I Get So Emotional: ‘WH1TNEY’ Puts Houston’s Chart-Toppers Together on LP

WH1TNEY
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Whitney Houston’s most enduring contributions to pop music history – her 11 chart-topping singles – will be celebrated on a new LP this summer.

The appropriately-titled WH1TNEY, pressed on grape-colored purple vinyl, will bring together every hit that topped the Billboard Hot 100 between 1985 and 1996. From her self-titled debut in 1985, there’s “Saving All My Love,” “How Will I Know” and “Greatest Love of All”; 1987 follow-up Whitney yields “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me),” “Didn’t We Almost Have It All,” “So Emotional” and “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” (these collective album spinoffs gave her a record-setting seven consecutive No. 1s); then there’s the title track from 1990’s I’m Your Baby Tonight and follow-up “All the Man That I Need”; the juggernaut cover of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” off the soundtrack to Houston’s film debut The Bodyguard, which sat for a then-record of 14 straights weeks atop the chart in 1992 and 1993; and another soundtrack favorite, “Exhale (Shoop Shoop)” from her next film, 1995’s Waiting to Exhale. That’s 31 total weeks of No. 1s on the pop front, although it sidesteps charts like Billboard‘s R&B songs survey (where 1985’s “You Give Good Love” and 1998’s “Heartbreak Hotel,” a team-up with Faith Evans and Kelly Price, notched time at the top) or even the U.K. charts, where the 1988 Summer Olympics ballad “One Moment in Time” surged to the summit.

Nearly 15 years after Houston’s tragic passing at the age of 48, fans still always love her, with smatterings of posthumous projects assembled in the last decade-plus. A new hits compilation reached the Top 20 in the wake of her passing in 2012, and Legacy Recordings has issued rare and unreleased projects related to live performances (including a lauded 1994 set from South Africa), alternate mixes and versions from The Bodyguard, an overview of Houston’s gospel-affected work, a deluxe vinyl edition of debut Whitney Houston and a remix-heavy companion to 2022’s Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody, the biopic starring Naomi Ackie as the singer and Stanley Tucci as longtime mentor, the late Clive Davis. (A remix by Kygo of Houston’s rare cover of Steve Winwood’s “Higher Love” became a club hit in its own right in 2019.)

No CD or digital version is planned, but with a track list this short and nothing rare among the offerings, this one feels less targeted to collectors and more to casual or even new fans looking to discover the power of Houston’s unmistakable voice.

WH1TNEY is available August 7 and can be pre-ordered below. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

WH1TNEY (Arista/Legacy, 2026) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Side A

  1. I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)
  2. Greatest Love of All
  3. I’m Your Baby Tonight
  4. Didn’t We Almost Have It All
  5. Where Do Broken Hearts Go

Side B

  1. I Will Always Love You
  2. All the Man That I Need
  3. So Emotional
  4. How Will I Know
  5. Saving All My Love for You
  6. Exhale (Shoop Shoop)

Tracks A1, A4-5 and B3 from Whitney – Arista AL-8405, 1987
Tracks A2 and B4-5 from Whitney Houston – Arista AL8-8212, 1985
Tracks A3 and B2 from I’m Your Baby Tonight – Arista AL-8616, 1990
Track B1 from The Bodyguard (Original Soundtrack Album) – Arista 07822 18699-2, 1992
Track B6 from Waiting to Exhale (Original Soundtrack Album) – Arista 07822 18796-2, 1995

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Mike Duquette
Mike Duquette

Mike Duquette (Founder) was fascinated with catalog music ever since he was a teenager. A 2009 graduate of Seton Hall University with a B.A. in journalism, Mike paired his profession with his passion through The Second Disc, one of the first sites to focus on all reissue labels great and small. His passion for reissues turned into a career, having written at and worked for all three major catalogue music labels and contributing to Allmusic, Billboard, Discogs, City Pages and Ultimate Classic Rock. He's penned liner notes for Verve, Chess, Mondo and Soul Music Records.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Mike lives in Astoria, Queens with his wife, a cat named Ravioli, twin daughters and a large yet tasteful collection of music.

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