RockOnTheNet.com
presents The Top Pop Songs
Of All Time !
We have ranked the top pop songs that have charted over the past
50+ years on The ARC Weekly Top 40 and Billboard Hot 100, and
come up with
a definitive list that will continue to expand as we add to it,
and continue to modify as new songs chart on The ARC Weekly Top
40.
"I ain't
no diva. I know what I don't want. I know how
to say no. I know how to hire and fire.. very
well. I've learned my craft and I've learned
it well." - Whitney Houston
TIMELINE
Whitney Elizabeth Houston Brown was
born August 9, 1963 in Newark, NJ, the daughter
of Cissy Houston, a successful
rhythm-and-blues backup singer, and a cousin of Dionne Warwick. Since her debut in 1985,
Whitney has risen through the ranks of pop diva
to a level of musical respect few artists can
claim internationally. Whitney has been singing
since her days as a member of the New Hope
Baptist Junior Choir in Newark where she was a
soloist at the age of 11. Her rise to fame began
in her teens in the background as a backup singer
for the likes of Chaka
Khan, Lou Rawls, and
her mother. At the same time, Whitney pursued a
career in modeling. Whitney's first introduction
to a pop hit came in 1984 on a duet with Teddy
Pendergrass called "Hold Me."
September 21: Whitney won her first
Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performance
in a Variety or Music Program (The 28th
Annual Grammy Awards).
During
the year, Whitney also won 6 Billboard Music
Awards (Top Black Album and Top Pop Album for Whitney
Houston, Top Black Album Artist, Top Pop
Album Artist, Top Pop Album Artist - Female, and
Top Pop Artist (combined LPs & singles)) and Rolling
Stone's Top Album of the Year for Whitney
Houston.
December 31: Whitney topped the Billboard 1988
Year-End Chart Toppers as the Top Pop Singles
Artist - Female, Top Black Artist - Female
(singles & albums), Top Black Album Artist -
Female, Top Adult Contemporary Artist - Female,
and Top Dance Club Play Artist - Female.
In
between making music, Whitney formed the Whitney
Houston Foundation For Children. The non-profit
organization works to assist a variety of
children's issues including homelessness, cancer,
AIDS, and youth self-empowerment. Whitney also
won a People's Choice Award for Favorite Female
Musical Performer.
February 23: Whitney topped the
Billboard Hot 100 chart for 2 weeks and Top POS
Singles & Sales chart for 1 week with "All The Man That I Need."
March 2: Whitney topped the
Billboard R&B Singles cahrt for 2 weeks,
R&B Airplay chart for 1 week, and R&B
Sales chart for 2 weeks with "All The Man That I Need."
November 17: Whitney focused her
professional attention to the movies and starred
opposite Kevin Costner in The
Bodyguard. The movie grossed over
$400 million worldwide and the soundtrack became
one of the best-selling LPs of all-time, selling
over 16 million copies. The soundtrack provided
us with Whitney's 3 biggest #1 hits: "I Have Nothing," a remake of Chaka
Khan's "I'm Every Woman," and a remake of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" which spent a
remarkable 11 weeks at #1 on the ARC. "I Will Always Love You" became the largest
selling commercial single in history (an
achievement displaced by Elton
John's "Candle In The Wind
1997").
December 5: Whitney topped the
Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart for 11 weeks, Top
Singles Sales chart for 14 weeks, R&B Singles
chart for 11 weeks, and Rhythmic Top 40 chart for
10 weeks with "I Will Always Love You."
December 12: Whitney topped the
Billboard 200 LP chart for 20 weeks and Top
R&B Albums chart for 8 weeks with The
Bodyguard soundtrack.
December 31: Music from The
Bodyguard soundtrack dominated the charts
throughout the year and the LP became the
best-selling LP of the year with 5.5 million
copies sold in the U.S. within 1993.
December 31: Whitney topped the Billboard Year-End
Charts as the Top Hot 100 Singles Artist,
Top Hot 100 Singles Artist - Female, Top R&B
Singles Artist, and Top R&B Singles Artist -
Female, and with the Top Hot 100 Single, Top Hot
100 Single Sales, Top R&B Single, and Top
R&B Singles Sales ("I Will Always Love You"), and The
Bodyguard soundtrack was the Top Billboard
200 Album, Top Soundtrack Album, and Top R&B
Album.
February 7: Whitney won 8 American Music Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock
Female Artist, Favorite Pop/Rock Single and
Favorite Soul/R&B Single ("I Will Always Love You"), Favorite Pop/Rock
Album, Favorite Soul/R&B Album, and Favorite
Adult Contemporary Album (The
Bodyguard), Favorite Soul/R&B Female
Artist, and the Award of Merit - and was also
nominated for Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist.
November 25: Whitney topped the
Billboard Hot 100 chart for 1 week, the Hot 100
Singles Sales chart for 1 week, the R&B
Singles chart for 8 weeks, the R&B Sales
chart for 3 weeks, and the Dance Music
Maxi-Singles Sales chart for 1 week with "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)."
November 26: Whitney's third movie, The
Preacher's Wife, didn't fare quite as spectacularly
at the box office, but the soundtrack for the
film presented her with an opportunity to get
back in touch with her gospel roots. Tracks such
as "I Believe In You And Me" and "Step By Step" were popular hits.
The soundtrack sold over 3 million copies in the
U.S.
July: Whitney made news while
on vacation. Apparently, she was at a hospital in
Capri (an Italian island) with a small, deep cut
on her face. Whitney and husband, Bobby
Brown were on a yacht vacation of the
Mediterranean. The cut initiated a police
investigation and accounts on what happened were
conflicting. Whitney told authorities she
received the cut when she hit her face on a rock
while swimming. Members of the couple's yacht
crew reported that the cut occurred while on the
yacht. The last controversy of this nature with
the couple was in June, when witnesses reportedly
saw Brown slap Whitney in a Hawaiian shopping
mall. At that time, Whitney stated the reports
were a case of mistaken identity. Whitney's
publicist later reported that Whitney did cut her
face on the yacht when she slipped in the dining
room. Whitney has denied reports about a troubled
marriage or domestic problems: "...he
wouldn't be there if he did."
October 3: Whitney appeared on HBO
with Classic Whitney, a live performance
from Washington, D.C.
November 2: Whitney could be seen in
an ABC presentation of Cinderella co-starring Brandy. Brandy and Whitney demonstrated
that when they combine with Disney and a classic
story, they're a hit. The Sunday night airing of
the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, Cinderella was viewed by over 60
million people in the U.S. Cinderella, starring Brandy in the title role and
Whitney as her fairy godmother, was presented by
ABC's newly revamped Wonderful World of
Disney. The presentation helped ABC get
their best ratings in that time slot in over 13
years.
November: It was reported that
Whitney would be singing at a performance headed
by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church.
Many assumed that Whitney did not know the
specifics of the performance (as part of The
World Culture and Sports Festival), but did agree
to sing for 45 minutes for a seven-figure
payment. Whitney's publicist stated "...that
title sounded good to Whitney, because those are
the types of events she likes to perform at...
She's always attracted to things that are family
oriented." The performance was scheduled for
November 29th at the RFK Stadium in Washington,
and included Jon
Secada as her opening act (Secada
apparently was also unaware of the performance's
connection to Moon and thought it was a Whitney
concert). The event was called a mass wedding for
"Moonies." A spokesperson for Moon's
group stated that every artist booked for their
events knows in advance who is hiring them.
Whitney ended up canceling her appearance at the
Moonie wedding at the last minute due to a sudden
illness.
February 25: Whitney was nominated for
2 Grammy
Awardsfor Best R&B Vocal Performance -
Female
("I Believe In You And Me") and Best R&B Album (The
Preacher's Wife).
Whitney,
however, did not appear at the Grammy
Awards at the end of February. She told Entertainment
Tonight that she was unhappy with the fact
that the soundtrack to The
Preacher's Wife was not nominated in the gospel
category (she was nominated in R&B
categories). She told ET:
"Basically, it was my gospel album and it
was excluded from the gospel category
altogether... I'm sick of work being done and
people not recognizing it."
November 17: Whitney released her
first new LP in 8 years - My
Love Is Your Love. The LP featured a variety of
producers including Babyface, Wyclef Jean, Lauryn Hill, and Missy
Elliott. On her collaboration with Carey,
Whitney told USA Today: "We came
together to sing, we didn't come together to
fight... Mariah and I never had a rivalry because
I didn't know her well enough to have one with
her and she didn't know me well enough to have
one with me... so when we met, we got to know
each other and now we're friends." Whitney
also talked to Newsweek about rumors
that continue to plague her: "No, I'm not a
drug addict, and neither is my husband. If that
were so, you'd get a lot less work out of me. It
would show in the performances and in the
work."
February 13: Whitney topped the
Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks
chart for 7 weeks with help from Faith
Evans and Kelly Price
with "Heartbreak Hotel."
February 20: Whitney topped the
Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales chart for
5 weeks with help from Faith Evans
and Kelly Price with "Heartbreak Hotel."
March: Whitney's publicist
stated that Whitney "regretfully
withdrew" from performing at Sunday's
Academy Awards due to a sore throat, resulting in
Faith Hill filling in for her. But
the New York Post is claiming the
songstress was asked to leave rehearsals by Burt
Bacharach after performance mistakes and
"discombobulated" appearance.
August 6: Whitney signed a new
multi-album record deal with Arista Records worth
over $100 million. In a statement, Whitney said
of the deal: "I am so excited with this new
deal and I'm looking forward to going into the
studio soon to start work on my next album."
October 20: Whitney topped the
Billboard Hot 100 Singles Sales chart for 6 weeks
and R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales chart for 2
weeks with "The Star Spangled Banner."
December: In an interview with
Diane Sawyer on ABC, Whitney talked about many
issues being bantered around in the press:
"I am not sick. Let's get that straight. I
am not sick, OK?" She went on to acknowledge
past use of alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine.
"I don't like to think of myself addicted...
I had a bad habit... which can be broken... I'm
not gonna tell you I'm somebody's junkie.... My
business is sex, drugs, rock and roll. You know?
My friends, we have a good time. But as you get
older and you get wiser... you stop a lot of the
kid stuff. Trust me. I partied my tail off - you
get to a point where... the party's over."
It was
reported that Whitney called the police and had
cut lip and bruises on her face. She told police
that she had a fight with Brown, who had left for
a flight to California. Brown turned himself into
police a few days later and was charged with
misdemeanor battery - Whitney was at his side at
court.
March: Whitney's spokesperson
announced that Whitney had checked into a drug
rehabilitation facility for 30 days. She left
after 5 days.
September 19: Whitney topped the
Billboard the Billboard 200 LP chart for 1 week,
the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart for 1 week,
and Top Digital Albums for 1 week chart with I
Look To You. The LP sold over 305,000 copies
its first week of release in the US.
April: Whitney began her tour of
the UK after several cancellations due to
illness, and was greated with mixed reviews by
critics.
May: Whitney entered rehab
again.
February 11: Whitney died at the age
of 48. Early reports state that Whitney was found
unresponsive in the bath tub of her Beverly
Hilton hotel room. Her death occured on the eve
of the Grammy Awards and Whitney had been
scheduled to make an appearance at Clive Davis'
annual pre-Grammy concert that night. Whitney had
last appeared on stage 2 days earlier joining Kelly
Price at a pre-Grammy party. Whitney had
also finished up a part in the up-coming film Sparkle,
which she co-produced. The cause of death was
later ruled as drowning, and it was revealed that
she had heart disease with chronic cocaine use
being a contributing factor.
July 31: Whitney could be heard on
the soundtrack for Sparkle on the track "His Eye
Is On The Sparrow" and
"Celebrate." Sparkle was
Whitney's last movie appearance.
July 26: Whitney's only child,
Bobbi Kristina Brown, died in hospice care after
being in a coma since being found unconscience in
a bathtub on January 31, 2015. She was 22.
Released: December 10, 2002 US: Platinum Billboard Top
200 LPs
peak: # 9 Rolling Stone: - Entertainment
Weekly: B- Tracks: "One If Those
Days" - "Tell Me No" -
"Things You Say" - "My
Love" (with Bobby Brown) - "Love
That Man" - "Try It On My Own"
- "Dear John Letter" -
"Unashamed" - "You Light Up My
Life" - "Whatchulookinat"
Released: November 18, 2003 US: Gold Billboard Top
200 LPs
peak: # 49 Tracks: "The First
Noel" - "The Christmas Song" -
"Little Drummer Boy" - "One
Wish (For Christmas)" - "Cantique
De Noel (O Holy Night)" - "I'll Be
Home For Christmas" - "Deck The
Halls / Silent Night" - "Have
Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" -
"O Come O Come Emmanuel" -
"Who Would Imagine A King" -
"Joy To The World"
Released: August 31, 2009 US: Platinum Billboard Top
200 LPs
peak: # 1 Billboard peak: # 1 Rolling Stone: - Entertainment
Weekly: B- Tracks: "Million Dollar
Bill" - "Nothin' But Love" -
"Call You Tonight" - "I Look
To You" - "Like I Never Left"
(with Akon) - "A Song For You" -
"I Didn't Know My Own Strength" -
"Worth It" - "For The
Lovers" - "I Got You" -
"Salute"
Released: March 24, 2023 Tracks: "I Go To The
Rock" - "Jesus Loves Me" -
"He Can Use Me" - "Joy To The
World" - "Bridge Over Troubled
Water" (live) - "Testimony" -
"I Look To You" - "His Eye Is
On The Sparrow" - "Hold On, Help Is
On The Way" - "This Day"
(live) - "I Found A Wonderful Way"
- "Joy" - "I Love The
Lord" - "He / I Believe"
Note: Song title and position
links lead you to the song's ARC Weekly Top 40 chart run, LP links take
you to Amazon.com for that LP's info (often
including track listings and track samples), and
single cover art takes you to Amazon.com for that CD single (if
available). Songs charting prior to 1980 have
information from Billboard magazine.
Whitney Elizabeth Houston Brown was
born August 9, 1963 in Newark, NJ, the daughter
of Cissy Houston, a successful
rhythm-and-blues backup singer, and a cousin of 
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