I Honestly Love You

In popular culture

A snippet of Lynn Anderson's recording of the song plays over Chief Brody's radio in the second shark attack in Steven Spielberg's 1975 film Jaws, moments before Alex Kitner and Pippet the dog disappear beneath the waves.

It also appears in the musical about Peter Allen's life, The Boy from Oz.

Reception

Record World said that it has "delicate, lush production" and commented on "its pure emotive qualities."

Chart performance

The single reached #1 in Australia, as well as the top three of the Billboard Hot 100 in an unusually fast six weeks, and in its eighth week, the chart dated 5 October 1974, it spent the first of its two weeks at number one. Soon after it was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, having sold one million copies. It also reached number one (three weeks) on the Adult Contemporary chart and no. 6 on the Country chart. The song's success also helped propel its parent album, If You Love Me, Let Me Know, to number one, on the chart dated 12 October 1974. By contrast, the single failed to reach the top 20 in the United Kingdom (no. 22), although it did chart there in 1983 when it was re-released to promote a Newton-John greatest hits album.

The single ranked number 97 on ''Billboard'''s Year-End Top 100 of 1974 – a ranking based on only 11 of its 15 weeks on the Hot 100.

In November 1977, a re-release of Newton-John's original version backed with "Don't Cry for Me Argentina", from her then-current album Making a Good Thing Better, reached number 48 during its nine-week run on the Hot 100; the single outperformed the only A-side single from the album (the title track), which five months earlier had stalled at number 87. The re-release of Newton-John's 1974 hit also re-charted on the Adult Contemporary chart, peaking at number 49.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

1998 version

Newton-John re-recorded "I Honestly Love You" for her 1998 album Back with a Heart, with Babyface on background vocals. The new version was released as a single, debuting on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1998. It was her first song to chart in the Hot 100 for six years, peaking at No. 67 and spent 12 weeks on the chart. It reached No. 18 on the Adult Contemporary chart and No. 16 on the Country Music Sales chart.

Charts

Cover versions

• Bobby Vinton on his 1974 album Melodies of Love
• Andy Williams on his 1974 album You Lay So Easy on My Mind
• Lynn Anderson on her 1974 album What a Man My Man Is
• Ronnie Milsap on his 1975 album A Legend in My Time
• Kamahl on his 1975 album Let It Be Me
• Jerry Butler on his 1976 album Love's on the Menu
• Leslie Uggams on the 1977 TV special Sinatra and Friends
• The Staple Singers on their 1977 album Family Tree
• Bobby Womack on his 1979 album Roads of Life
• Jackie Moore on her 1980 album With Your Love
• Donna Fargo on her 1984 album Encore
• Lea Salonga on her 1993 self titled album
• Richard Clayderman on his 1999 album My Australian Collection
• Leslie Cheung on his 2000 EP Untitled
• Juliana Hatfield on her 2018 album Juliana Hatfield Sings Olivia Newton-John.
• Delta Goodrem in the 2018 mini-series Olivia Newton-John: Hopelessly Devoted to You and the accompanying soundtrack album, I Honestly Love You
• Kate Ceberano on her 2021 album Sweet Inspiration

References

References

1. (31 May 2007). "VH1's 40 Most Softsational Soft-Rock Songs". [[SpinMedia]].
2. Abdelrahman, Amina Lake. (21 September 2018). "35 Most Romantic Love Songs of All Time".
3. Breihan, Tom. (June 6, 2019). "The Number Ones: Olivia Newton-John's "I Honestly Love You"".
4. Molanphy, Chris. (April 17, 2021). "Taylor's Version of Country Edition". [[Slate (magazine).
5. "1974 Grammy Winners".
6. (31 May 2007). "VH1's 40 Most Softsational Soft-Rock Songs".
7. (August 17, 1974). "Hits of the Week".
8. Whit-burn, Joel. (2002). "Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001". Record Research.
9. Whitburn, Joel. (2004). "The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition". Record Research.
10. (30 December 1974). "National Top 100 Singles for 1974". [[Kent Music Report]].
11. "SA Charts 1965–March 1989".
12. Whitburn, Joel. (2014). "[[Cashbox (magazine)". Sheridan Books, Inc..
13. (14 September 1974). "Palmarès de la chanson anglophone et allophone au Québec". [[Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec.
14. "CU.S Digital Song Sales: Week of August 20, 2022".
15. Canada, Library and Archives. (17 July 2013). "Image : RPM Weekly".
16. "The CashBox Year End Charts:1974".
17. "Top 100 Hits of 1974/Top 100 Songs of 1974".
18. "Juliana Hatfield Sings Olivia Newton-John".