"I Just Called to Say I Love You" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Stevie Wonder | ||||
from the album The Woman in Red | ||||
B-side | "Instrumental" | |||
Released | August 1, 1984 [1] | |||
Studio | FAR STUDIOS (Rosbach vor der Höhe, Germany) | |||
Genre | R&B [2] | |||
Length | 6:17(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 | ||||
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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.
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 [update] . [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.
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]
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]
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
Decade-end charts
All-time charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Canada (Music Canada) [59] | 3× Platinum | 408,000 [60] |
Denmark (IFPI Danmark) [61] | Gold | 45,000‡ |
France (SNEP) [62] | Gold | 800,000 [63] |
Germany (BVMI) [64] | Gold | 500,000^ |
Italy (FIMI) [65] | Gold | 50,000‡ |
Netherlands (NVPI) [66] | Platinum | 100,000^ |
New Zealand (RMNZ) [67] | Gold | 10,000* |
Portugal (AFP) [68] | Platinum | 170,000 [68] |
Russia (NFPF) [69] Ringtone | Gold | 100,000* |
United Kingdom (BPI) [70] | Platinum | 1,874,225 [71] |
United States (RIAA) [72] | Gold | 1,000,000^ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
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American musician Stevie Wonder has released 23 studio albums, three soundtrack albums, four live albums, 11 compilations, one box set, and 91 singles. His first album, The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie, was released in 1962 when he was 12 years old, and his most recent, A Time to Love, was released in 2005. Wonder has had ten US number-one hits on the pop charts, as well as 20 R&B number one hits, and has sold over 100 million records, 19.5 million of which are albums; he is one of the top best-selling music artists of all time with combined sales of singles and albums. Wonder has 30 main album releases, all of which are single albums, apart from Songs in the Key of Life, which was released as a double album with a bonus four track EP. There are 11 official compilation albums; in addition, a box set, The Complete Stevie Wonder, was released in 2005. Wonder is eighth on the list of artists with the most number-ones on the US Billboard Hot 100.
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