Robbed hit of the week 1/8/24 - Celine Dion's "I Drove All Night"...

 

 

"I Drove All Night" - Celine Dion

from the album One Heart (2003)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #45 

 

This week's "robbed hit" comes from Celine Dion, who dominated the 1990s with her powerhouse vocals and emotion-stirring ballads. But after the turn of the century adult-pop stars saw their star dimming on mainstream radio for a bit - her single "A New Day Has Come" was huge on "easy listening" radio, topping the Adult Contemporary radio chart for 21 weeks, but only managed to climb to #22 on the all-inclusive Hot 100 in the spring of 2002. 

At the beginning of the following year, Celine released the lead single from her upcoming eighth English-language album One Heart. "I Drove All Night" was a cover of the song written by the team of Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly that was originally recorded by Roy Orbison in 1987, but his version wasn't released until after his death in 1992. It didn't make the singles chart in America, but was a top ten success in the United Kingdom at #7. Cyndi Lauper did release her version before that in 1989, and went to #6 on the Hot 100 in the summer of 1989.

So with Cyndi having such a distinctive performance on the song, it was an odd choice for Celine to cover. But maybe not, since it all was a marketing tie-in with Chrysler, who was hocking their cars on TV to this version. The production by Peer Astrom and Vito Luprano sported an electro-pop sheen in its attempt to mimic the hits of Enrique Iglesias and Cher from a few years prior. Celine as usual gives her all to the vocals, but was this necessary? Maybe, maybe not, but at least it brought the song somewhat back to radio...

While Dion's version of "I Drove All Night" climbed to #7 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary radio chart, staying on the list for a half year, it stalled right under the top-40 on the Hot 100 in March of 2003. On the radio, the song also hit #23 on both the Mainstream Top-40 and older-skrewing Adult Top-40 charts, while the dance remixes of the track helped it rise to #2 on their Dance Club Play list. Internationally, the single topped the charts in her native Canada as well as Sweden, Belgium (Flanders), and Czechia, while reaching the top ten in Denmark (#2), Romania (#2), Poland (#3), Greece (#7), Hungary (#7), and Portugal (#9). It also hit the top-40 in Norway (#11), Switzerland (#11),  Italy (#14), Spain (#15), Finland (#16), Austria (#17), Belgium (Wallonia #18), France (#22), Germany (#22), Australia (#22), New Zealand (#23), the Netherlands (#24), and Ireland (#30). The One Heart album, released in March as the single was cresting, peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200, selling two million copies. 

 

The second release from the One Heart album, "Have You Ever Been In Love", was a ballad co-written by Astrom along with Daryl Hall and Eurovision contender Anders Bagge and then-wife Laila Bagge. It only "bubbled under" the Hot 100 at #104, but was huge on easy listening radio, spending 21 weeks at #2 on the Adult Contemporary radio chart. That was followed by "Stand By Your Side", which rose to #17 on the AC list.  Meanwhile, title track "One Heart" was released outside of North America, and was a decent hit, reaching the top-40 in Spain (#2), Finland (#3), Romania (#4), Denmark (#13), Poland (#20), Austria (#25), the United Kingdom (#27), Norway (#28),  Ireland (#30). Sweden (#34), Switzerland (#36), Belgium (#37 Flanders), and Greece (#38). Also from the set "Faith" made the Canadian Adult Contemporary radio chart at #37.

(5/10)

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Here's the remix from DJ Hex Hector that helped "I Drove All Night" climb to #2 on the American Dance Club Play chart in Billboard...

 

 Here's Celine wowing the crowd in Vegas for her residency in 2007...

and lastly from her Taking Chances tour...