This fall, RCA Records will release what it’s calling the first authoritative greatest hits album from the late singer Whitney Houston.
The tracklist, title and release date has yet to be announced, but the Hollywood Reporter says sources suggest it will be the first compilation to span her entire career and include the familiar hit versions of her Billboard chart-topping singles.
That would stand in contrast with Houston’s first, and only other American hits set, “Whitney: The Greatest Hits,” which was released in 2000. While that 36-track Arista Records album offers most of her best-known ballads, it substituted remixes of her uptempo singles instead of the well-known original versions. For example, “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” is represented by a Junior Vasquez club mix, while “So Emotional” was reworked by Dave Morales.
To date, the album has sold 2.6 million copies in the U.S. according to Nielsen SoundScan. This year, it has moved 836,000 — most in the wake of Houston’s death on Feb. 11. It is currently the fourth biggest-selling album of 2012.
In her lifetime, Houston notched 39 hit singles on the Billboard Hot 100, with 23 of those reaching the top 10. Of those, a whopping 11 went to No. 1, including “How Will I Know,” “I Will Always Love You” and “Exhale (Shoop Shoop).”
Outside of America, Houston issued The Ultimate Collection in 2007, which is a more traditional hits album and features 18 songs (the bulk of which were not remixed). On the Official U.K. Albums chart, it peaked at No. 3.
Houston is currently charting this week on Billboard’s tallies as a featured player on the soundtrack to her final film, “Sparkle.” The album debuts at No. 26 on the Billboard 200, selling 12,000 copies in its first week. It includes two cuts by Houston: “Celebrate” (a duet with her co-star Jordin Sparks) and a cover of “His Eye Is On the Sparrow.”
