Ten Good Reasons is the debut studioalbum by Australian pop star and actorJason Donovan. It was released on 1 May 1989 byPWL (UK) andMushroom Records (Australia). It became the biggest selling album in the UK that year, and yielded three number-one singles, "Too Many Broken Hearts", "Sealed with a Kiss" and a duet withKylie Minogue, "Especially for You". The album was reissued in 2010 as an expanded deluxe edition featuring B-sides and remixes. In 2016, the first CD of the 2010 reissue was reissued again as part of promotion for Donovan'sTen Good Reasons live shows. The album's title comes from a line in "Too Many Broken Hearts".
A review in Pan-European magazineMusic & Media presentedTen Good Reasons like this: "Perfect music for eight to twelve-year-olds. Contains an interesting version of "Sealed With a Kiss" and the slushy duet withKylie Minogue. Massive sales are guaranteed but it remains to be seen how long young Jason will be around".[3]Music Week noted the tracks' similarities, stating: "As the SAW machine chums on, once again the songs remain the same... [They] sound like you've heard them before, but then that's why they sell. This formula is unlikely to fail".[4] Tim Nicholson ofRecord Mirror admitted that the album "has no surprise", but added that "every track takes its lead from what's gone before. It's what's called 'giving the people what they want', and if it makes us happy, where's the harm in it?"[5]
Retrospectively, in 2018, Mark Elliot ofClassic Pop consideredTen Good Reasons as the 15th best album ever produced byStock Aitken Waterman, considering it as a "hastily assembled pop confection".[6]
Ten Good Reasons entered theUK Albums Chart at number two, and then reached number one, staying there for four weeks. When his cover ofBrian Hyland's "Sealed with a Kiss" entered theUK Singles Chart at number one, Donovan became the first Australian male to hold both UK singles and UK Albums Chart number-one positions simultaneously. The album peaked at number three on the European Albums Chart established byMusic & Media and spent 42 weeks in the top 100. In Australia, it peaked at number five on its debut on theARIA albums chart in June 1989, and became the 53rd highest selling album in Australia for 1989.[7]
^"Ten Good Reasons", French Albums Chart See: "Sélection des autres artistes" => "Jason DONOVAN"Infodisc.frArchived 22 June 2012 at theWayback Machine (Retrieved 7 January 2008)
