On this day in 1988: Whitney Houston was enjoying her first of two weeks at #1 on the U.S. singles chart with ‘Where Do Broken Hearts Go.’
“Where Do Broken Hearts Go” was the fourth single released from Whitney Houston’s second album, ‘Whitney.’ The ballad was released on February 25, 1988. The song was written by Frank Wildhorn and Chuck Jackson and produced by Narada Michael Walden. Due to Wildhorn’s previous working relationship with Arista Records CEO Clive Davis, he had been approached about potentially writing for Houston. He contacted Jackson, who came up with the title, after which Wildhorn completed the music and lyrics for the song. Smokey Robinson originally wanted to record the song; however, Wildhorn and Jackson held the song for Houston.
Initially, Houston did not want to record the song, feeling there was no special message to convey. In a 2000 interview, Houston reminisced that she “hated the song”. However, Davis believed the song would go to number one if she recorded it, so she agreed. It indeed became a number one, Houston’s seventh consecutive number-one single in the United States—a record for consecutive number-one singles that still stands to this day.
Houston remained perplexed by the song and its lyrics. Wildhorn later recalled that Houston sent him a letter essentially asking: “Where do broken hearts go? I have no idea.”
Here’s a look at the Top 20 on the U.S. singles chart from this very day back in 1988:
1 3 WHERE DO BROKEN HEARTS GO –•– Whitney Houston – 9 (1)
2 2 DEVIL INSIDE –•– INXS – 11 (2)
3 1 GET OUTTA MY DREAMS, GET INTO MY CAR –•– Billy Ocean – 11 (1)
4 5 WISHING WELL –•– Terence Trent D’Arby – 15 (4)
5 6 GIRLFRIEND –•– Pebbles – 13 (5)
6 8 ANGEL –•– Aerosmith – 13 (6)
7 9 I SAW HIM STANDING THERE –•– Tiffany – 9 (7)
8 15 ANYTHING FOR YOU –•– Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine – 7 (8)
9 12 PINK CADILLAC –•– Natalie Cole – 8 (9)
10 13 PROVE YOUR LOVE –•– Taylor Dayne – 10 (10)
11 4 MAN IN THE MIRROR –•– Michael Jackson – 12 (1)
12 10 SOME KIND OF LOVER –•– Jody Watley – 13 (10)
13 17 ONE STEP UP –•– Bruce Springsteen – 9 (13)
14 19 ELECTRIC BLUE –•– Icehouse – 11 (14)
15 7 ROCKET 2 YOU –•– The Jets – 14 (6)
16 21 ALWAYS ON MY MIND –•– Pet Shop Boys – 5 (16)
17 23 NAUGHTY GIRLS (NEED LOVE TOO) –•– Samantha Fox – 9 (17)
18 26 SHATTERED DREAMS –•– Johnny Hates Jazz – 6 (18)
19 11 OUT OF THE BLUE –•– Debbie Gibson – 13 (3)
20 30 I DON’T WANT TO LIVE WITHOUT YOU –•– Foreigner – 6 (20)
