| "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byWhitney Houston | ||||
| from the albumWhitney | ||||
| B-side | "Moment of Truth" | |||
| Released | May 1987 | |||
| Recorded | September 1986 – January 1987 | |||
| Studio | ||||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 4:51 | |||
| Label | Arista | |||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Producer | Narada Michael Walden | |||
| Whitney Houston singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" onYouTube | ||||
"I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" is a song recorded by American singerWhitney Houston, the leading single from her second album,Whitney (1987). The song was aimed to bring Houston a more accessible pop sound to compete with her contemporaries after enjoying hits with pop ballads on her debut albumWhitney Houston. The song was written byGeorge Merrill andShannon Rubicam, of the bandBoy Meets Girl, the songwriters of Houston's previous hit, "How Will I Know", and produced byNarada Michael Walden. The song's lyrics depict a woman seeking a special person to "dance in the life with" forever. Houston contributed uncredited lyrics while also receiving credit for being the song'svocal arranger.
Released in May 1987, it received initial mixed reviews frommusic critics, who praised Houston's vocal performance but critiqued its musical arrangement comparing it to "How Will I Know" andCyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun". The song became a global hit, topping the charts in 17 countries, including the United States, where it became Houston's fourth consecutive chart-topper on theBillboard Hot 100, where it's her second most successful chart single.[5] It also topped theBillboard Adult Contemporary chart and became her first number 1 single on itsDance/Disco Club Play chart, while also crossing over successfully on theHot Black Singles chart. It is certified8× platinum by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA). With sales of over 18 million units worldwide, it isone of the best-selling singles of all time.
Both the song and its colorful music video helped tocement Houston as a global icon and has since been cited as one of hersignature songs, while also helping to make theWhitney album one of thebest-selling albums of all time. In 2022, the song's title would be used as part of the title in thebiopic of the singer's life.
"I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" won Houston the 1988Grammy Award forBest Female Pop Vocal Performance, as well as anAmerican Music Award, while producer Walden won the 1988 Grammy forProducer of the Year, Non-Classical. The song has since received reappraisal from critics who have now stated that the song is among one of the greatest songs ever recorded, making several best-of lists, includingRolling Stone, who ranked it among their list of thegreatest songs of all time in its 2021 entry, and was named the best pop song of all time byBillboard in 2023.[6] In addition,American Songwriter named the song the most iconic song to come out of the1980s in 2023, whileScreen Rant listed it at number 7 in its 1980s list, the same website ranked the song as the most defining pop song of all time in another list, both in 2025.
By the late summer of 1986, Houston had achieved global success with her first albumWhitney Houston.[7] Released in February 1985, the album produced four Top 10 singles on theBillboardHot 100, including three consecutive number-one singles—"Saving All My Love for You", "How Will I Know" and "Greatest Love of All"—which had made Houston the first female recording artist to achieve such a feat off a single album.[8] That summer, Houston embarked on her firstworld tour while her boss,Arista Records headClive Davis, began plans for Houston's sophomore follow-up to her landmark debut album.[9]
While Houston's debut had produced a series oflove ballads, Davis sought for a more accessible sound for the follow-up. Noting the success of "How Will I Know", written byGeorge Merrill andShannon Rubicam, of the bandBoy Meets Girl, Davis sought the songwriters again to compose the next big pop hit for Houston. Not long after Houston's debut album became a success, Merrill and Rubicam attended Houston's August 31, 1985 show at theGreek Theatre in Los Angeles.[10] According to the songwriters, as Houston finished "How Will I Know", a star fell from the sky, which prompted them to come up with the song "Waiting for a Star to Fall". Over a year later in 1986, figuring it was perfect for Houston, they presented it to Davis, who promptly rejected it, believing it wasn't suitable for Houston to record.[10]
The songwriters agreed that the song was "a little less universal" and that "it didn't quite have [Houston's] kind of melodies and verve."[11] The songwriters were then encouraged by Davis to come with a stronger song.[12]
According to Rubicam, the idea behind "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" came while the duo walked around their neighborhood ofVenice duringdusk "because there's something about that dusky hour that makes a person restless and uneasy, or a little isolated and estranged from the world in some ways... There's this social pressure, like 'I should be doing something right now.'"[11] That feeling led to Rubicam seeing "a visual in my head about going to the club and finding company. Then it morphed into finding someone to love who would love you back and do that dance of life with you."[11] In another interview, Rubicam explained, "I pictured somebody single wishing that they could find that special person for themselves. It wasn't, 'I wanna go down thedisco and dance,' really. It was, 'I wanna do that dance of life with somebody.'"[13]
While Rubicam's idea carried through as she wrote the first verse, she was stuck on the second, stating "You've already got a structure established in the first verse rhythmically and melodically, so you're sort of doing a crossword puzzle to make the new lyrics fit."[11] Eventually the method proved successful in completing the song. As Rubicam later explained toSongfacts, "that song got written pretty quickly, as I recall. We had a funky little garage studio at the time, and we just hung out in there one afternoon and wrote the song, and I know we tweaked it the next day, and started recording it on our little Teac 4-track deck that we were using."[14] The song was originally written as arock song with Rubicam using a guide vocal.[14] Merrill said the music behind "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" was inspired by thenew wave andsynth-pop sound of the bandMissing Persons.[15]
After completing thedemo of the song "by way of aPPG Wavesynthesizer", said Merrill, who helped to compose the music and write the chorus with Rubicam: "I think when we were writing the chorus, we had a really good feeling. We felt confident and certainly enough so to present it to Clive [Davis]."[11] Merrill recounts running through the airport ofTrans World Airlines to present the demo of the song to Davis.[11] Once Davis listened to the song while flying back to New York, he approved the song.[12] Davis recounts in 2023 that he heard hit potential in the song's chorus but felt there was "a lot that could be brought to the fore", including a new vocal and track arrangement.[11]
Davis decided upon hearing the song that producerNarada Michael Walden, who helped to produce (and co-write) "How Will I Know", should oversee production of the song. Walden admitted he wasn't impressed and that it took a little more persuading with regard to the song's potential.[12] Walden wasn't "too keen" on having Houston record the song, as he felt it was "toocountry and western sounding," stated it "reminded [him] of a rodeo song withOlivia Newton-John singing."[12] However, Walden later toldBillboard in 2023 that he was initially drawn to the "happy and infectious" chorus, and could "hear what Davis was liking [about the demo]", but still felt he needed tofunk it up to make it right for Houston.[11] In a previous interview withMix Online, Walden called the song "definitelywhite pop".[16]
Walden further explained toBillboard his thought process in regards of presenting the pop song toblack audiences, "Because I'm a Black cat, I know Whitney's African-American, and we want our people to be down... the demo was just too poppy and not grounded in the funk which it needed to be the smash for Whitney. Immediately, I'm listening to it and going, 'Whatcha gon' do, Narada, to Blacken this thing up and funk it up, so that the people in the ghetto and the nightclubs are jamming too?'"[11] Inspired by lessons he learned from his mentorQuincy Jones, Walden said "My philosophy is the outhouse bottom with the penthouse view... if it's got nastiness on the bottom, which is really funky, but it's very pretty on top, that combination is kind of irresistible."[11][17] As Walden explained it in his book on Houston in 2012, "it had to move the ghetto as well as theOnassis boat if we were going to create a hit that appealed to everybody.[18]
Walden recruitedRandy Jackson onsynth bass, along with fellow musicians such as Italian guitaristCorrado Rustici, longtime collaboratorPreston Glass, who employed aRoland TR-808 that was used to produce thedrum machine percussion and handclaps that started the song,[19] drummerGregory "Gigi" Gonaway, and Marc Russo to work on the song with him, "lined up all different kinds of keyboards," and employed a very particular approach to recording Houston's vocals.[11] Noting Houston's busy work schedule, especially as she was still on tour at the time, Walden and his team worked around the limitations by recording the entire song first without Houston, so "she could easily envision what the end product would sound like."[11] During this period, he sent a vocal demo of the song by his session vocalist Kitty Beethoven to Houston so she'd get familiar with it.[17]
Since Houston's debut mostly relied on ballad singles, Walden knew that the song "had to prove that she could dominate with uptempo pop, and also fit alongside the most forward-thinking pop auteurs of the time," according toBillboard, noting popular music at the time "had made a shift with synthesizers and drum machines" inspired by theLinnDrum machines artists such asPrince was using at the time, while Jones was busy hiring "the most death-defying brains to makeMichael Jackson's new sounds", noting that the competition "was really high to mastermind a new sound for Whitney."[11] Synth horns were added as a result of an engineer "playing around" with a synth overdub that he requested.[11] "It was synth horns," said Walden, "but with aglizz on it that made it something we've never done before. We glizz the bass, we never glizz the horns!"[11]
The song's recording first took place at Walden's Tarpan Studios inSan Rafael in September 1986 and carried on through other studios including theRecord Plant inSausalito.[20]
When Houston arrived at Tarpan Studios to record the song that December, Walden noted Houston looked weary and had just recovered from abronchial infection that led to the singer canceling some concerts in Australia.[21] The producer asked Houston what song she wanted to record first and the singer responded with recording a rendition of "For the Love of You", originally recorded bythe Isley Brothers.[22] Walden noted that the song was the first time in which Houston vocally stacked herself on harmonies, which led to a change in Houston's behavior that encouraged Walden to approach her with the dance song.[23]
In recording Houston, Walden explained that he had the singer record the end of the song first, to ensure that the most vocally demanding portions of the track had Houston working at full capacity.[11] That way, the recording of the ending would help to "keep the energy high," in which he would then return to the first verse where, Walden noted, Houston "pulled back and used her little-girl voice".[24] Noting Houston'ssoul music background, Walden stated, "now we can get a bit more methodical and technical... I've learned this with soul singers: If you get too technical too early, you suck the spirit out of them."[11] Houston took a few notes from Rubicam's demo and expanded them "into a freewheeling showcase of vocal fortitude",Billboard continued.[11] Rubicam later called Houston a "true recording artist, because she just found her way into making a song her own when she liked it."[11] This method later helped Houston to come up with her own arrangement and encourage her to have a more hands-on approach, in which she composed the ending vamp, "say you wanna dance / don't you wanna dance" following the final chorus, "the ultimate nod to her amalgamation ofgospel, funk, soul and pop" and earning her credit for vocal arrangement.[11][24] Said Walden toBillboard in 2023, "you're hearing anexcited Whitney on [that song]."[11] During some dates of her 1986 world tour, Houston performed the song in its demo form live to give fans a preview of the second album.[25]
According to the sheet music published by Universal Music Publishing Group, "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" is adance-pop andR&B song withmoderate rock elements with a time signature of4
4 common time and a tempo of 119 beats per minute.[26]
The song begins with a series of drum claps and programmed pings before an electro-bass line byRandy Jackson is followed by Houston's "ecsta-sighs" vocals. After "a couple of measures", the song is then followed by Houston's "whoo!", which was compared toMichael Jackson's own non-verbal exclamations.[27] The song plays in the key ofG♭ and stays in that key until three minutes and twelve minutes into the song where it shifts upwards toA♭.[26] Houston's vocal range in the song goes from the low note of A♭3 to the high note of E♭5.[26]
The verses in the song were "obviously underplayed and wound-down from the intro", with a modal shift scene change lamenting a "lonely and disappointed" Houston's "daytime ennui", only for her mood to pick up near the bridge ("And when the night falls/ My lonely heart calls...") before horns "perk up" and a "scratching noise that sounds like a sweater being dramatically zipped and unzipped clears the way for the chorus to take off."[27]
Between the second and third chorus, a bridge that contrasts again from the optimistic tone in which Houston sounds anxious during an unexpectedly tense and minor-sounding moment in the song ("somebody, hooo!") before the optimism picks up again with the repeat of the bridge from the second verse before a dramatic key change.[27]
In their 2017 article about the song,Billboard compared the song's dramatic key change to "How Will I Know", complaining that that song's shift down at the song's critical moment "cruelly robbing it of potential transcendence", while stating "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" was one of the few songs with "truly perfect key changes — modulations that take an already soaring pop song and send it right through the ozone layer."[27]
This is followed by an outro with Houston's exclamations, followed by giggles and vocal ad-libs that Houston herself helped arrange, followed by a bass vocalist shouting "dance!" throughout.[27]
"I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" was sent to radio stations on April 27, 1987, but were rebuffed from playing the new song until the end of the month.[28][29]
According to reports on both the May 2, 1987 issues ofBillboard andCashbox, the label asked radio stations in a letter dated April 21 across the United States to "cooperate in its marketing plan and refrain[ed] from airing the record until Thursday, April 30."[28][29]
In theBillboard report, they compared the situation to when Los Angeles-based radio stationKIIS-FM was sued byWarner Bros. Records for "popping"Prince's "Sign O' the Times", writing "the problem of stations going early on big records has become a major issue for labels. Houston's popularity and multiformat appeal make the issue all important to Arista."[29]
Said a senior vice president of the label at the time, "[the] launching of the new Whitney Houston single is obviously of paramount importance to Arista... with anticipation running so high, it's crucial that no station in any format have, for any reason, an opportunity to jump the gun. Since it's impossible for us to deliver the single simultaneously to every station, this method seems the fairest way to serve both radio's needs and our own."[28]
The same letter invited them to "join stations throughout the country in participating in the simultaneous radio release." It continued, "Your acceptance of the enclosed (versions of the single) shall be deemed to constitute your agreement with Arista Records to not play the song until April 30."[28]
Although it has since been regarded as one of the greatest songs of all time,[27] "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" received mixed reviews from critics upon its release in 1987.[30]
Vince Aletti ofRolling Stone magazine, in a review of the albumWhitney, criticized the song, commenting that "not taking any chances, the songwriters [Merill Griffith and Shannon Rubicam] have simply come up with a clever anagram of their original hit [How Will I Know], and [Narada Michael] Walden has glossed it over in an identically perky style. The strategy is not so different from that behind Hollywood's blockbuster sequels: this is 'How Will I Know II'."[31]
Los Angeles Times's pop music critic,Robert Hilburn described the song as "a deliciously raucous tune with a bit of the synthesizer underpinning and giddy zest ofCyndi Lauper's 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun'."[32]
In his review ofWhitney,Jon Pareles ofThe New York Times gave a negative comment, writing that listening to "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" and "You're Still My Man," another track on the album was like "watching television while someone fiddles with color controls."[33]
On its May 9, 1987 issue,Cashbox called the single "a spine-tingling danceable celebration that shines and glistens. [Houston's] remarkably sexy, supple voice floats atop this Walden production".[34]
In 2006,Slant Magazine ranked the song at #88 in their 100 Greatest Dance Songs, commenting that "with its parenthetical title, gummy bassline, schmaltzy horns, tinkling keyboards, and half-step key changes,[35] [the song] is definitive '80sdance-pop."[3] By 2020, the publication's staff had reranked it to #58.[36]
"I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" was released as the first single from Houston's second album on radio stations on May 2, 1987.[27] It entered theBillboard Hot 100, the issue dated May 16, 1987, at number 38, her highest chart debut at the time, and her highest of the1980s.[37] Six weeks later, it reached the top spot of the chart, replacingfreestyle actLisa Lisa and Cult Jam's "Head to Toe", and becoming Houston's fourth number-one single in the United States, the issue date of June 27, 1987 ― the same day that Houston's albumWhitney debuted at atop theBillboard 200 (known at the time as "Top Pop Albums") the first time ever by a female artist.[38]
It spent two weeks atop the charts and spent a total of eighteen weeks on the chart in its initial run, including fourteen weeks in the Top 40 andnine weeks inside the Top 10, the most weeks inside the Top 10 of any single released in 1987.[39] With the song topping theBillboard Hot 100, Houston became the first female artist to send four consecutive number one singles on the chart.[40]
The song reached number 1 on theHot 100 Single Sales chart for two weeks, and on theHot 100 Airplay chart for three weeks, her longest run at that time. The single also peaked at number 1 on theHot Adult Contemporary and the remixed dance / club version bySteve Thompson andMichael Barbiero became Houston's first chart-topper on theBillboard Hot Dance/Club Play Songs, staying on the top position of the charts for three weeks and two weeks, respectively.[41][42] In addition, it reached a peak of two on theBillboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart (known then as "Hot Black Singles"), the issue date of July 4, 1987.[43] It remained at that position for two weeks, behind "I Feel Good All Over" byStephanie Mills (which never appeared on the Hot 100 at all), and spent 15 weeks on the R&B chart. Paul Grein ofBillboard noted the success of the song on the adult contemporary and R&B charts despite its accessible dance-pop sound "dramatizes how solidly entrenched Houston is and underscores her mass appeal".[44]
On the rivalCash Box charts, the song repeated itsBillboard success, topping its Top 100 Singles chart on July 4, 1987, also unseating "Head to Toe" there. For the June 27 issue, it peaked at number two on its Top 12" Dance Singles chart and peaked at number three for two weeks on its Black Contemporary Singles chart in the same week it topped the Top 100 Singles chart.
On July 28, 1987, the single was certifiedGold by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for shipment of 1,000,000 copies of the single, and re-certifiedPlatinum, making it Houston's first single to achieve that feat, for the same shipment on February 13, 1989, with the change of the RIAA certification criteria for singles.[45][46][a] On June 25, 2025, the song was certified eight-times Platinum in the United States by the RIAA for sales of eight million copies, and is her second highest-certified single after "I Will Always Love You".
It placed at number four on theBillboard Year-End Top Pop Singles chart for 1987 and number two on theCash Box Year-End Top 50 Pop Singles chart.[47][48]
In Canada, the song debuted at 74 on theRPM Top 100 Singles chart, the issue dated May 9, 1987,[49] and reached the top of the chart on July 4, 1987.[50] It was ranked second on theRPM Year-End Top 100 Singles chart for 1987.[51] The single was later certified Gold by theCanadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) on February 29, 1988.[52]
In Europe, it became Houston's most successful single to date at the time.
The song debuted at number 10 on theUK Singles Chart, the week ending date of May 23, 1987.[53] Two weeks later, it reached number 1 on the chart, the week ending June 6, 1987, becoming her second UK number-1 single.[54] The single was certified Gold by theBritish Phonographic Industry (BPI) on August 1, 1987, for shipments of 400,000 copies, and it finished the year as thethird-best-selling song of 1987 in the UK.[55] According toThe Official Charts Company, by 2012, it had sold 760,000 copies in the United Kingdom[56] and was the first number 1 hit to be released with a CD single in the UK.[57] As of 2025, the single has been certified quintuple-platinum for combined digital sales and song stream equivalent units of over 3 million copies, making it Houston's highest-certified single in the United Kingdom.
The single also topped the singles chart in Belgium for three weeks,[58] the Netherlands for four weeks,[59] Germany for five weeks,[60] Italy for a week,[61] Norway for seven weeks,[62] Sweden for six weeks[63] and Switzerland for six weeks,[64] and peaked at number 3 in Austria[65] and number 2 in Ireland.[66] This popularity of the single across Europe led to the song topping theEuropean Hot 100 Singles chart for eight weeks.
It became Houston's second number 1 single on the AustralianKent Music Report chart, staying at the top for five weeks.[67] The song also peaked at number 1 on theNew Zealand Singles Chart and remained there for four weeks, making it Houston's first number 1 single in the country.[68] It also topped the charts inSouth Africa, becoming her first number one single in that region.
Following Houston'sdeath in 2012, the song reappeared on major charts internationally. On theBillboard Hot 100, for the week of February 25, 2012, it re-entered the chart at number 35, her second highest entry after "I Will Always Love You" re-entered at number 7, helping Houston to become one of the few artists to land in the top 40 on theBillboard Hot 100 for four decades or more.[69][70] It was her first top 40 entries on the Hot 100 since "The Star Spangled Banner" reappeared on the chart in October 2001.
The following week, the song reached number 25, resulting in the song accumulating 20 cumulative weeks in total.[71] With "Greatest Love of All" reaching number 36 and "I Will Always Love You" reaching number 3, it made Houston the first posthumous artist to land three top 40 singles simultaneously on theBillboard Hot 100; onlyPrince would have more upon his owndeath four years later.
In the United Kingdom, the song returned to the top 40 of that chart at number 20 for the week ending February 25, her second highest entry after "I Will Always Love You", which reached number 14.[72] Twelve of Houston's songs in total re-entered the charts, resulting in a UK chart record for the singer in achieving the most simultaneous hits on the UK singles chart by a female artist, earning aGuinness World Record.[73] Since 2022, it has re-entered the UK singles chart seven times including six times inside the top 75, usually afterNew Year's Day.
In July 2023, the song amassed one billion audio streams onSpotify, the first of Houston's songs to do so. Houston was only the second female artist to reach this feat with a 1980s single afterKate Bush's "Running Up That Hill"; Houston was also the first female artist established in the 1980s to have a song amassing a billion streams on the platform.[74] "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" has sold over 13.6 million certified copies worldwide and has been certified in thirteen countries.
The music video for "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" was initially filmed at New York City in March 1987 and in Switzerland two months later.[75] For the video, directorBrian Grant, who had previously worked with Houston on the music video to "How Will I Know" in London two years prior, was hired to direct the music video for "I Wanna Dance with Somebody". ChoreographerArlene Phillips, who also played part in the choreography for "How Will I Know" was also hired to provide choreography for the song. Because Houston wasn't known for being a dancer, Grant and Phillips decided to surround Houston with agile male dancers, while also giving Houston minimal choreography steps in a couple of scenes.
The video starts off with Houston having finished a performance onstage in a black and white setting. As she walks backstage afterwards, the scene is intercut with more vivid, colorful images of her as she begins daydreaming. The song then explodes into its beginning, with myriad locations and various outfits by Houston, as dancers trying to impress her as she dances; in between these scenes, the black and white scene of Houston daydreaming backstage would occasionally show up. Towards the end of the song she manhandles a guy, who has a mixture of a look of shock and surprise asking him "Don't you wanna dance say you wanna dance".[76] At the very end, Houston spots friends of her entering a club called "MisteBlu's" and soon rushes to join them, ending the video. Misteblu was the name of one of Houston's cats.[77] Most of the video features Houston in a purple dress and a continuous shot of a purple backdrop that never changes its angle of vision. According to Grant, the intro and subsequent black and white segments of Houston were shot around the time Houston performed at the Montreux Golden Rose Rock Festival in Montreux, Switzerland that May.
The music video made its official world premiere onMTV on May 30, 1987, just weeks after the single was released, debuting in heavy rotation.[78][79] It also played on heavy rotation onBET andVH1 and other subsequent music video stations and shows such asNight Tracks. The music video topped theCash Box Music Video Charts for three weeks, starting in the week of July 18, 1987.[80]
The video was nominated forBest Video of the Year at the1988 Soul Train Music Awards and won Best Music Video at the Garden State Music Awards in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
In June 2022, the video was remastered in4K resolution to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the release of theWhitney album and has accumulated over 532 million views as of November 2025 onYouTube; it is her fourth most viewed video on the platform.[81]
In their Houston obituary in 2012,The Advocate stated "[Houston's] infectious smile and bubbling charisma" in the video was "a time capsule of a good time in the 1980s."[82] In February 2013,Madame Tussaud revealed four wax statues of the singer, marking the first time in its 200-year history that multiple different statues of the same celebrity was created.[83] Of the four, the image of Houston in her light lavender dress and big curly light brown hair from the music video is the main Houston wax statue shown in its Las Vegas headquarters.
Houston performed the song on almost all of her world and regional tours. She premiered its usage during the later shows ofThe Greatest Love World Tour in 1986, before its official release of the following year, introducing the song, along with "Didn't We Almost Have It All", as new tunes from her upcoming album.[25] During her European promotion for a new album from April–May 1987, Houston performed the song on various television series such asDomenica In (an Italian entertainment programme), the Montreux Golden Rose Rock Festival: IM&MC Gala (May 15, 1987), andTop of the Pops (May 21, 1987).[84]
Houston'sMoment of Truth World Tour in 1987–88 had her performing it as the finale song of the tour. She performed it without back-up dancers on the North American leg (1987), and with four dancers on the European leg of the tour (1988). Two different performances of the song were recorded inSaratoga Springs, New York on September 2, 1987, and atWembley Arena inLondon,United Kingdom in May 1988; the first was broadcast onMTV, duringthe 4th MTV Video Music Awards on September 11, 1987.[85] The second was taken from one night of nine sold-out Wembley Arena concerts, aired by Italian channelRai Uno on a special program for her in 1988. On March 2, 1988, Houston opened the night of the30th Annual Grammy Awards singing the song.[86] During the European leg of the tour, she participated in theNelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute Concert and performed the song in front of about 72,000 people atWembley Stadium on June 11, 1988.[87][88]
Houston also performed "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" as part of her set on fourteen-dateFeels So Right Tour inJapan. One performance of the song on the tour was recorded atYokohama Arena on January 7, 1990, and later broadcast on Japanese television. On March 17, she sang the song live onThat's What Friends Are For: Arista Records 15th Anniversary AIDS Benefit Concert, televised onCBS on April 17, 1990.[89] This performance was included in the 2014 CD/DVD release,Whitney Houston Live: Her Greatest Performances.[90]
In 1991, Houston opened herI'm Your Baby Tonight World Tour with "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)". Three different performances of the song were taped and broadcast: the first was inYokohama, Japan on March 15 and the second was inNorfolk, Virginia, the concert itself entitledWelcome Home Heroes, televised live onHBO on March 31 and later released as the video of the same name; the third was inA Coruña,Spain on September 29, broadcast on a Spanish television channel and later featured on the select set-list onThis Is My Life, her first hour-long special which aired onABC, May 6, 1992.
"I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" was also performed duringThe Bodyguard World Tour (1993–94). On the tour, five different performances of the song were recorded and televised; four were on the South American leg of the tour in 1994 ―Brazil,Chile,Argentina andVenezuela ― and one was inJohannesburg,South Africa, broadcast live via satellite onHBO on November 12, 1994, the concert itself entitledThe Concert for a New South Africa. Houston also performed the song at a 25-minute pregame show of the1994 FIFA World Cup Final atRose Bowl inLos Angeles, broadcast in more than 180 countries on July 17, 1994.[91]
"I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" was included in the set-list on two regional tours,The Pacific Rim Tour (1997) andThe European Tour (1998). During theMy Love Is Your Love World Tour of 1999, the remix version of the song was performed as a part of '1980s Dance Medley' along with "How Will I Know". One performance of the song on the tour was recorded inSopot,Poland and broadcast live on Polish channelTVP1 on August 22, 1999. In 2000, Houston performed the song as a similar version to that of her '99 tour at Arista Records 25th Anniversary Celebration, recorded atShrine Auditorium inLos Angeles on April 10, and broadcast on May 15 onNBC.[92] In November 2009, during promotion of her comeback album,I Look to You, Houston performed the song along with "Million Dollar Bill" on the season finale ofDancing With the Stars.[93] Houston also performed the song throughout her final world tour, theNothing but Love World Tour (2009-2010).
"I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" won the award for "Favorite Pop/Rock Single" at the15th American Music Awards on January 25, 1988.[94] Additionally, Houston won theGrammy for "Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female" with the song at its30th ceremony on March 2, 1988, where she received a total of three nominations.[95][96] The music video for the song was nominated for "Best Music Video" at the2nd Soul Train Music Awards on March 30, 1988.[97] Houston won the award for "Best Music Video" for the video at the 1st Garden State Music Awards.[98] In 1995, popular dance producer and remixerJunior Vasquez remixed the song and released it under the title "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Junior's Happy Handbag Remix)". A year later, Houston included the remix in her CD single for her 1996 hit, "Why Does It Hurt So Bad". In August 1996, the song was popular enough to make theBillboardHot Dance Club Play chart, where it peaked at number 11 on September 28, 1996.[99] In addition, the song was inducted into theOfficial Charts Company's Pop Gem Hall of Fame, ranked the 80th song in their list. The song has been considered a staple at weddings. According to theNew York Post, the song was considered the top wedding song in a 2024 poll.[100] In the article, it reported that through the app Breezit, the song appeared 484 times across over 2,000 wedding-themedSpotify playlists, accounting for 24% for wedding nuptials, outdoing other wedding staples, includingABBA's "Dancing Queen" andUsher's "Yeah!".[100]
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Since its release in 1987, the song has been cited as agay anthem by several media outlets and gay organizations.[101][102][103]
In their 2018 article on Houston's iconic status in the LGBTQ community,Billboard wrote how the song was "a queer anthem that has spanned decades".[104]
In 2019,LA Weekly ranked the song as the ninth best LGBTQ anthem of the 1980s and 1990s, tied with another Houston gay anthem, "It's Not Right but It's Okay", writing that the song "really struck a cord with the LGBTQ community during the peak of theAIDS epidemic, when many felt isolated and alone. Also, the gender neutrality of the song made thatsomebody relatable to everybody, no matter who you wanted to dance with."[105]
In 2021,BuzzFeed included the song as one of 69 songs that were "certified gay anthems".[106] A year later, the same publication named the song among 75 songs that could be considered the "gay national anthem".[107]
The song played a pivotal part in a scene from the gay coming-of-age film,Love, Simon (2018).[108] The song was featured on the film'sofficial soundtrack.[109] It also was featured in an episode of the LGBTQ-themed series,Pose.[104]
In 2020, DJ Rotten Robbie named the song as one of the "top 25 Pride anthems of all time" in theChicago Tribune.[110]
During London Pride in July 2022, the cast of the showHeartstopper, including the show's starsJoe Locke andKit Connor, performed the song to drown out a small anti-LGBT protest group.[111]
In 2023,Seventeen ranked it the 29th best gay anthem out of 60.[112]
In 2012, in a reverse of its initial review,Rolling Stone called the song "Houston's dance-pop masterpiece", ranking the song the third best Whitney Houston song of all time from its reader's poll.[113]Forbes ranked it the second best Whitney Houston song behind "I Will Always Love You".[114] On the week of her induction into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame,Billboard ranked it Whitney's best song ever.[115]BET ranked the song fourth place among 40 of the singer's best songs.[116]MTV listed the song as one of her top ten songs shortly after her passing in 2012.[117]
In 2015 the song was voted by the British public as the nation's fifth favorite1980s number 1 single in a poll conducted byITV.[118] In 2016, Adam Theisen ofThe Michigan Daily deemed the song "the greatest song of all time".[119] In 2020,The Guardian ranked the song No. 29 in their list of "The 100 Greatest UK No. 1s".[120] In 2021,Rolling Stone ranked "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" at number 231 on their updated list of the500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[121] In 2023,Billboard ranked the song number 1 on their list of the 500 Best Pop Songs of All Time.[122] That same year,American Songwriter ranked the song as the most iconic song of the1980s.[123] In 2025,Screen Rant ranked the song twice in two lists, ranking it the seventh most defining song of the 1980s and in another list as the most definingpop song of the genre.[124][125]
| Organization | Year | Award | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Music Awards | 1988 | Favorite Pop/Rock Single | Won | [126] |
| Billboard Year-End Awards | 1987 | Top Pop Singles | 4th place | [127] |
| Top Black Singles | Included | |||
| Top Dance Sales 12-Inch Singles | Included | |||
| Top Dance Club Play Singles | Included | |||
| Top Adult Contemporary Singles | Included | |||
| Cash Box Awards | 1987 | Top 100 Pop Singles | 2nd place | [128] |
| Top Black/Contemporary Singles | Included | |||
| Garden State Music Awards | 1988 | Best Music Video | Won | [98] |
| Grammy Awards | 1988 | Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female | Won | [129] |
| Music & Media Year-End Awards | 1987 | Single of the Year | Won | [130] |
| Official Charts Pop Gem Hall of Fame | 2014 | Hall of Fame Inductee No. 80 | Inducted | [131] |
| Radio & Records | 1987 | CHR Record of the Year | Won | [132] |
| Soul Train Music Awards | 1988 | Best Music Video | Nominated | [97] |
| Publisher/critic | Year | Listicle | Rank | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Songwriter | 2023 | The Most Iconic Song of the 1980s | 1 | [123] |
| Billboard | 2021 | Greatest of All Time Songs of the Summer | 104 | [133] |
| 2022 | The 100 Greatest Karaoke Songs of All Time | 22 | [134] | |
| 2023 | The 500 Best Pop Songs of All Time | 1 | [122] | |
| Blender | 2005 | 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born | 275 | [135] |
| Cosmopolitan | 2023 | 61 Best '80s Songs That Are, Like, Totally Bitchin' | 13 | [136] |
| Forbes | 2025 | 50 Timeless '80s Songs That Defined a Generation | 15 | [137] |
| Glamour | 2021 | 51 Best '80s Songs That Stand the Test of Time | Placed | [138] |
| The Guardian | 2020 | The 100 greatest UK No 1s | 29 | [139] |
| Pitchfork | 2015 | The 200 Best Songs of the 1980s | 20 | [140] |
| Rolling Stone | 2019 | 20 Biggest Songs of the Summer: The 1980s | 8 | [141] |
| 2021 | The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time | 231 | [121] | |
| Screen Rant | 2025 | 10 Songs That Completely Define the 1980s | 7 | [124] |
| 10 Pop Songs That Completely Define The Genre | 1 | [125] | ||
| Slant Magazine | 2006 | 100 Greatest Dance Songs | 88 | [3] |
| 2020 | 58 | [36] | ||
| VH1 | 2000 | VH1's 100 Greatest Dance Songs | 86 | [142] |
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The song is Houston's mostcovered andsampled song in her catalog. Among its most prominent covers include versions fromFall Out Boy,[143]Jessie J,[144]David Byrne,[145] andEvanescence.[146]
For their tribute episode to Houston, "Dance with Somebody",Glee cast matesNaya Rivera andHeather Morris covered the song.[147] In that portion of the episode, references to Houston's video for this song as well as the video for "How Will I Know" were used. The song charted inside theCanadian Hot 100 in 2012.[148]
The song was sampled byBebe Rexha and rapperLil Wayne for their single "The Way I Are (Dance With Somebody)", on the song "Dance!" by singerLumidee and hip-hop artistFatman Scoop, by singerNatalie La Rose for her "Somebody" featuringJeremih,[149] and by country artistThomas Rhett for his "Don't Wanna Dance", which interpolated the song's chorus.[150]
In 2019, the English rock bandSleep Token made a cover of the song for the deluxe edition of their debut albumSundowning.[151]
Houston and the song's impact was referenced in the 2022Pink hit, "Never Gonna Not Dance Again".[152]
On September 11, 2025, singerCalum Scott officially released a reimagined duet ballad version of the song with Houston.[153]
|
|
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
Decade-end charts[edit]
All-time charts[edit]
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[240] | 8× Platinum | 560,000‡ |
| Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil)[241] | Gold | 30,000‡ |
| Canada (Music Canada)[242] | Gold | 50,000^ |
| Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[243] | 3× Platinum | 270,000‡ |
| France (SNEP)[244] 2017 release | Gold | 100,000‡ |
| Germany (BVMI)[245] | Platinum | 600,000‡ |
| Italy (FIMI)[246] | Platinum | 70,000‡ |
| Netherlands (NVPI)[247] | Gold | 75,000^ |
| New Zealand (RMNZ)[248] | 6× Platinum | 180,000‡ |
| Spain (PROMUSICAE)[249] | Platinum | 60,000‡ |
| Sweden (GLF)[250] | Gold | 25,000^ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[252] Physical single | Gold | 598,000[251] |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[253] Digital single | 5× Platinum | 3,000,000‡ |
| United States (RIAA)[254] | 8× Platinum | 8,000,000‡ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
From the beginning of the pop-R&B jam "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)"
{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Despite receiving mixed reviews from music critics, the song managed to become a major commercial success.
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