(pictured in 1969) as the single. Initially, there were no plans to release the song as a single on the album. At the time, Arista had begun planning to release Houston's rendition of
the Isley Brothers' 1975
smooth soul ballad hit "
For the Love of You" as the follow-up to Houston's previous hit, "
I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)", which success had been massive and increased Houston's
international status. It had actually been the first song recorded for the album and produced by
Narada Michael Walden. Houston herself had included the song in the North American leg of her
Moment of Truth World Tour. But at the last minute, Davis changed direction. At the time, Houston had developed a reputation as a "covers" act as two of her big hits - "Saving All My Love for You" and "Greatest Love of All" had been renditions of previously recorded material. Davis wanted more original material released and decided "Didn't We Almost Have It All" had the best chance to top the pop charts, especially due to the hit-making potential of Jennings' and Masser's previous works. At the time, Houston had made history as the first female artist to record four consecutive number one singles and the producer wanted the pattern to repeat. "For the Love of You" still managed some success and acknowledgement, later winning Houston the
Grammy Award nomination for
Best Female R&B Vocal Performance in
1988. It also became the
b-side of Houston's follow-up hit, "
So Emotional" in Europe, as well as the b-side of Houston's rendition of "
Run to You" in the US, where it was granted heavy airplay on
R&B radio stations in 1993. It also found moderate chart success in New Zealand, peaking at number 35 in September 1996, nine years after its recording. "Didn't We Almost Have It All" was released in July 1987 just as "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" began peaking on the global charts and featured the
Jermaine Jackson duet, "Shock Me", a
synth-rock tune produced by
Michael Omartian that the pair recorded back in 1984, as its b-side. The dance tune had been first placed in the soundtrack to the
Jamie Lee Curtis and
John Travolta 1985 vehicle,
Perfect, which became Houston's first appearance singing in a film soundtrack.
Critical reception About.com ranked the song number 7 in their list of "Top 20 Best Whitney Houston Songs". Editor Bill Lamb deemed it "a big, emotional production that pulls out all of the stops vocally". Rob Wynn of
AllMusic highlighted the song in his review of the
Whitney album.
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." Pop Rescue noted it as "an 80s
power ballad", adding that Houston's "vocals take centre stage" on the song.
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". 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".
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." In his column post about every number one
Billboard Hot 100 hit, Tom Breihan of
Stereogum called the ballad among Masser's other ballads he gave Houston "the sorts of tastefully sleepy howlers that seem custom-designed for banks and credit-card companies to use as hold music. They’re numb, reassuring nothings, made without pulse or rhythm or urgency. It takes an extremely gifted person to elevate songs like those. Whitney Houston was an extremely gifted person," acknowledging Houston's talent in delivering on the song. Breihan compared the studio version to Houston's Saratoga Springs performance of the song, preferring the latter to the former, writing "Houston uses the song’s melody as a mere suggestion, and she comes up with her own runs and ad-libs and exhortations. You can see her starting to gain steam as the song trundles along, until she’s wailing out her own embellishments: “Didn’t we! Didn’t we!” On the record, she never fully takes flight like that, but she still delivers the song with gale-force determination. If “Didn’t We Almost Have It All” is a worthwhile song at all, it's because Houston made it worthwhile through sheer sense of will, using her vocal firepower to give a sense of drama." a week later, it entered the top 40. On its fifth week, it entered the top ten at number 8. Four weeks later, it reached number one for the beginning of two weeks, from September 26 to October 3, 1987, becoming her fifth consecutive number one on the
Billboard Hot 100, replacing
Michael Jackson's "
I Just Can't Stop Loving You" at the top spot. This accomplishment made her just the fifth artist in chart history to score five consecutive number one singles on the
Billboard Hot 100. Houston also became the first act - and first solo artist in history to have two consecutive number one albums with multiple singles topping the Hot 100 joining the
Bee Gees in achieving the then-rare feat as they had done it a decade earlier with the multi-artist soundtrack,
Saturday Night Fever, and their own
Spirits Having Flown. It was her fifth song to peak at number one on the AC chart and her fifth consecutive release to do so. It also reached number two on the
Hot Black Singles chart for a single week (October 10, 1987), behind "
(You're Puttin') A Rush on Me" by
Stephanie Mills. The song also peaked at number two on the magazine's Crossover Top 30 chart. 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). Due to its overall performance in Europe, the song peaked at number ten on the
Eurochart Hot 100, becoming her third top ten single on that chart. 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. ==Live performances==