Whitney (album) – 1987
Whitney is the second studio album by American R&B/pop singer Whitney Houston, released in the United States on June 2, 1987 by Arista Records as the follow-up to her best selling debut album, Whitney Houston. The album catapulted her to international fame. Whitney was certified 9× platinum by the RIAA on November 29, 1995.
The album met the expectations of many people and was sensationally popular after its release.[4] With this album, Houston set historic records on the charts. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart the issue of June 27, 1987, becoming the first album by a female artist, and only the fifth album by a solo artist to do so. The album remained at the top for eleven consecutive weeks, creating a record; the most cumulative weeks (25 weeks) at number one on the albums chart by a female artist during the 1980s.
Its first four singles—”I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)”, “Didn’t We Almost Have It All,” “So Emotional” and “Where Do Broken Hearts Go”—all peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making her the first female artist to achieve that feat. Along with three straight number one singles from the debut album, they established an unprecedented seven consecutive number one hits by a performer, surpassing the Beatles and the Bee Gees. As well as in United States, the album and the first single, “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me),” were hits worldwide, topping the charts in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and mainland Europe.
At the 30th Grammy Awards of 1988, the album received three nominations including Album of the Year, winning her second Grammy, “Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female” for “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me).” It has been announced that it will be re-released as a special anniversary edition by Legacy Recordings alongside The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album. The album has sold over 25 million copies worldwide.
With the highly anticipated release of her second album Whitney, Houston became the first female artist to debut at number one in the history of Billboard 200 chart (formerly the “Top Pop Albums” chart). It made her the fourth artist to achieve that feat overall, behind Elton John with Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy and Rock of the Westies, Stevie Wonder with Songs in the Key of Life and Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band with Live/1975–85. On June 27, 1987 the album topped the chart and remained there for eleven consecutive weeks, the longest run among the releases that reached peak position of the year. It also debuted at number fourteen on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart (formerly the “Top Black Albums” chart) and peaked at the number two, staying on the chart for a total of seventy-five weeks. The album was Houston’s fastest-selling album in the United States at that time, with four million copies shipped within the first three months of its release. It was certified 9× Platinum for shipping 9 million copies in the United States alone by the Recording Industry Association of America on November 29, 1995. The album has sold over 9,253,000 copies in the US to date since May 14, 2012. The album re-entered the Billboard 200 on week February 12, 2012 the following day after Houston’s death at number 87 the album remained in the chart for 11 more weeks making 86 weeks on the Billboard 200 to date. The album has sold nearly 289,000 copies more since its re entry in 2012. Whitney was a smash hit worldwide. In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart on June 13, 1987 and remained there for six weeks. There·through, Whitney became the first album to debut at number one in the U.S. and in the UK both. It was 1987’s third best-selling album in the UK, behind Michael Jackson’s Bad and U2’s The Joshua Tree, and was ranked number six on list of “The Best-Selling Albums of the 1980s in UK”. With 1.2 million copies sold there, it would become the biggest selling album by a female artist in the UK, a record that has since been broken. With her debut also selling over a million copies, this would make Houston the first female artist to have two albums sell over a million copies in the UK. With current sales of over 2.2 million, the album was the first album by an African-American woman to sell over 2 million in the UK. In Canada, the album topped the albums chart for eleven weeks, being the third best-selling album in 1987, behind U2’s The Joshua Tree and Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet. In addition, it peaked at number one in Germany for eleven weeks, Italy for five weeks, Norway for eleven weeks, Netherlands for six weeks, Switzerland for eleven weeks, Austria for two weeks, Sweden for four weeks, Australia for three weeks, New Zealand for two weeks, Spain, Finland, Taiwan, and so on. As a result of massive popularity across Europe, the album topped the European Hot 100 Albums chart for eight weeks in 1987. In Japan, with sales of 384,000 copies combined of LP, CD and Compact Cassette, the album became the third best-selling international album of 1987, behind Top Gun Soundtrack Album and Michael Jackson’s Bad.[28] In 1988, Whitney was certified 6× Platinum[A]by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and 7× Platinum for shipments of 700,000 copies of the album by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA), respectively. It was also certified Platinum in Germany, Netherlands and Finland, respectively, 2× Platinum in Switzerland, Austria and Sweden, respectively. In November 2006, Whitney was ranked number forty-seven for sales of 2.2 million, making it her biggest-selling album in the UK, on list of “100 Best Selling Albums of All Time in the UK” announced by The Official UK Charts Company. The album has sold over 25 million copies worldwide.
It should be certified 7× Platinum. According to The Official UK Charts Company, Whitney sold 2,237,603 copies in United Kingdom, until 2006.
Track listing
No. Title Writer(s) Producer(s) Length
1. “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)” George Merrill, Shannon Rubicam Narada Michael Walden 4:52
2. “Just the Lonely Talking Again” Sam Dees Narada Michael Walden 5:34
3. “Love Will Save the Day” Toni C. Jellybean 5:25
4. “Didn’t We Almost Have It All” Michael Masser, Will Jennings Michael Masser 5:07
5. “So Emotional” Billy Steinberg, Tom Kelly Narada Michael Walden 4:37–4:53
6. “Where You Are” LeMel Humes, James Calabrese, Dyan Humes Kashif 4:11
7. “Love Is a Contact Sport” Preston Glass Narada Michael Walden 4:19
8. “You’re Still My Man” Michael Masser, Gerry Goffin Michael Masser 4:18–4:30
9. “For the Love of You” O’Kelly Isley, Ronald Isley, Marvin Isley, Chris Jasper Narada Michael Walden 5:33
10. “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” Frank Wildhorn, Chuck Jackson Narada Michael Walden 4:31–4:38
11. “I Know Him So Well” (duet with Cissy Houston) Tim Rice, Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus