Whitney Houston makes a triumphant return to the album charts this week at No. 1 in her debut week. Her album, “I Look to You,” sold more than 300,000 copies.
The final count is in, and hitsdailydouble reports a whopping 301,000 copies sold.
And just think: Next Monday and Tuesday, Whitney holds court on “Oprah” for two hours total. She’s on her way to 1 million in sales in less than a month. That’s quite an achievement for a singer who hasn’t had a new release in seven years, was considered “washed up” by gossip naysayers.
Houston can be proud of herself for what she’s done to recover from her personal problems. And then, of course, there’s Clive Davis, Larry Jackson, Richard Palmese and co. at Arista Records, Whitney’s trusted aide de camp Lynn Volkmann, sister-in-law Pat Houston and mom Cissy. It takes a village, after all. Now just think what Clive’s pre-Grammy dinner will be like this year!
Whitney has hits galore on “I Look to You,” but I still say, when they release Leon Russell’s “A Song for You,” it will trigger an avalanche.
Whitney has the jump on Mariah Carey, whose own new album is coming on Sept. 29 with lots of hits included. It’s too bad there aren’t any record stores anymore! What with the Beatles action and these ladies, there would certainly be traffic!
September 8th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Why is it you always go on and on about Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, The Beatles sales figures but you’ve ignored the fact that Michael Jackson has outsold them all put together this year. Jackson has sold over 5 million albums in the US and 14 million globally this year alone and had the #1 album for 6 weeks and had a top 5 album for 10 weeks in a row (in the US). Jackson was thought of in a way worse light than Whitney, yet he has dominated the charts all around the world! Plus he currently has the best selling album of 2009 and has sold more records this year then ANY of the acts you have mentioned. You should write an article on his major success in the charts. It’s not Whitney who is carrying the physical CD sales this summer, the person who has done that is Michael Jackson. Billboard has reported that over 90% of Jackson’s sales are physical CD’s. That’s the man you want to thank for keeping the record stores open.
September 8th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
[...] Despite her comeback performance on Good Morning America last week being less than warmly received (to put it mildly), it seems that there are a great number of people out there who still consider themselves to be die-hard Whitney Houston fans. Although final sales numbers for her latest LP, I Look To You, won’t be out until Wednesday, early reports suggest she’ll debut at No. 1 on the charts with projected sales of over 300,000 copies. [Showbiz 411] [...]
September 8th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
We’ll see…. I see all this as PR machine induced. Her voice was GONE on GMA, it was said to have been long gone by her sister in law, who turned the photos in to the tabs of Whitney’s bathroom during her crack use time. We’ll see if any of this lasts, most of all, her sobriety.
September 8th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
A million albums in less than a month? Won’t happen. Mark my words. Come back to this comment when 4 weeks have passed. Her sales of 300,000 will fall by about 50% the next week. She’d have to retain about 2/3 of her sales to pass the million mark in that short amount of time. True, the Oprah visit will help give her a 3rd week boost, but not enough.
September 8th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
[...] Despite her comeback performance on Good Morning America last week being less than warmly received (to put it mildly), it seems that there are a great number of people out there who still consider themselves to be die-hard Whitney Houston fans. Although final sales numbers for her latest LP, I Look To You, won’t be out until Wednesday, early reports suggest she’ll debut at No. 1 on the charts with projected sales of over 300,000 copies. [Showbiz 411] [...]
September 8th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
I’m not a fan, but I did pick up her album and I must say it is pretty good. Her voice surprised me, she sounds great. Kudos Whitney.
September 8th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Congrats Whitney… She might not sing with the same power and clarity of the 80s and 90s, but she is still better than 99% of the singers these days.Calista just wish her well and stop your pity attacks, you seem like a bitter person.
September 8th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Whitney is blessed to have Clive as a friend and supporter. Without him, she would be in the sewer, because she wasn’t touring. How’d she make her money? Private events? She should kiss the ground he walks on, after destroying her career.
September 8th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Singing ,at her previous level , is about a gifted hearing ability – tru singers call it having an ear. It is your personal concept of sound and your ability to hit a pitch and know it – not everyone can .
It is also about having above average control over vocal cords and excellent lung capacity and diaphragm control .
The ear ,without a doubt, she still has (it’s tough to lose that ) ,the lungs capacity she can probably rebuild. And If she has scar tissue on her vocal cords -that too can be lessened surgically-if necessary .
Assuming she is no longer using drugs – she needs to rebuild her lung capacity/diaphragm. The only way to do that is with strenuous exercise – the fastest way to do that is through running or biking up long hills . As to her vocal cords , assuming they can be repaired and she is willing to do the work – she has to rebuild them – scale by scale and octave by octave – just as all classically trained singers do when they fight back from have vocal cord damage .
Having the ear is the most critical part – so all else is possible if she works her ass off .
She now has to learn to sing -the way those born with a lesser gift develop their talent – that takes time and devotion – which is probably a new and frustrating experience for her .
Where she once could effortlessly hit a pitch strong and true without training – learning to redo it through vocal exercises – takes a lot of will power and patience .
- She’s got a very tall mountain she needs to learn to climb . A big part of what she has to do , is give her brain time to heal from the cocaine – that takes time -
I wish her all the best and may she recover her gift
GF
September 8th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
Roger you seem to forget that Barbra Streisand has her new album dropping on September 29th as well. Her CD “Love is The Answer” is produced by Diana Krall and will artistically rival “The Broadway Album”. This semi jazz flavored CD of classics is being previewed to massive acclaim on the internet and Streisand will be performing LIVE at the Village Vanguard a few days prior to the release.
Oh yeah and Barbra is also scheduled to be on a little show called Oprah too. This time I think Streisand will do more that hold her own against Madonna and Mariah and Whitney.
September 8th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Whitney will always be the Greatest Voice Of All…. She wins the battle and now is back to the ToP where she belongs….
And she sings live!!!