Whitney (album)

This article is about Houston's self-titled second album. For her self-titled debut album, see Whitney Houston (album).
Whitney
Studio album by
Whitney Houston
ReleasedJune 2, 1987
RecordedSeptember 1986–February 1987[1]
Studio
  • Clinton Recording (New York City)
  • Devonshire (Los Angeles)
  • Hitsville U.S.A. (Hollywood)
  • Larrabee East (Los Angeles)
  • Leed's L'Mobile (Los Angeles)
  • New Music Group, (Stamford)
  • Ocean Way, (Hollywood)
  • Right Track (NYC)
  • Sigma Sound (NYC)
  • Sound Track (NYC)
  • Soundworks Digital (NYC)
  • Tarpan (San Rafael)
  • Hit Factory (NYC)
  • The Plant (Sausalito)
  • Z Studios (NYC)
Genre
Length52:48
LabelArista
Producer
  • Narada Michael Walden
  • Michael Masser
  • Jellybean Benitez
  • Kashif
Whitney Houston chronology
Whitney Dancin' Special
(1986) 		Whitney
(1987) 		I'm Your Baby Tonight
(1990)
Singles from Whitney
  1. "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)"
    Released: May 1987
  2. "Didn't We Almost Have It All"
    Released: July 1987
  3. "So Emotional"
    Released: October 1987
  4. "Where Do Broken Hearts Go"
    Released: February 1988
  5. "Love Will Save the Day"
    Released: May 1988
  6. "I Know Him So Well"
    Released: November 1988 (EU)

Whitney is the second studio album by American singer Whitney Houston. It was released on June 2, 1987,[5] by Arista Records. The follow-up to her debut album, production on the album aimed at reaching the same audience as her debut, which also mostly featured ballads and love songs while including several upbeat songs. Mostly produced by Narada Michael Walden and Michael Masser, plus contributions from Kashif and John "Jellybean" Benitez, and featuring guest output from musicians such as Kenny G and Roy Ayers, the album became an immediate hit upon its release.

In the United States, the album became just the fifth album in Billboard 200 history to debut at number one on the chart, and the first by a female artist to accomplish this. It spent eleven weeks atop the chart, marking the first time since Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life that an album managed to linger atop the chart after its debut. Along with her debut topping the charts for 14 weeks, Houston set a 1980s chart record for a woman by accumulating 25 weeks at number one on the Billboard 200. Internationally, the album topped the record charts in thirteen other countries including the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Canada, Germany, and several countries throughout Europe, while also finding success in Asia, South America and Africa, becoming a global success. In addition, it was the first album by a solo black female artist to top the albums chart in the United Kingdom. It has sold an estimated 20 million copies worldwide,[6] becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time. In October 2020, Houston set another sales record when the album was certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America, for sales of over 10 million copies in the United States, making her the first black artist to score three diamond albums in the United States. Whitney cemented her as an international icon.

In the US, the album spawned five top ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100, all of which became international hit singles. 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 chart, breaking a record Houston set with her previous album, making her the first female artist to score four number one singles off from one album. Along with three straight number one singles from Houston's debut, the latter four helped Houston to earn an all-time chart record of seven consecutive number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100, a record the singer still maintains. The album's fifth single, "Love Will Save the Day", reached the top ten on the same chart, while a sixth single, a cover of "I Know Him So Well", a duet sung with mother Cissy Houston, became a European market-only release in late 1988.

The album won Houston several industry awards including two NARM Awards, four American Music Awards, a Soul Train Music Award and four Grammy Award nominations including Album of the Year at the 30th Annual Grammy Awards while the album's hit single "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" won the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female.

  1. ^ Williams, Chris (August 17, 2011). "Whitney Houston's Whitney LP revisited with producer Narada Michael Walden". Soul Culture. Archived from the original on July 24, 2014. Retrieved August 31, 2024. Between the months of September 1986 and February 1987 Whitney was recorded at Tarpan Studios in San Rafael, California and various studios in New York, New York
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference whitney nytimes review was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Himes, Geoffrey (June 6, 1987). "'Whitney' Talent Wasted on Tired Trivial". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 8, 2024. Her album is a state-of-the-art sample of 1987 dance music.
  4. ^ Browne, David (November 23, 1990). "I'm Your Baby Tonight Review". EW.com. Archived from the original on February 16, 2012. Retrieved May 31, 2024. On her first two records, a battery of producers and writers dolled up the young thoroughbred and spoon-fed her generic pop-R&B.
  5. ^ "Whitney". BPI. Archived from the original on February 20, 2023. Retrieved August 4, 2024.
  6. ^ "Whitney Houston's Second Studio Album Turned 29 Yesterday". WhitneyHouston.com. June 3, 2016. Retrieved March 31, 2025.
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