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Whitney Houston (album)

Whitney Houston is the debut studio album by American singer Whitney Houston. It was released on February 14, 1985, by Arista Records. The album initially had a slow commercial response, but began getting more popular in mid-1985. It eventually topped the Billboard 200 for 14 weeks in 1986, generating three number-one singles—"Saving All My Love for You", "How Will I Know" and "Greatest Love of All"—on the Billboard Hot 100, which made it both the first debut album and the first album by a solo female artist to produce three number-one singles.[5][6]

This article is about Houston's self-titled debut album. For her self-titled second album, see Whitney (album).

Whitney Houston

February 14, 1985

1983–1984

46:54

The album topped the albums charts in many countries, including Canada,[7] Australia,[8] Norway,[9] and Sweden,[10] while peaking at number 2 in the United Kingdom,[11] Germany,[12] and Switzerland.[13] The album was certified diamond for shipments of 10 million units or more on March 16, 1999, and later 14× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America on January 27, 2023.[14][15] With sales of over 25 million copies worldwide, Whitney Houston is one of the best selling albums of all time.[16]


In 1986, at the 28th Grammy Awards, Whitney Houston received four nominations, including Album of the Year,[17] and won one, Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female, for "Saving All My Love for You".[18] For the 29th Grammy Awards of 1987, the album earned one nomination for Record of the Year for "Greatest Love of All".[19] The album has ranked on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in all three editions.[20][21]


In honor of its 25th anniversary, the album was reissued as Whitney Houston – The Deluxe Anniversary Edition on January 26, 2010, an expanded edition with five bonus tracks including the a cappella version of "How Will I Know" that original 12-inch remixes, a booklet on the history of the original album, along with a DVD of live performances and interviews by Whitney Houston and Clive Davis.[22] On June 30, 2020, after the 35th anniversary celebration in February 2020, the album re-issued as a double vinyl including the singles from Whitney Dancin' Special. Also, they released a box set including the 40-page hard cover photo and lyric book.[23]

Commercial performance[edit]

Released on February 14, 1985, Whitney Houston debuted on the Billboard Top Albums Chart the week of March 30, 1985, at number 166.[35] Sales were low initially. However, with the success of the first single "You Give Good Love", the album began climbing the charts and finally reached the number one spot on the Billboard Top Black Albums chart in June and the top 10 on the Billboard 200 (formerly "Top Pop Albums") in August 1985.[36][37] After 55 weeks, successive hit singles and Grammy wins led to the album eventually topping the Billboard 200 album chart in March 1986.[38] It was the slowest climb to the top of the charts since Fleetwood Mac took 58 weeks to reach the top in 1976.[39][40]


Whitney Houston spent 14 non-consecutive weeks at the top of Billboard 200 chart from March until late June 1986, which was short of one week for Carole King's record of 15 weeks for the longest running No. 1 album by a female artist at the time.[5] It was the second-longest running No.1 album among the debut albums in Billboard history, behind Men at Work's Business as Usual, which had 15 weeks on top in 1982–83.[5] The album remained on the Billboard 200 for 162 weeks.[41][42] It also spent 46 weeks in the top 10, equaling Carole King's record with Tapestry; this record was broken in the 1990s.[43] Houston's debut was the best-selling album of 1986 in the United States and the No. 1 album of the year on 1986 Billboard year-end charts, making her the first female artist to earn that distinction.[44][45] She became also the number 1 pop artist of the year, according to Billboard.[46] The RIAA certified it Diamond on March 16, 1999, and later 14× platinum on January 27, 2023, for shipments of 14,000,000 copies of the album in United States.[14][15]


The album was successful worldwide. In the United Kingdom, it peaked at number two on the albums chart, spending 119 weeks on the chart.[11][47] It was certified 4× platinum for shipments of 1,200,000 units of the album by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), becoming the fifth best-selling album of 1986.[48][49] In Canada, the album reached the top spot on the albums chart and remained there for 17 weeks, becoming the longest stay at the summit by a female artist. On March 31, 1987, it was certified 10× platinum for sales of over one million copies, making it the best-selling album of 1986, and later Diamond by the Canadian Recording Industry Association(CRIA).[50][51] Whitney Houston was also the best-selling album of 1986 in Australia, staying at number one on the Kent Music Report albums chart for 11 weeks, the longest stay by a female artist at the time.[52] It was additionally the first number one album by a Black female artist there. In Japan, the album was the second best-selling album of 1986 by a foreign artist, selling a total of 450,000 units, only behind Madonna's True Blue.[53] In addition, the album reached number one on the albums chart in Norway for ten weeks, Sweden for six weeks and South Africa for five weeks, number two in Germany, Switzerland, and number three in Austria and New Zealand.[9][10][12][13][54][55][56] Worldwide, Whitney Houston has sold over 25 million copies, becoming one of the best selling albums of the 1980s.[57][58] According to the Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales data in 1991, as of 2009, the album sold over 1,038,000 copies in the United States.[59]


The week ending of February 25, 2012, following Houston's death on February 11, the album re-charted on the Billboard 200 at No. 72 with 8,000 copies sold.[60][61]

Legacy[edit]

Whitney Houston was the first album by a female artist to be number 1 on the Billboard Year End Albums Charts of 1986.[62] According to Consequence of Sound, the album reached a massive level of cross-over that was unprecedented at the time for a black female music artist.[62] It was the first album by a black female artist to reach No. 1 in Australia when it topped the charts for 11 consecutive weeks.[63] Billboard picked the enormous success of her debut album release on the charts as one of 110 Musical Milestones in its history.[64] It was also the first album by a black female artist to top the year-end charts in Australia and Canada and only the second to top the year-end chart in Switzerland after Tina Turner's Private Dancer, and, at 25 million copies worldwide, remains the best-selling studio album by a black female artist of all time.

Singles[edit]

The label, wanting Houston to have a solid urban fanbase first, released "You Give Good Love" as the first single.[24] The soulful ballad would top the R&B chart and surprise the label by crossing over and reaching number three on the pop chart while the singer was playing at nightclubs in the United States.[79][80] The jazzy-pop "Saving All My Love for You" (originally a minor hit for Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. in 1978 on their album Marilyn & Billy) was released next and really put her on the map. The single was an even bigger success hitting number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[81] It would reach number one in the United Kingdom and was successful around the world.[82] With her first number one, Houston began appearing on high-profile talk shows and became the opening act for Jeffrey Osborne and Luther Vandross. "Thinking About You" was released as the single only to R&B-oriented radio stations. It peaked at number 10 on the Hot Black Singles chart and at number 24 on the Hot Dance/Disco Club Play chart.[83][84]


At the end of 1985, "How Will I Know" was released as the official third single. With its colorful and energetic video, the song brought the singer to the teen audience and MTV, which black artists had found tough to crack.[24] It became another number one single for Houston, topping both the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart and Hot Black Singles chart.[85][86] The final single, "Greatest Love of All", a cover of "The Greatest Love of All", originally recorded in 1977 by George Benson, become the biggest hit off the album with a three-week stay atop the Hot 100. As a result, the parent album became the first debut album—and the first album by a female artist—ever to generate three number one singles.[6] With "Greatest Love of All" and Houston's debut album both at No. 1 on the singles and albums chart respectively, she became the first female artist to have the number one pop single and album simultaneously since Kim Carnes in 1981 with "Bette Davis Eyes" and Mistaken Identity.[6] "All at Once" was released only to Adult Contemporary and Urban AC stations as a radio airplay-only single later in 1986. It received heavy airplay and can still be heard on AC stations. However, the single received an official release in Japan and many European countries.[87] "Take Good Care of my Heart" (as a duet with Jermaine Jackson) was also released as a promotional single in Panama.[88]

List of best-selling albums

List of best-selling albums by women

List of best-selling albums in the United States

List of Top 40 albums for 1980–1989 in Australia

List of diamond-certified albums in Canada

at Discogs

Whitney Houston

at MusicBrainz

Whitney Houston

Archived January 4, 2010, at the Wayback Machine at Entertainment Weekly

The 25 Best-Selling Albums of All-Time: Whitney Houston