Didn't We Almost Have It All

"Didn't We Almost Have It All" is the second single from Whitney Houston's second album Whitney. The song was written by Michael Masser and Will Jennings and produced by Masser. The song was released on August 13, 1987 by Arista Records. It received a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year.

This article is about the Whitney Houston song. For the Grey's Anatomy episode, see Didn't We Almost Have It All?
"Didn't We Almost Have It All"
Single by Whitney Houston
from the album Whitney
B-side"Shock Me" (Special Collector's Bonus Cut)
ReleasedAugust 13, 1987
Recorded1986
Length5:07 (album version)
4:38 (single version)
LabelArista
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Michael Masser
Whitney Houston singles chronology
"I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)"
(1987)		 "Didn't We Almost Have It All"
(1987)		 "So Emotional"
(1987)
Music video
"Didn't We Almost Have It All" on YouTube

Originally, another song was to be released as the album's second single, her version of The Isley Brothers's song "For the Love of You". Arista decided to release "Didn't We Almost Have It All" instead because all Houston's singles had to be original material at this point of her career.[1]

The single was number one for two weeks on the US Billboard Hot 100. A live performance from her September 2, 1987 concert in Saratoga Springs, New York was used as the official video and played on MTV, VH1, and BET. The recorded performance was also televised along with her performance of "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards on September 11. It was widely speculated that the song is about Houston's relationship with then NFL star Randall Cunningham.

Critical reception

About.com ranked the song at number 7 in their list of "Top 20 Best Whitney Houston Songs", noting it as "a big, emotional production that pulls out all of the stops vocally".[2] Rob Wynn of AllMusic highlighted the song.[3] Los Angeles Times editor Robert Hilburn wrote, "Houston's stardom will be boosted most by "Didn't We Almost Have It All", a sweeping Masser-Will Jennings ballad with the kind of big, emotional finish that will make Liza and hundreds of other singers wish they had been given first crack at the song. I'll save my champagne for pop singers who don't add that overblown song to their repertoire."[4] Pop Rescue noted it as "an 80s power ballad", adding that Houston's "vocals take centre stage" on the song.[5] Rolling Stones' Vince Alleti wrote, "Masser reprises the show-tune schmaltz of "Greatest Love of All" in his even cornier "Didn't We Almost Have It All."[6] According to Whitney fanpage, "But there is a cut on the album whose title inadvertently sums up Houston at this stage of her development -- "Didn't We Almost Have It All."[7] St. Petersburg Times editors Eric Snider and Annelise Wamsley described "Didn't We Almost Have It All" as, "an overblown tune co-written by Michael Masser (...) that finds Houston stripped of subtlety - with her wire-to-wire belting, you can just see the fetching songstress looking skyward, arms outstretched."[8] Following Houston's death in 2012, Entertainment Weekly published a list of her 25 best songs and ranked "Didn't We Almost Have it All" at 16.[9]

Chart performance

It debuted at number forty one on the Hot 100 the week of August 22, 1987 and six weeks later reached number one. "Didn't We Almost Have It All" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks, from September 26 to October 3, 1987, where the song became her fifth consecutive number one.[10] The song also topped both component charts, the Hot 100 Singles Sales and Hot 100 Airplay, Houston's fourth song (and fourth consecutive release) to do so. The single stayed in the Top 40 for 13 weeks, and topped the Adult Contemporary chart for three weeks.[11] It also reached number two on the Hot Black Singles chart for one week (October 10, 1987), behind "(You're Puttin') A Rush on Me" by Stephanie Mills.

Internationally, the song hit the top ten in several markets, and reached the top 20 in the United Kingdom (#14); Switzerland (#18); and West Germany (#20).

"Didn't We Almost Have It All" was ranked 22nd on the Billboard Hot 100 year-end charts (1987), and remained in the Billboard Hot 100 for 17 weeks. It was her fifth number one single on the Billboard Hot 100, her fourth on the Hot 100 Singles Sales chart, her fourth on the Hot 100 Airplay, and her fifth on the Adult Contemporary chart.

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