France Album Sales: Whitney Houston
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Whitney Houston (1985) Era
As she ended to prove in mid-1985 her enormous appeal in the US, Whitney Houston started to promote her eponymous album worldwide in by Christmas 1985 in UK and in early 1986 in France.
Her first TV appearance in France happened in April 5 1986. Her lead single her Saving All My Love For You had entered the Singles Chart two weeks earlier at #50 but then dropped out the week preceding that promotion. The TV interview was live on Antenne 2 saturday night show with Michel Drucker, the hottest TV primetime of the 80s. Whitney Houston was invited as was legendary French singer Serge Gainsbourg. The young and shy American artist was suddenly shocked by the cult French artist – and occasionally drunk – who textually said “I want to fuck her”. This moment remains one of the biggest oops moment of France TV ever and various video uploads of it have add for more than 2 million views on YouTube. Talk about a way of starting a career in a new country.
The following week her debut single re-entered and ultimately peaked at #11, a very high result for a black music newcomer in France. The album Whitney Houston also appeared at #13 in May monthly chart along with the single peak. It was the only time the album charted, but it was mostly due to the difficulty to get into the Monthly Top 20 chart in this era. Around October 1986 it went Gold, selling 120,000 up to the release of follow up album in June 1987.
In spite of not charting initially, all three singles Greatest Love Of All (#70), How Will I Know (#111) and All At Once (#132) were among the 18 singles that ranked in Singles chart thanks to digital sales following her 2012 passing.
Top 3 Most Streamed Tracks on Spotify
- How Will I Know – 30,926,000
- Greatest Love Of All – 19,218,000
- Saving All My Love For You – 13,069,000