"The First Time" | ||||
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Single by Surface | ||||
from the album 3 Deep | ||||
B-side | Closer Than Friends" | |||
Released | October 1990 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 4:16 | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Songwriter(s) |
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Producer(s) | Surface | |||
Surface singles chronology | ||||
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"The First Time" is a single by American R&B/pop music trio Surface that hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1991 for two weeks, the trio's only chart-topper. The song also spent one week at number one on the U.S. R&B chart [2] and two weeks atop the adult contemporary chart. [3]
Chart (1990–1991) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [4] | 103 |
Canada RPM Adult Contemporary [5] | 1 |
Canada RPM Top Singles [6] | 18 |
New Zealand Singles Chart [7] | 7 |
UK Singles Chart | 60 |
US Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
US Billboard R&B Singles [2] | 1 |
US Billboard Adult Contemporary [3] | 1 |
US Cash Box Top 100 [8] | 1 |
Year-end chart (1991) | Position |
---|---|
US Top Pop Singles (Billboard) [9] | 9 |
US Cash Box [10] | 21 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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United States (RIAA) [11] | Gold | 500,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Consider the chorus of "The First Time," a tender R&B ballad that was the only #1 hit for the group known as Surface...and "The First Time" sounded like a relic of the smoothed-out quiet storm '80s.