Billboard’s Greatest Pop Star of 1986: Whitney Houston

(In 2018, the Billboard staff released a list project of its choices for the Greatest Pop Star of every year, going back to 1981. Read our entry below on why Whitney Houston was our Greatest Pop Star of 1986 — with our ’86 Honorable Mention runner-ups, Rookie of the Year and Comeback of the Year pop stars at the bottom — and find the rest of our picks for every year up to present day here.)

Overnight sensation. Pop’s new queen. The voice. Those are just a few of the headline-blaring accolades bestowed upon a 22-year-old Whitney Houston in 1986.

Just two months into the year, the newcomer from Newark, New Jersey had won her first Grammy Award for best pop vocal female performance, female for “Saving All My Love for You.” Also Houston’s first Hot 100 chart-topper the previous November, the stirring ballad was already the second top 5 hit spun off from her self-titled debut studio album, following “You Give Good Love” (No. 3 that July). 

It was pretty heady stuff for Houston, who was signed to Arista Records in 1983 by label president (and industry legend) Clive Davis. Over the next two years, Davis and A&R exec Gerry Griffith tapped producers such as Kashif, Jermaine Jackson, Michael Masser and Narada Michael Walden to craft songs for the young singer’s first album. Released on Valentine’s Day 1985, Whitney Houston initially entered the Billboard 200 at a lowly 166 — but triggered by the crossover success of “You Give Good Love,” the album began its steady climb to a non-consecutive 14-week residency at No. 1, and an overall 162-week chart stand. By the end of ‘85, the album had not only netted Houston Grammy nominations for best pop vocal, but album of the year and best female R&B vocal performance (for “You Give Good Love”).

With her stunning, church-honed five-octave range, pretty girl-next-door persona and musical pedigree (backing vocalist mom Cissy Houston; cousin and pop/R&B pioneer Dionne Warwick), Houston found herself sharing radio space with a formidable contingent of female voices in 1986. The year’s tally of established and emerging talent included Madonna, Heart, Cyndi Lauper, Janet Jackson and Sade. While Warwick claimed top song for “That’s What Friends Are For,” Houston did unseat Madonna for honors as Billboard’s No. 1 pop artist of the year — though she lost the chance for a coveted best new artist Grammy nomination (and near-certain win) when she was deemed ineligible, owing to her guest vocals on separate songs by Jermaine Jackson and Teddy Pendergrass in 1984. 

But by then, Whitney was busy focusing on other things. She further broke down the color barrier at MTV with the fun, vibrant video for her energetic and catchy ode to love, “How Will I Know” (backing vocals courtesy of Cissy), which became the second No. 1 off her self-titled debut in February of 1986. With her final single off the album, Houston ascended the Hot 100 throne once again with the soaring anthem “Greatest Love of All,” originally recorded by George Benson a decade earlier — which became her third consecutive chart-topper that May, and a future pop perennial. 

In a video interview with Rolling Stone in 1986, Houston talked about being inspired by Cissy, Warwick and longtime family friend Aretha Franklin. Recalling a studio visit during a session with Franklin and Cissy’s group The Sweet Inspirations, Houston said, “When I first heard her [Franklin’s] voice … it’s just something she has in the way she makes people feel. I thought if I could ever be a singer, that’s what I wanted to do. That kind of gut feeling where I can make myself feel good and make everybody else feel good.” Houston did just that with her early success — and would continue to, as one of the greatest pop superstars of the ‘80s and ‘90s.

Honorable Mention: Madonna (True Blue, “Live to Tell,” “Papa Don’t Preach”), Janet Jackson (Control, “When I Think of You,” “Nasty”), Prince (Under the Cherry Moon, “Kiss,” The Bangles’ “Manic Monday”) 

Rookie of the Year: Miami Sound Machine

A growing fanbase in Latin America and their home state of Florida blossomed into national stardom in 1986 for dance-pop outfit Miami Sound Machine, and its captivating frontwoman, Gloria Estefan. The group showed the full range of its irresistible, horn-tinged pop via three increasingly successful top 10 hit singles from the previous year’s Primitive Love album: the salsa-flavored “Conga” (No. 10), the bubblegum throwback “Bad Boy” (No. 8) and the heart-rending ballad “Words Get in the Way” (No. 5). After one more album’s worth of hits, the group folded, and Estefan became one of the turn of the decade’s biggest solo stars.

Comeback of the Year: Aerosmith

Having spent most of the ‘70s as rock royalty, lineup turmoil and substance abuse threatened to leave Aerosmith as also-rans for the entirety of the ‘80s. But in 1986, mega-producer (and rap/rock guru) Rick Rubin proposed that Run-D.M.C., then the biggest hip-hop act in the world, team up with the band for a redo of their classic ripper “Walk This Way.” The collab proved a massive success for both groups, cementing Run-D.M.C. as MTV’s first hip-hop superstars, and introducing Aerosmith to a whole new generation of fans — right as a number of their long-haired acolytes were starting to sell out arenas nationwide. By year’s end, the band had gotten clean, and were ready to get to work on Permanent Vacation, their 1987 multi-platinum comeback LP.

(Read on to our Greatest Pop Star of 1987 here, or head back to the full list here.)