25 Years Ago: Faith Hill Hits No. 1 With ‘This Kiss’
Twenty-five years ago today (May 16, 1998) was a big day for Faith Hill: It was on that date that the singer landed at the top of the charts with her single, "This Kiss," which stayed in the No. 1 spot for three consecutive weeks.
"This Kiss" was the debut single from Hill's album Faith, which sold more than 6 million units. The song, which was written by Beth Nielsen Chapman, Robin Lerner and Annie Roboff, also became the Mississippi native's first Top 10 tune on both the pop and adult contemporary charts.
The "This Kiss" video features Hill jumping from flower to flower and riding bees and butterflies in a CGI-created fantasy world. Hill was pregnant with her second child, Maggie (with husband Tim McGraw), at the time of filming and had to make several last-minute costume changes for the video to accompany her expanding stomach.
"This Kiss" appears in the 1998 hit movie Practical Magic, which stars Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. Hill included the song on her 2007 compilation album, The Hits; she also performed the song in 2009 during a two-night performance at the Hollywood Bowl, backed by an orchestra, as well as in 2011, as part of a taping of CMT Crossroads with the Pretenders. And, of course, the song remains a staple of Hill's concerts with McGraw.
This story was originally written by Gayle Thompson, and revised by Annie Zaleski.