Whitney Houston has been viewed as one of the greatest singers of all time. She released her debut album 40 years ago today. You read that correctly, Whitney Houston debut album turns 40 years old today. The title of the album was Whitney Houston, and it got a slow commercial response at the beginning. By mid-1985, it began to get more popular and picked up steam. The project topped the Billboard 200 for 14 weeks in 1986. Out of her seven singles, three of them were number one. Saving All My Love for You, How Will I Know, and Greatest Love of All. This was the first debut and first album by a solo female artist to do that. In 1986, at the 28th Grammy Awards, Whitney Houston received four nominations, including Album of the Year. She won for Best Pop Vocal Performance by female for Saving All My Love for You.
Hold Me was the first single from the album and it was released back in May of 1984. It was a duet with Teddy Pendergrass, and it also appeared on his Love Language album. The first official single from Whitney Houston was You Give Good Love. The single was released a week after the album dropped. The platinum single was a big hit for Whitney Houston. The song won Favorite Soul/R&B Single at the 13th American Music Awards. It was nominated for Best R&B Song and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance at the 28th Grammy Awards in 1986.All at Once was released as a single in the European market. Saving All My Love for You become the second official single from the album. The platinum selling single is one of Whitney Houston’s greatest songs. The song became a global success and represented a commercial breakthrough for Houston.
At the 28th Annual Grammy Awards, it won for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Whitney also won the American Music Award for Favorite R&B/Soul Video for the song. Saving All My Love for You has been on several greatest songs list throughout the years. Thinking About You was the next single and it was a good song, but didn’t sell like the previous ones. How Will I Know was the next single and it dropped in late November of 1985. It became Houston’s second number-one single on the US Billboard Hot 100 in February 1986. How Will I Know sold over two million copies and was nominated for a couple awards. It went on to win Best Female Video at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards. The final single from Whitney Houston came in March of 1986. The Greatest Love of All was the single and it’s another classic.
The Greatest Love of All is another signature Whitney Houston track. Whitney Houston performed on every talk show and award show throughout 1985 and 1986 due to this album. Whitney Houston’s debut album sold over 14 million records in the United States alone. The total worldwide was well over 25 million copies. This album is one of my favorite projects ever. Unfortunately, Whitney Houston passed away in February of 2012. Despite being gone, Whitney Houston will never be forgotten. In2023, Rolling Stone ranked Whitney Houston as the second greatest singer of all time. Check out the top 5 tracks from Whitney Houston’s debut album. After that, check out the track listing and stream link to the debut album.
Top 5 Tracks: You Give Good Love, Saving All My Love for You, How Will I Know, Greatest Love of All, and All at Once
Whitney Houston Track Listing
- You Give Good Love
- Thinking About You
- Someone for Me
- Saving All My Love for You
- Nobody Loves Me Like You Do (Duet with Jermaine Jackson)
- How Will I Know
- All at Once
- Take Good Care of My Heart (Duet with Jermaine Jackson)
- Greatest Love of All
- Hold Me (Duet with Teddy Pendergrass)
What do you remember about the Whitney Houston album? What’s your favorite track or tracks off the album? Leave some feedback below about the album or anything related to Whitney Houston.
