I Just Called to Say I Love You

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"I Just Called to Say I Love You"
StevieWonderIJustCalledToSayILoveYou7InchFrenchSingleCover.jpg
French release sleeve
Single by Stevie Wonder
from the album The Woman in Red
B-side "Instrumental"
ReleasedAugust 1, 1984 [1]
Genre R&B [2]
Length6:17(album version)
4:25 (single version)
6:44 (12" version)
Label Motown – MOT-684
Songwriter(s) Stevie Wonder [3]
Producer(s) Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder singles chronology
"Front Line"
(1983)		"I Just Called to Say I Love You"
(1984)		"Love Light in Flight"
(1984)
Official audio
"I Just Called To Say I Love You" on YouTube

"I Just Called to Say I Love You" is a ballad written, produced, and performed by American R&B singer and songwriter Stevie Wonder. [3] It was a major international hit, and remains Wonder's best-selling single to date, having topped a record 19 charts.

Contents

The song was the lead single from the 1984 soundtrack album The Woman in Red , [3] along with two other songs by Wonder, and scored number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks from October 13 to 27, 1984. It also became his tenth number-one on the R&B chart, and his fourth on the adult contemporary chart; it spent three weeks at the top of both charts, and for the same weeks as on the Hot 100. [4] The song also became Wonder's only solo UK number-one success, staying at the top for six weeks, in the process also becoming Motown Records' biggest-selling single in the UK, a distinction it still held as of 2018. [3] In addition, the song won both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Original Song. [3] The song also received three nominations at the 27th Grammy Awards for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

Composition

The song's lyrics have Wonder surprising someone in his life with an unexpected telephone call. Throughout the song, Wonder lists various events in a yearly calendar that might prompt someone to call a loved one. Yet he explains no special annual event such as New Year's Day or Halloween spurred the call. He simply wants to say that he loves them from the bottom of his heart. Cash Box described the song as "a tender and romantic love letter which captures the ever-present and Wonderous feeling of love and optimism." [5]

There was a dispute among Wonder, his former writing partner Lee Garrett, and Lloyd Chiate as to who actually wrote the song. Chiate claimed in a lawsuit that he and Garrett wrote the song years before its 1984 release. However, a jury ultimately sided with Wonder. [6]

Personnel

Mixing at Frank Farian's FAR STUDIOS in Germany, 1984 Ralph Ruppert with Stevie Wonder - Gary Olazabal and Peter Joiko at FRANK FARIAN Studios Rosbach - Germany 1984.jpg
Mixing at Frank Farian's FAR STUDIOS in Germany, 1984

Music video

A music video of the song has Wonder, during a concert, singing into a telephone receiver while seated at a piano. [7] By the end of the song, he and the audience are standing and swaying to the music. The video features concert footage recorded in Rotterdam Ahoy, in the Netherlands, on August 10, 1984. [8]

Charts

Sales and certifications

Certifications and sales for "I Just Called to Say I Love You"
RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada) [59] 3× Platinum408,000 [60]
France (SNEP) [61] Gold800,000 [62]
Germany (BVMI) [63] Gold500,000^
Italy (FIMI) [64] Gold50,000‡
Netherlands (NVPI) [65] Platinum100,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ) [66] Gold10,000*
Portugal (AFP) [67] Platinum170,000 [67]
Russia (NFPF) [68]
Ringtone 		Gold100,000*
United Kingdom (BPI) [69] Platinum1,874,225 [70]
United States (RIAA) [71] Gold1,000,000^

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

See also

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