Céline Dion is no ordinary artist. She’s one of the bestselling music artists in history, having sold upwards of 220 million records throughout a career spanning three decades. She has an incredible voice, easily taking its place in the world of music as one of the instantly recognizable and appreciated ever. During the nineties, she was virtually on an onslaught of domination, being one of the three A/C divas of pop music along with Mariah Carey and the late Whitney Houston who have had immense impact on artists since. She’s multilingual performer as well, being a French-Canadian from Quebec, with most of her output being in English or French, but she has also performed in Spanish, Latin, German, Chinese and Japanese. Two of her albums rank among the bestselling albums by women in music, her Christmas album is one of the bestselling among that genre and two of her French albums are among the bestselling albums in that language as well (Seriously, her sales in the 90s would make Whitney and Mariah blush). “My Heart Will Go On” is one of the cornerstones of pop music and movie-music as well, and “Think Twice“, “The Power of Love“, “Beauty and the Beast” and “All By Myself” are some of the most recognizable songs in western pop music. So it’s no easy task, whittling down Dion’s formidable discography into 10 albums that can be considered her best, but I like a challenge. Now, personal taste obviously plays some role in the listing, but I have also considered overall commercial and critical appreciation for the records as well as general consensus among the millions of fans of this legend, who’s far from over welcoming us into her world.
10. Loved Me Back To Life [2013]
After a break of 6 years, Celine returned to the Anglophone market with a new-ish sound with this album. It’s part Adele, part Sia and a whole lot of Celine, with soft ballads like “Unfinished Songs”, R&B-infused uptempos (“Save Your Soul”)and dubstep-leanings in the title track. It was a commercial and critical success, having sold over a million copies to-date, and the title track has found it’s place among the old Celine classics. It’s not a hugely experimental album, nor is it grasping at trying to replicate past successes, but is just an enjoyable bop with Celine simply having fun at the complete knowledge that she deserves a bit of fun at this stage in her career.
Listen to : Loved Me Back To Life, Save Your Soul, Water and A Flame, At Seventeen.
9. Des Mots qui Sonnent [1991]
This was a young Celine Dion, already a well-known star in French-Canada who had just branched out into the Anglophone market a year before but was yet to get a real foot-hold internationally. It’s a collaboration between Dion and Canadian musical icon Luc Plamondon, who wrote everything on this record, and includes covers of his work for the smash-hit musical Starmania and original songs as well. It showcased an early, yet self-assured Celine who infused her own unique Celine-isms to bring Plamondon’s words to life.
Listen to: Des mots qui sonnent, Je danse dans ma tête, L’amour existe encore, Le blues du businessman.
8. Let’s Talk About Love [1997]
Now this is a classic. And it’s also excessive. It was the much awaited follow-up to her immensely successful Falling Into You, and managed to be equally as successful, with sales of over 32 million copies worldwide. It was as overblown a record as could be, with formulaic songs, stellar collaborations with Barbra Streisand, Luciano Pavarotti, Carole King, The Bee Gees and Sir George Martin, and Celine’s biggest hit “My Heart Will Go On”. This was Celine at her career peak, selling out stadiums, on every channel and radio station, winning awards left-right and center. Then, she decided, at the end of the accompanying world tour, to step back from her career to take care of her ailing husband and to have a child, Rene-Charles. The album celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, and Celine once again showed just how amazing she is by completely stealing the show at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards by performing ( and educating these young wannabe’s) her seminal hit from Titanic. That song is truly unsinkable (sue me).
Listen to: My Heart Will Go On, Immortality, Us, The Reason
7. Sans Attendre [2012]
This was Celine’s big return to the Francophone world after a gap of 5 years, and she was welcomed back with open arms. The album, which was fresh and tender, rock-tinged and delicate at the same time, was applauded by critics as well as audiences alike for being of-the-age as well as delivering classic Celine goodness in spades. The album has sold over 1.5 million copies, which is a great achievement for an album in French, particularly when we see her contemporaries struggling to sell upwards of 500,00 copies. It houses some instant classics like “Parler à mon père” as well as an angelic cover of a Jacques Brel classic, “Ne me quitte pas”. [ As an aside, this was the first Celine Dion album I bought as it came out, and thus holds a very special place in my heart. I also debated switching it with Encore Un Soir, but that album would not happen without this. It’s the Let’s Talk About Love to this one’s Falling Into You.]
Listen to: Parler à mon père, Qui peut vivre sans amour?, Ne me quitte pas.
6. S’il Suffisait D’aimer [1998]
Another classic Francophone Celine Dion album that had to follow a massive, unprecedented global success, but this album managed to find amazing success of its own. It’s a more polished album than her previous works, and sounds a bit more relaxed as well, with some of the songs being the mellowest Celine has ever sounded. Her voice is the star of this album, mostly tender and delicate but punching you in the gut just when it needs to. S’il suffisait d’aimer is the second best-selling French-language album of all time, selling upwards of 4 million copies. That’s more than the last two albums by Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. So you know it was massive.
Listen to: On ne change pas, Tous les blues sont écrits pour toi, Terre, Dans un autre monde.
5. Taking Chances [2007]
When Celine Dion first announced she was taking up a residency in Caeser’s Palace in Las Vegas, people thought she was prematurely ending her thriving career. Boy, where they wrong. Celine single-handedly reinvented Vegas s a prime spot for top performers to come and perform for long stretches and give their fans the kind of extravagant shows they could not while touring, and reinvigorated the flagging economy of the city. Then, after a splendid 5 year gig, becoming the most successful residency show in history, Celine came back with Taking Chances, her most pop/rock record in English. This album showcased Celine as a diva, a grittier, dirtier diva but still with her signature soaring voice edged with steel. The world tour she embarked on to support this record would become the second highest grossing tour by a woman (adjusted for inflation). Songs like Taking Chances and Eyes On Me have remained fan favorites ever since.
Listen to: Taking Chances, Eyes on Me, Fade Away.
4. A New Day Has Come [2002]
After taking a break from music to look after her husband who was diagnosed with cancer, and to have their first child Rene-Charles, Dion returned in fine form with this breath of fresh air. It’s a transitional album, heralding a new, maturer yet more eased-up Celine Dion, and her voice had also lost some of it’s grit to become more pleasant and malleable, a little bit more girlish. The songs are some of her most famous, like the title-track and I’m Alive, while I Surrender showcased that still she was a vocal champion par excellence. The album was well-received, and was a commercial success selling 12 million copies so far, reassuring that Celine had not lost her gift to delight audiences with her angelic soprano.
Listen to: I’m Alive, Have You Ever Been in Love, I Surrender, When the Wrong One Loves You Right, A New Day Has Come (Radio Remix)
3. Live à Paris [1996]
I know, it’s a live album. But it’s one helluva live album. It’s the most rock-&-roll Celine has ever sounded, and her potency as a live performance behemoth is on full display here. Consisting mostly of her French repertoire, this album showcases the natural gift Celine has for entertaining audiences. This is Celine at the height of her career, just about to embark on her global chart domination with back-to-back mega-successful albums. She is an energetic performer, running round and bounding with energy in uptempo songs, bracing and delicate in ballads. Her voice soars, literally soars above the excellent instrumentation and the quality and sheer grace of that voice is a beauty to behold. Whitney Houston might be called the voice, and Mariah Carey might have a bigger range all said, but when it comes to sheer performance and sustaining that voice, Celine has them beat, and this album is testament to that.
Listen to: Regarde-moi, Le ballet, Quand on n’a que l’amour, Prière païenne.
2. Falling into You [1996]
Falling Into You is Celine’s English magnum opus. Its her biggest commercial and critical success, housing some of her most iconic songs of all time. It’s broad. It’s grand. It’s excessively 90s. It smashed sales, and is among the bestselling albums of all time with sales upwards of 33 million copies. It won Album of the Year at the Grammys. And above all, it cemented Celine’s status as one of the greatest artists of all time. The success of this album saw Celine’s popularity skyrocketing, so far that she was invited to sing at the 1996 Olympic Games. This is an album everyone should listen to once, if only to understand the majesty of Celine Dion.
Listen to: It’s All Coming Back to Me Now, Because You Loved Me, All by Myself, River Deep, Mountain High, Call the Man.
1. D’eux(The French Album)
Really, was there ever any doubt that this would be her greatest record? It’s the French equivalent to Thriller. This album saw Celine collaborating with Jean-Jacques Goldman, a legendary French singer-songwriter, which proved a potent combination as the record swiftly became a classic, not only in the Francophone market, but also in non-French territories as well. It has sold more than 10 million copies, and that’s no mean feat, becoming the bestselling French-language album of all time. In France, D’eux debuted at number one and stayed at the top of the chart for a record-breaking forty-four weeks.In the United Kingdom, it peaked at number seven, setting a record for a French release. It also has some of her biggest French classics, like Pour que tu m’aimes encore and Je sais pas. With the release of this album, Celine entered the most commercially successful phase f her career. In the five years since it’s release and her hiatus, Celine became a bonafide music legend, with 4 consecutive bestselling studio albums, a hugely successful Christmas album and a successful compilation album, along with two successful live albums and 3 massive world tours. Exactly how massive was Celine’s sales? Of the albums between 1995-2000, Whitney Houston sold 85 million, Mariah Carey sold 35 millin and Celine sold at 108 million copies. If we extend that time-frame to include all of the 90s, Whitney albums of that age have sold the same amount, Mariah’s tally rises to 89 million, and Celine’s grows to 133 million to date. Long may she reign, Queen Celine.
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