Readers of That Grape Juice know what avid music lovers we are – especially of hits past.
So, as our retrospective features ‘From the Vault’ and ‘TGJ Replay’ allow us the chance to re-spin the gems and jams of yesterday of one artist, our newest feature Chart Rewind – a variation of our current Retro Rewind assay – accedes salutes to an entire era of music history.
This week we’ll reflect on the hits found aboard the ‘Waiting To Exhale’ soundtrack [click here to read our ode to the full album]. A diva-filled, star-studded affair featuring the likes of the film’s star Whitney Houston, Brandy, Mary J. Blige, Toni Braxton, Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Patti Labelle, and many more, the set – completely comprised of tunes written by Babyface (barring ‘My Funny Valentine’) – is easily one of the most successful soundtracks of all time. That point was driven home by the Hot 100 successes of its singles.
As if spawning two #1 singles wasn’t enough (courtesy of Houston’s ‘Exhale (Shoop Shoop)’ and Braxton’s ‘Let It Flow’), the album also boasted two top 5 singles (Blige’s ‘Not Gon’ Cry’ and Brandy’s ‘Sittin Up In My Room’) and the top 10 hit ‘Count On Me’ (Houston & gospel legend Cece Winans). Three of the aforementioned occupied the top 10 concurrently, as seen below on the Hot 100 snapshot from this week in 1996.
Proof of the soundtrack’s enduring success some months after its release, ‘Waiting To Exhale’ would go on to sell 12 million albums worldwide and nab 11 nominations (including ‘Album of the Year’) at the 1997 Grammy Awards. Look inside to relive it all.
