Chart performance:
| Week | Position | Movement | Comments |
| 31-May-87 | 26 | New | |
| 07-Jun-87 | 26 | 0 | |
| 14-Jun-87 | 21 | +5 | Star rater |
| 21-Jun-87 | 20 | +1 | |
| 28-Jun-87 | 14 | +6 | Star rater |
| 02-Jul-87 | 11 | +3 | |
| 09-Jul-87 | 7 | +4 | Star rater |
| 16-Jul-87 | 5 | +2 | |
| 23-Jul-87 | 5 | 0 | |
| 30-Jul-87 | 2 | +3 | |
| 06-Aug-87 | 2 | 0 | |
| 13-Aug-87 | 2 | 0 | |
| 20-Aug-87 | 2 | 0 | |
| 27-Aug-87 | 1 | +1 | Peak |
| 03-Sep-87 | 1 | 0 | Peak |
| 10-Sep-87 | 3 | -2 | |
| 17-Sep-87 | 6 | -3 | |
| 24-Sep-87 | 5 | +1 | |
| 01-Oct-87 | 5 | 0 | |
| 08-Oct-87 | 7 | -2 | |
| 15-Oct-87 | 8 | -1 | |
| 22-Oct-87 | 10 | -2 | |
| 29-Oct-87 | 11 | -1 | |
| 05-Nov-87 | 14 | -3 | |
| 12-Nov-87 | 18 | -4 | |
| 19-Nov-87 | 20 | -2 | |
| 26-Nov-87 | 20 | 0 | |
| 03-Dec-87 | 27 | -7 |
Written by: George Merrill & Shannon Rubicam
Produced by: Narada Michael Walden
South African record label (unless otherwise stated): Arista
| Hit number for artist | 2 |
| Peak position | 1 |
| Weeks | 28 |
| Biggest climber awards | 0 |
| Star rater climbs | 3 |
| Biggest faller awards | 0 |
| Top 20 points | 305 |
| Overall Top 20 points ranking | =71 |
| Top 20 points ranking for the artist | 1 |
| Top 30 Points | 569 |
| Overall Top 30 points ranking | =45 |
| Top 30 points ranking for the artist | 1 |
Annual ranking:
| 1987 | 3 |
Other chart success:
| Australia | 1 |
| Austria | 3 |
| Belgium | 1 |
| Canada | 1 |
| Finland | 1 |
| France | 15 |
| Germany | 1 |
| Iceland | 3 |
| Ireland | 2 |
| Italy | 1 |
| Netherlands | 1 |
| New Zealand | 1 |
| Norway | 1 |
| Spain | 1 |
| Sweden | 1 |
| Switzerland | 1 |
| UK | 1 |
| US | 1 |
| Zimbabwe | 5 |
SA Radio charts:
| Capital 604 | 1 |
| Radio 5 | 1 |
| Radio 702 | 1 |
The song was 1 of 5 to top the UK, the US, the SA and all 3 of the local radio charts mentioned above. Of those 5 only ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)’ and Stevie Wonder’s ‘I Just Called To Say I Love You’ would also top both the German and Australian charts. ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)’ scored 491 more top 30 points than Whitney’s second best performing song, ‘One Moment In Time’. Of the acts who saw 4 or more hits make the charts, this was the biggest top 30 point differential for their best performing and second best performing songs.
Video:
Artist link: Whitney Houston
SA Singles Charts 