Whitney (album)
Whitney is the second studio album by American singer Whitney Houston, released on June 2, 1987, by Arista Records as the follow-up to her debut album. The album features five top 10 hits on the US Billboard Hot 100, which also became international hits. The album's 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 US Hot 100, making her the first female act to achieve four number-one hits from one album.
This article is about Houston's self-titled second album. For her self-titled debut album, see Whitney Houston (album).Whitney
June 2, 1987
1986–1987
- Clinton Recording Studios, New York City
Devonshire Studio, Los Angeles
Hitsville Studios, Los Angeles
Larrabee Sound Studios, Los Angeles
Leed's L'Mobile, Los Angeles
New Music Group Studios, Stamford, Connecticut
Ocean Way Recording, Hollywood
Right Track Studios, New York City
Sigma Sound Studios, New York City
Sound Track, New York City
Soundworks Digital Studios, New York City
Tarpan Studios, San Rafael, California
The Hit Factory, New York City
The Plant Studios, Sausalito, California
Z Studios, Brooklyn
52:48
- Narada Michael Walden
- Michael Masser (For Prince Street Productions)
- Jellybean Benitez
- Kashif
Along with three straight number one singles from Houston's previous album, this gave the singer an unprecedented seven consecutive number one hits, surpassing the Beatles and the Bee Gees, who each had six number one consecutive hits. None of Houston's seven consecutive number one singles were duets, and none were recorded with other major acts. The album Whitney also included the top-ten US hit "Love Will Save the Day".
The album and the first single, "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)", were hits worldwide, peaking at number one in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and several countries throughout Europe. It also became a major hit in various other countries in Asia, South America, and Africa. The album was a global success, and debuted at number one on the US Billboard Top 200 Album Chart on June 27, 1987. This made Houston the first female artist to ever debut at number one in the United States. 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.
At the 30th Grammy Awards, it received three nominations including Album of the Year, with Houston winning Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female for "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)". With sales of over 20 million copies worldwide, Whitney is one of the best-selling albums of all time. On October 28, 2020, the album was certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America, for sales of over 10 million copies.
Production[edit]
The album had a more pop feel than the first album. Narada Michael Walden, who produced "How Will I Know" on the first album, produced seven of the Whitney album's eleven tracks, three of which became number ones on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart in 1987 and 1988. Kashif, the producer of "You Give Good Love", contributed "Where You Are". Michael Masser, who was responsible for several hits from Whitney's debut album, contributed number 1 hit single "Didn't We Almost Have It All" and "You're Still My Man". Finally, Jellybean Benitez produced the top ten hit "Love Will Save the Day".
Commercial performance[edit]
With the highly anticipated release of her second album Whitney,[46] Houston became the first female artist to debut at number one in the history of the Billboard 200 chart (formerly the "Top Pop Albums" chart).[47] 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.[48] 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.[49] 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.[50] 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.[51] In 2020, it was certified Diamond (10× Platinum) in the US, for shipping/ selling over 10 million copies by the Recording Industry Association of America[52][53] The album re-entered the Billboard 200 the week of February 25, 2012, after Houston's death, at number 122. It remained in the chart for 11 more weeks making 86 weeks on the Billboard 200 to date.[54] The album has sold nearly 289,000 copies more since its reentry in 2012. It also sold 806,000 units at the BMG Music Club as of February 2003.[55]
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.[56] Whitney became the first album to debut at number one in both the US and in the UK. 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.[57] 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 United Kingdom.
In Canada, the album topped the albums chart for eleven weeks. It remained at number one in the same weeks as it did in America. It being the third best-selling album in 1987, behind U2's The Joshua Tree and Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet.[58][59] In addition, it peaked at number one in Germany for eleven weeks,[60] Italy for five weeks,[61] Norway for eleven weeks,[62] Netherlands for six weeks, Switzerland for eleven weeks,[63] Austria for two weeks,[64] Sweden for four weeks,[65] Australia for three weeks,[10] New Zealand for two weeks,[66] 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.[67] In 1988, Whitney was certified 6× Platinum 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.[21][22] It was also certified Platinum in Germany, Netherlands and Finland, respectively,[68][69][70] 2× Platinum in Switzerland, Austria and Sweden, respectively.[23][71][72] 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.[73] The album has sold over 20 million copies worldwide.[74]