Whitney Houston’s Eponymous Debut Album Took 55 Weeks to Reach No. 1
It eventually earned the rare Diamond certification from the RIAA for certified sales in excess of 13 million.
Music industry executives obsessed with first-week sales numbers could take a lesson in patience from Whitney Houston. The star’s self-titled debut album, “Whitney Houston,” reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts on March 8, 1986 — more than a year after it was released on Valentine’s Day in 1985.
Whitney Houston is best remembered and cherished for the epic No. 1 singles “Saving All My Love for You,” “How Will I Know,” and “Greatest Love of All,” but their chart success alone wasn’t enough to carry the album to the top.
The album’s late ascent to the charts, 55 weeks after its release, was thanks to Houston’s appearance at the 28th Annual GRAMMY Awards on February 25, 1986. Houston, then 22, was nominated for four awards and took home one for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female, for “Saving All My Love for You.” She garnered a lot of attention during that awards cycle due to her controversial exclusion from the Best New Artist category, having appeared on duets albums by Jermaine Jackson and Teddy Pendergrass.
Whitney Houston would flirt with the No. 1 chart position on and off for the next three months. At the time, Billboard reported that the achievement was just one week shy of the record for a female, then held by Carole King, and was the second-most successful No. 1 debut album behind Australian rock group Men At Work.
The album spent 46 weeks in the top 10 and eventually earned the rare Diamond certification from the RIAA for certified sales in excess of 13 million. Good things come to those who wait.
