All vikisWaiting to Exhale Soundtrack
Release details: Albumism
The Waiting to Exhale soundtrack (1995) in full, all 16 songs from Exhale (Shoop Shoop) to Count On Me, 1 hour 13 minutes, each playing from its first second. Guided by Babyface and sung entirely by women, it is certified 7 times Platinum.
We rate the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack A tier, and we think it is the most consistent album of the song-led ones here: sixteen R&B songs with one guiding hand, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, and singers from Aretha Franklin to Brandy, every one of them a woman (Albumism, Nov 11, 2025). The show half of our rule is what lifts it to A: Waiting to Exhale in Concert Live to Film, a 30th-anniversary screening with Andra Day, Tamar Braxton and Deborah Cox singing the songs live, played Brooklyn on Dec 14, 2025, presented by Disney Concerts (ABC13, Dec 12, 2025). For S it would need three more Platinum steps: the RIAA has had it at 7 times Platinum since Sep 4, 1996 (RIAA, read Nov 11, 2026).
This is Exhale (Shoop Shoop), sung by Whitney Houston, the first track; it won the Grammy for best R&B song, and it and Toni Braxton's Let It Flow both reached No. 1 on Billboard's pop and R&B charts (Albumism). Arista's album came out on Nov 14, 1995 (Albumism) and holds 1 hour 13 minutes of music.
No. 3 to No. 1
Only The Bodyguard, at No. 2, began higher among the song-led albums here: Waiting to Exhale's first Billboard 200, Dec 2, 1995, had it at No. 3. Seven weeks later, Jan 20, 1996, it was No. 1, and the Feb 3, 1996 chart is its third week in that place.
Whitney Houston at both ends
Houston opens the album with Exhale (Shoop Shoop) and Why Does It Hurt So Bad, and closes it with Count On Me, sung with CeCe Winans; the thirteen songs in between go to thirteen different acts, among them Toni Braxton, Aretha Franklin, Brandy, TLC, Mary J. Blige, Chaka Khan, SWV and Patti LaBelle. Love Will Be Waiting at Home, by For Real, is the longest track at 6:00, and Faith Evans's Kissing You the shortest at 3:22.
Highlights
Nothing passed. These are smooth, evenly mastered R&B songs, and when Vi.ki measured the sixteen uploads on Nov 11, 2026 (our method) the largest rise of a loudest stretch over a song's middle was 3.6 decibels, in Chaka Khan's My Funny Valentine around 2:19, well under the 6 we count as a climax. The voice and instrument entries the classifier reported were too faint to keep.
All tracks
Arista uploaded fifteen; the album's order is kept. Its copy of Kissing You plays nowhere now, so that row uses Faith Evans's own label upload of the song from another release, provided by Rhino Atlantic, two seconds shorter than the album track; we have not confirmed it is the same mix. Each song is its own video, and Play starts it at 0:00.
Sources
- Waiting to Exhale soundtrack album anniversary, Albumism, Nov 11, 2025
- Waiting to Exhale celebrates 30 years with special live musical event, ABC13, Dec 12, 2025
- Gold and Platinum: Waiting to Exhale, RIAA, read Nov 11, 2026
- Billboard 200, Billboard, chart dated Feb 3, 1996
- Waiting To Exhale (Original Soundtrack Album), YouTube Music, read Nov 11, 2026
Moments
Exhale (Shoop Shoop)
Whitney Houston
Why Does It Hurt So Bad (from "Waiting to Exhale" - Original Soundtrack)
Whitney Houston
Let It Flow (from "Waiting to Exhale" Original Soundtrack)
Toni Braxton
It Hurts Like Hell (from Waiting to Exhale - Original Soundtrack)
Aretha Franklin
Sittin' Up In My Room (from Waiting to Exhale - Original Soundtrack)
Brandy
This Is How It Works (from Waiting to Exhale - Original Soundtrack)
TLC
Not Gon' Cry (from Waiting to Exhale - Original Soundtrack)
Mary J Blige
My Funny Valentine (from Waiting to Exhale - Original Soundtrack)
Chaka Khan
And I Gave My Love to You (from "Waiting to Exhale" - Original Soundtrack)
Sonja Marie - Topic
All Night Long (from Waiting to Exhale - Original Soundtrack)
SWV Official
Wey U (from Waiting to Exhale - Original Soundtrack)
Chante Moore
My Love, Sweet Love (from Waiting to Exhale - Original Soundtrack)
Patti LaBelle
Kissing You
Faith Evans
Love Will Be Waiting At Home (from Waiting to Exhale - Original Soundtrack)
Real - Topic
How Could You Call Her Baby (from Waiting to Exhale - Original Soundtrack)
Shanna - Topic
Count On Me (from "Waiting to Exhale" - Original Soundtrack)
Whitney Houston
Related
-
Grease SoundtrackThe Grease soundtrack (1978) in full, all 24 songs from Grease to the end-credits reprise, 1 hour 4 minutes, each playing from its first second, with one measured highlight. Certified 13 times Platinum, it is the longest track list of the song-led albums here.
-
Harry Potter SoundtrackJohn Williams's soundtrack for the first Harry Potter film (2001), Sorcerer's Stone in the US and Philosopher's Stone elsewhere, in full: all 19 tracks, 1 hour 13 minutes, each playing from its first second, under measured highlights. Its celesta melody, Hedwig's Theme, was written before Williams had the job.
-
Inception SoundtrackHans Zimmer's Inception soundtrack (2010) in full, all 12 tracks of the WaterTower Music album, 49 minutes, each playing from its first second, under measured highlights. Its two heavy brass notes come from a single beat of an Edith Piaf record, and the album closes with Time.
-
Interstellar Live in Concert DatesThe next Interstellar live-to-film concerts start at the Sydney Opera House on Jan 23, 2027 and run to Luxembourg on Jun 12, 2027, 28 performances in nine cities by Vi.ki's count on Nov 12, 2026, with none listed in North America. Twelve of the 17 Australian shows were already sold out.
-
Interstellar SoundtrackHans Zimmer's Interstellar soundtrack (2014) in full, all 30 tracks of the Expanded Edition, 2 hours 19 minutes, each playing from its first second, under measured highlights. Its sound is one church organ in London, and it is still played live with the film.
-
O Brother, Where Art Thou? SoundtrackThe O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack (2000) in full, all 19 tracks from Po Lazarus to Angel Band, 1 hour, each playing from its first second, under two measured highlights. Certified 8 times Platinum, it won the Grammy for Album of the Year and reached No. 1 in its 63rd week on the chart.
-
Pirates of the Caribbean SoundtrackThe soundtrack of the first Pirates of the Caribbean film, The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), in full, all 15 tracks, 43 minutes, each playing from its first second, under measured highlights. It is credited to Klaus Badelt, was produced by Hans Zimmer and ends with He's a Pirate.
-
Purple Rain SoundtrackPrince and the Revolution's Purple Rain (1984), the soundtrack of the film, in full, all 9 songs from Let's Go Crazy to Purple Rain, 44 minutes, each playing from its first second. It is certified 13 times Platinum and became a stage musical in 2025.
See also
-
SoundtracksFull soundtracks of games, movies and shows, one page each, starting with Aion 2, New World, Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer. Each page opens with highlights inside the tracks and then lists every track in a table that plays it from its first second.
-
Conan the Barbarian SoundtrackBasil Poledouris's Conan the Barbarian soundtrack (1982), the full score in 27 parts and film order, 1 hour 40 minutes, each part playing from its first second, with measured highlights, the track lists of the 1982 album and the 1992 and 2012 editions, and who recorded it.
-
Conan the Destroyer SoundtrackBasil Poledouris's Conan the Destroyer soundtrack (1984) in full, all 43 tracks of the 2023 Back Lot Music edition, 1 hour 50 minutes, each playing from its first second, the complete film score, five alternates and the 13-track 1984 album, under measured highlights.
-
Dirty Dancing SoundtrackThe Dirty Dancing soundtrack (1987) in full, all 12 songs from (I've Had) The Time of My Life to In the Still of the Night, 39 minutes, each playing from its first second, under one measured highlight. It reached No. 1 in the US and is certified 14 times Platinum.
-
Footloose SoundtrackThe Footloose soundtrack (1984) in full, all 9 songs from Footloose to Never, 36 minutes, each playing from its first second. It was certified Diamond in the US on Dec 6, 2024.
-
Gladiator SoundtrackHans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard's Gladiator soundtrack (2000) in full, all 17 tracks of the Decca album, 1 hour 1 minute, each playing from its first second, under measured highlights. It won the Golden Globe, went platinum twenty years after release and is still played live with the film.