1974 single by Olivia Newton-John
"
I Honestly Love You
" is a song recorded by
Olivia Newton-John
and released in 1974 on the album
Long Live Love
in the United Kingdom and
If You Love Me, Let Me Know
in the United States. The song became a worldwide
pop
hit, her first number-one single in the United States and Canada. The single was first released in Australia as "
I Love You, I Honestly Love You
", as per its chorus. The song was written by
Jeff Barry
and Australian singer and composer
Peter Allen
. The latter recorded it around the same time for his album
Continental American
.
At the
17th Grammy Awards
in 1975, the single won both
Record of the Year
and
Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female
. The composition was nominated for
Song of the Year
but lost to "
The Way We Were
".
[5]
British arranger, keyboardist and composer
Alan Hawkshaw
received the award for Best Arrangement from the American Academy of Arts & Sciences for "I Honestly Love You". He also played on the recording.
In June 2007,
VH1
ranked Newton-John's recording at no. 11 in its 40 Most Softsational Soft-Rock Songs list.
[6]
In popular culture
[
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]
A snippet of
Lynn Anderson
's recording of the song plays over Chief Brody's radio in the second shark attack in
Steven Spielberg
's 1975 film
Jaws
, moments before Alex Kitner and Pippet the dog disappear beneath the waves.
It also appears in the musical about Peter Allen's life,
The Boy from Oz
.
Reception
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]
Record World
said that it has "delicate, lush production" and commented on "its pure emotive qualities."
[7]
Chart performance
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]
The single reached the top three of the
Billboard
Hot 100
in an unusually fast six weeks, and in its eighth week, the chart dated 5 October 1974, it spent the first of its two weeks at number one. Soon after it was certified gold by the
Recording Industry Association of America
, having sold one million copies. It also reached number one (three weeks) on the Adult Contemporary chart
[8]
and no. 6 on the Country chart.
[9]
The song's success also helped propel its parent album,
If You Love Me, Let Me Know
, to number one, on the chart dated 12 October 1974. By contrast, the single failed to reach the top 20 in the United Kingdom (no. 22), although it did chart there in 1983 when it was re-released to promote a Newton-John greatest hits album.
The single ranked number 97 on
Billboard'
s Year-End Top 100 of 1974
? a ranking based on only 11 of its 15 weeks on the Hot 100.
In November 1977, a re-release of Newton-John's original version backed with "Don't Cry for Me Argentina", from her then-current album
Making a Good Thing Better
, reached number 48 during its nine-week run on the Hot 100; the single outperformed the only A-side single from the album (the title track), which five months earlier had stalled at number 87. The re-release of Newton-John's 1974 hit also re-charted on the Adult Contemporary chart, peaking at number 49.
Charts
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]
Weekly charts
[
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]
Year-end charts
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]
|
1998 version
[
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]
Newton-John re-recorded "I Honestly Love You" for her 1998 album
Back with a Heart
, with
Babyface
on background vocals. The new version was released as a single, debuting on the
Billboard
Hot 100
in May 1998. It was her first song to chart in the Hot 100 for six years, peaking at No. 67 and spent 12 weeks on the chart. It reached No. 18 on the Adult Contemporary chart and No. 16 on the Country Music Sales chart.
Charts
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]
Cover versions
[
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]
References
[
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]
- ^
"VH1's 40 Most Softsational Soft-Rock Songs"
.
Stereogum
.
SpinMedia
. 31 May 2007
. Retrieved
31 July
2016
.
- ^
Abdelrahman, Amina Lake (21 September 2018).
"35 Most Romantic Love Songs of All Time"
.
Good Housekeeping
.
- ^
Breihan, Tom (6 June 2019).
"The Number Ones: Olivia Newton-John's "I Honestly Love You"
"
.
Stereogum
. Retrieved
19 June
2023
.
"I Honestly Love You" is an extremely competent pop ballad...
- ^
a
b
Molanphy, Chris (17 April 2021).
"Taylor's Version of Country Edition"
.
Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia
(Podcast).
Slate
. Retrieved
6 February
2024
.
- ^
"Past Winners Search"
.
GRAMMY.com
. Retrieved
4 August
2011
.
- ^
"VH1's 40 Most Softsational Soft-Rock Songs"
. 31 May 2007.
- ^
"Hits of the Week"
(PDF)
.
Record World
. 17 August 1974. p. 1
. Retrieved
15 March
2023
.
- ^
Whit-burn, Joel
(2002).
Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001
. Record Research. p. 181.
- ^
Whitburn, Joel
(2004).
The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition
. Record Research. p. 248.
- ^
a
b
"National Top 100 Singles for 1974"
.
Kent Music Report
. 30 December 1974
. Retrieved
15 January
2022
– via
Imgur
.
- ^
"SA Charts 1965?March 1989"
. Retrieved
5 September
2018
.
- ^
a
b
Whitburn, Joel (2014).
Cash Box Pop Hits 1952-1996
. Sheridan Books, Inc.
ISBN
978-0-89820-209-0
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Olivia Newton-John Chart History (Adult Contemporary)"
.
Billboard
. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
- ^
"CU.S Digital Song Sales: Week of August 20, 2022"
.
Billboard
. Retrieved
16 August
2022
.
- ^
Canada, Library and Archives (17 July 2013).
"Image : RPM Weekly"
.
www.bac-lac.gc.ca
.
- ^
"The CashBox Year End Charts:1974"
. Archived from
the original
on 25 July 2012
. Retrieved
25 March
2022
.
- ^
"Top 100 Hits of 1974/Top 100 Songs of 1974"
.
www.musicoutfitters.com
.
- ^
Erlewine, Stephen Thomas.
"Juliana Hatfield Sings Olivia Newton-John"
.
AllMusic
. Retrieved
23 April
2018
.
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Notable singles
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Awards for "I Honestly Love You"
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