Whitney

Authorship Breakdown 0 / 11 self-written

By the Numbers

Whitney is the second studio album by Whitney Houston, released in June 1987 on Arista Records and produced primarily by Narada Michael Walden, alongside Michael Masser and Jellybean Johnson, a commercial consolidation of the debut's formula that became even more commercially successful, making Houston the first female artist to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 and achieving a level of commercial dominance that had not been seen for a female artist since the peak of Barbra Streisand's popularity. Houston did not write any of the original material; the album's song selection was again managed by Clive Davis and the Arista team, resulting in a set of ballads and mid-tempo R&B tracks that maximized Houston's vocal capabilities within the adult contemporary framework. 'I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)' debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and became one of the defining pop singles of 1987, a dance-pop production by George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam that demonstrated Houston's commercial range beyond the pure ballad mode of the debut; 'Didn't We Almost Have It All' and 'So Emotional' also reached number one on the Hot 100. Whitney spent 11 weeks at number one on the Billboard 200 and has sold over 20 million copies worldwide, winning Houston the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female. The album confirmed Houston as the dominant commercial voice in American pop music and one of the most commercially successful recording artists of the decade.

Track Listing & Credits 11 tracks

Songwriter & Credit Spotlight 27 contributors

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