19. I Believe in You and Me (1996)
20. My Love Is Your Love (1999)

21. Heartbreak Hotel (with Faith Evans & Kelly Price, 1998)
22. Love Will Save the Day (1988)
23. Step by Step (1996)
24. Count on Me (with CeCe Winans, 1996)
25. Miracle (1990)

26. My Name Is Not Susan (1991)
27. Hold Me (with Teddy Pendergrass, 1984)
28. The Star Spangled Banner (live, 1991)
29. Why Does It Hurt So Bad? (1996)
30. I Learned from the Best (1999)

31. Queen of the Night (1993)
32. Could I Have This Kiss Forever (with Enrique Iglesias, 2000)
33. It Isn’t, It Wasn’t, It Ain’t Never Gonna Be (with Aretha Franklin, 1989)
34. I Look to You (2009)
35. All at Once (1985)

36. If I Told You That (with George Michael, 2000)
37. Million Dollar Bill (2009)
38. Something in Common (with Bobby Brown, 1992)
39. Try It on My Own (2003)
40. Same Script, Different Class (with Deborah Cox, 2000)

41. Fine (2000)
42. One of Those Days (2002)
43. If You Say My Eyes Are Beautiful (with Jermaine Jackson, 1986)
44. My Heart Is Calling (1997)
45. I Belong to You (1991)

46. Whatchulookinat (2002)
47. We Didn’t Know (with Stevie Wonder, 1992)
48. Look into Your Heart (1994)
49. One Wish for Christmas (2003)
50. I Didn’t Know My Own Strength (2009)

Awards:

Resources and Related Links:
at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , ,

Saturday, February 25, 2012

In the wake of her death, Whitney Houston surges on the charts: February 25, 2012







In her lifetime (1963-2012), Whitney Houston accomplished more than most artists ever will. She topped the Billboard Hot 100 eleven times, most notably with her record-setting seven consecutive #1 songs from 1985 to 1988 (“Saving All My Love for You”, “How Will I Know”, “Greatest Love of All”, “I Wanna Dance with Somebody Who Loves Me”, “Didn’t We Almost Have It All”, “So Emotional”, and “Where Do Broken Hearts Go”).

During her late ‘80s chart dominance, she ruled the album chart as well. Her first two albums, 1985’s Whitney Houston and 1987’s Whitney, topped the charts for 11 and 14 weeks respectively. That already made her the only female artist to spend more than ten weeks atop the Billboard 200 album chart twice – and then along came The Bodyguard, the soundtrack for Whitney Houston’s first movie star turn. The album pulled off an astonishing 20 weeks at #1, making it the most successful chart run for an album driven by a female artist.



That album was fueled largely by the monstrous success of “I Will Always Love You”, a song which spent 14 weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 and rates as one of The Top 100 Songs of the Rock Era, 1954-1999, according to the Dave’s Music Database book of that name.

As a testament to Whitney’s glory years, that song resurged in the wake of her death, re-entering the charts at an astonishing #7. “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” and “Greatest Love of All” also make comebacks at numbers 35 and 41 respectively. Whitney soared on the album chart as well – Whitney: The Greatest Hits sold 64,000 copies to re-enter the chart at #6. Five other albums re-entered as well. The total sales of 100,000+ albums for the chart week ending February 25 marked more sales for Whitney Houston than all of 2011-12 combined.





Awards:
Resources and Related Links:
at No comments:
Labels: , , , , ,

Saturday, March 8, 1986

Whitney Houston’s debut album hits #1 for first of 14 weeks

Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston

Released: February 14, 1985

Peak: 114 US, 16 RB, 2 UK, 117 CN, 111 AU

Sales (in millions): 13.0 US, 1.2 UK, 25.0 world (includes US and UK)

Genre: R&B/pop

Tracks:

Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts.

  1. You Give Good Love (2/22/85, 3 US, 1 RB, 4 AC, gold single)
  2. Thinking about You (1/11/85, #7a RB)
  3. Someone for Me
  4. Saving All My Love for You (6/29/85, 1 US, 1 UK, 1 RB, 1 AC, gold single)
  5. Nobody Loves Me Like You Do
  6. How Will I Know (11/22/85, 1 US, 5 UK, 1 RB, 1 AC, gold single)
  7. All at Once (3/24/85, --)
  8. Take Good Care of My Heart
  9. Greatest Love of All (3/18/86, 1 US, 8 UK, 3 RB, 1 AC, gold single)
  10. Hold Me (with Teddy Pendergrass) (6/2/84, 46 US, 44 UK, 5 RB, 6 AC)

Total Running Time: 46:54

Rating:

3.958 out of 5.00 (average of 23 ratings)

Awards:

(Click on award to learn more).

About the Album:

While president of Arista Records, Clive Davis saw Whitney Houston performing in a night club in New York and believed she had the potential to be the next big superstar. He signed her in 1983, but it took a year and a half to find songs suitable for her debut album. WK

Even when the album was released, it wasn’t an immediate success. Two singles were released from the album before You Give Good Love caught fire, hitting #3 on the pop chart and reaching #1 on the R&B chart. After that, Saving All My Love for You and How Will I Know topped both charts, finally lifting the album to #1 – more than a year after its release. It was the slowest climb to #1 since Fleetwood Mac’s self-titled 1975 album took 58 weeks to reach the top. WK The former won a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance – Female.

However, once it got there, Whitney Houston hung around, racking up 14 non-consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard album chart. It also landed at #1 in Australia, Canada, Norway, and Sweden. It was the biggest seller of 1986 WK and became one of the best-selling debuts of all time. WK Only Men at Work had more weeks at #1 (15) with a debut album (Business As Usual). WK

A third #1 song, The Greatest Love of All, a Grammy nominee for Record of the Year, helped propel the album to the top. The cover of a song first recorded by George Benson in 1977 was what All Music Guide’s Ron Wynn called “one her few legitimate soul workouts.” AMG Wynn said she otherwise was “an incredibly talented vocalist using only a minimum of her skills.” AMG

The album “marked her shift away from the experimental songs she did with the group Material and a move into heavily produced, very slick urban contemporary and adult pop. Although Houston had learned her craft working in New York nightclubs and singing in a Baptist church in Newark, she was steered into radio-friendly ballads that emphasized style over substance.” AMG

Liam Lacey of The Globe and Mail voiced a similar sentiment, saying “the arrangements frequently border on formulaic,” WK although she also praised “Saving All My Love for You,” The Greatest Love of All,” and “Hold Me” as “some of the loveliest pop singing on vinyl since the glory days of Dionne Warwick.” WK The Los Angeles Times said that “neither the frequent listless arrangements nor the sometimes mediocre material of this debut LP hides the fact that Houston is a singer with enormous power and potential.” WK Rolling Stone’s Don Shewey called her “one of the most exciting new voices in years” WK but noted that many of the songs on her debut “are so featureless they could be sung by anyone.” WK The Village Voice’s Robert Christgau called the songs “schlock” but complimented Whitney’s “sweet, statuesque voice.” WK

The album has been viewed as what All Music Guide’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine called “the foundation of diva-pop.” WK The Washington Post’s Allison Stewart said the album “provided a blueprint for the pop/dance/R&B-melding careers of Mariah Carey and others.” WK

Notes:

A deluxe anniversary edition was released in 2010 which added five bonus tracks, including an a cappella version of “How Will I Know,” the original 12-inch remixes, and a DVD of live performances and interviews.

Resources and Related Links:

Other Related DMDB Pages:

First posted 3/25/2008; last updated 2/28/2024.

at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)