WH1TNEY
Whitney Houston
Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Whitney Houston’s most enduring contributions to pop music history – her 11 chart-topping singles – are celebrated on a new LP. The appropriately-titled WH1TNEY, pressed on grape-colored purple vinyl, brings 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. 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. (As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.)
