Song · Aretha Franklin & George Michael
“I Knew You Were Waiting For Me” by Aretha Franklin & George Michael
“I Knew You Were Waiting For Me” by Aretha Franklin & George Michael appears on 2 radio countdowns from 2 stations between 1987 and 2026. Its best result is #30 on the Studio Brussel De Eindafrekening 1987. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #289 alternative song of 1987.
Aretha Franklin and George Michael's "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" came out on Arista in January 1987, the second single from Aretha, her 31st studio album, and it's the rare star pairing that sounds like more than a marketing plan: big, bright R&B-pop with room for both voices to go for broke. Simon Climie and Dennis Morgan wrote it, and Narada Michael Walden produced.
It topped the Hot 100, Franklin's second and last American number one, and reached number two on the adult contemporary chart, her best showing there. Elsewhere, Michael's label Epic put it out as a standalone single, and it went to number one in the UK, the only time Franklin ever got there. It won the two of them a Grammy for R&B vocal performance by a duo or group, and in 2018 Billboard named it Franklin's biggest Hot 100 single of all time.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | 30 | Studio Brussel Flanders, Belgium | Studio Brussel De Eindafrekening 1987 | 29 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 324 | WFPK | WFPK Top 500 Songs of the '80s | 498 |
Also listed as: I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me).
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