Songoftheday 7/26/20 - I used to think that I could not go on and life was nothing but an awful song...

"I Believe I Could Fly" - R. Kelly

from the albums Space Jam (Original Soundtrack) (1996) and R. (1998)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #2 (four weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 31

Today's song of the day comes from R&B singer/producer/asshole R. Kelly, whose third album R. Kelly had landed his first #1 on the Billboard 200 sales chart. It also spun off three top-5 pop singles with "You Remind Me Of Something", "Down Low (Nobody Has To Know)", and "I Can't Sleep Baby (If I)". While he was touring behind that album, at the close of 1996, Kelly contributed a song to the soundtrack of the semi-animated basketball movie starring Michael Jordan, Space Jam. "I Believe I Could Fly", written and produced by Kelly, the inspirational ballad was his most mainstream "pop" effort yet, and the song transcended the film itself to reach millions of new fans outside the R&B world...

"I Believe I Can Fly" spent a month at the runner-up position on the pop chart in December of 1996. The song topped Billboard magazine's R&B chart for six weeks, while making both the Adult Contemporary (one week at #3) and Adult Top-40 (#21) radio format lists. Internationally, the single was very successful, going to #1 in the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, and Switzerland, and reaching the top ten in the Netherlands (#2), Austria (#2), Norway (#2), Germany (#3), Denmark (#4), Belgium (#5W/#8F), Iceland (#8). It also rose to #11 in Sweden, #17 in France, #24 in Australia, and #34 in Canada. At the Grammy Awards in 1998, "I Believe I Can Fly" won in three categories - Best R&B Song, Best Male R&B Vocal, and Best Song from a TV/Movie. It also was nominated for Song of the Year and Record of the Year, losing both to folk-rocker Shawn Colvin for her anti-abuse "Sunny Came Home" (fitting). The Space Jam soundtrack went to #2 on the Billboard 200, and ended up spinning off four more hit singles. Two years later, Kelly included "I Believe I Can Fly" on his next studio album R..

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And here's Kelly performing the song at the Grammy Awards in 1998...

Up tomorrow: Numerical soul group requests a visit.