It Must Have Been Love

For the song of the same name by the melodic rock band Magnum, please see the Wings of Heaven album.

"It Must Have Been Love"
Single by Roxette
from the album Pretty Woman Soundtrack
Released	July 1, 1987 March 20, 1990 September 1, 1993
Recorded	1987—1990
Genre	Pop rock
Length	4:18
Writer(s)	Per Gessle
Certification	Gold: US, Germany, NZ, Sweden, Austria Silver: UK
Roxette singles chronology
"I Want You" (1987) "It Must Have Been Love (Christmas for the Broken Hearted)" (1987) "I Call Your Name" (1988)
Music video "It Must Have Been Love" on YouTube "Dangerous" (1989) "It Must Have Been Love" (1990) "Joyride" (1991) UK 1993 re-release chronology "Almost Unreal" (1993) "It Must Have Been Love" (1993) "Sleeping in My Car" (1994) "No sé si es amor" Single by Roxette from the album Baladas En Español B-side "Directamente A Ti" ("Run to You") Released January 14, 1997 Writer(s) Per Gessle & Luis G. Escolar Roxette singles chronology "Un día sin ti" (1996) "No sé si es amor" (1997) "Wish I Could Fly" (1999)

"It Must Have Been Love" is a song written by Per Gessle and performed by the Swedish pop duo Roxette. The ballad became the duo's third #1 hit in the United States,^[1] and is one of their best selling releases, certified gold in a number of countries.

The song was included on the soundtrack to the film Pretty Woman. In 2005 Per Gessle received an award from BMI after the song's four millionth radio play^[2] and in 2014 Per Gessle received an new award from BMI for five millionth radio play^[3]

"It Must Have Been Love (Christmas for the Broken Hearted)" (1987)

"It Must Have Been Love (Christmas for the Broken Hearted)", the song's original title,^[4] was first released in 1987 after EMI Germany asked Roxette to come up with an intelligent Christmas single.^[4] It went on to become a Top 10 hit in Sweden, but EMI Germany decided not to release the track.^[4]

This version of the song was not part of a Roxette album until the 1997 re-release of Pearls of Passion, where it was included as a bonus track. The B-side to "Christmas for the Broken Hearted", "Turn to Me", also featured as a bonus track.

Track listing

Side A: "It Must Have Been Love (Christmas for the Broken Hearted)"
Side B: "Turn to Me"

The single was also released after Christmas in a green sleeve without the Christmas reference.^[5]

Pretty Woman movie soundtrack (1990)

During the run of chart-topping singles from Look Sharp!, Touchstone Pictures approached Roxette's record label, EMI and the group about contributing a song to the soundtrack of the upcoming romantic comedy release Pretty Woman, starring Richard Gere and then Oscar nominee Julia Roberts. Pretty Woman was released in March 1990 and went on to make more than $460 million worldwide.^[6]

Although "It Must Have Been Love" was part of the Pretty Woman soundtrack, the song was not part of a Roxette album until Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus!, their 1995 greatest hits release. The album was not released in the United States until 26 September 2000, with a different track listing.

Chart success

Although the second version of the lyrics refer to a lonely winter's day after the break-up of a relationship, "It Must Have Been Love" became an international hit in the summer of 1990. It was not the first single released from the Pretty Woman soundtrack but it became the most successful, spending its first of two weeks at #1 on the Hot 100 in June and onto sales of 500,000 copies in the US.^[7] Billboard magazine listed "It Must Have Been Love" as the #2 Hot 100 single of the year behind Wilson Phillips' "Hold On".^[8]

The single was released in the UK in June 1990 and peaked at #3, Roxette's best showing there, and stayed in the UK Singles Chart for 14 weeks. The song was re-released in September 1993 and peaked at #10. It was due to the success of this song that "Listen to Your Heart" and "Dressed for Success" were reissued in the UK later that year. It later became Roxette's second of three #1 singles in Australia, spending two weeks at the top spot in July 1990, while it also peaked at #1 in Norway, for 12 weeks, and in Switzerland. It also reached the Top 5 in Sweden, Austria, and Germany, where the single spent 9 months in the Top 75, whilst it reached the Top 20 in Italy.

In the CD liner notes for Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus!, Fredriksson remarked, "Our third #1 in the U.S. ...not bad for a song that was lying around, gathering dust."^[4] The soundtrack went on to be certified three times platinum by the RIAA,^[9] with total worldwide sales of nine million.^[4][10] While the song went on to receive gold certification in Austria, Germany, United States,^[7] Sweden and New Zealand.

Music video

The second video was shot in a warehouse, with Fredriksson singing and Gessle playing the guitar between various prop changes. It included scenes from the Pretty Woman movie (Marie Fredriksson wearing a white dress in this movie version). There is also an alternate version of the video without the movie scenes, available solely on the VHS The Videos. According to Fredriksson, shooting the video was a surreal experience.

... the video was a weird experience. The director wanted all movements in slow motion so I had to lip sync the vocals in double speed. My first lesson in how to sing an emotional ballad Mickey Mouse style. A strange way to make a living.

-Marie Fredriksson^[4]

Track listing

1. "It Must Have Been Love"
2. "Paint"

Charts and certifications

Chart (1990) Peak Position Swedish Single Charts[11] 4 UK Top 75[12] 3 US Hot 100[1] 1 US Hot AC[13] 2 German Single Charts[14] 4 Australian Single Charts[15] 1 Austrian Top 40[16] 3 Polish Singles Chart[17] 1 Swiss Single Charts[18] 1 Norwegian Singles Charts[19] 1 Irish Singles Chart[20] 5 Chart (1993) Peak Position UK Top 75[12] 10

End of year chart (1990) Position Australia ARIA[21] 4 U.S. Billboard Hot 100[22] 2 Sales and certifications Region Certification Sales/shipments Australia (ARIA)[23] Platinum 70,000 Austria (IFPI Austria)[24] Gold 25,000 Germany (BVMI)[25] Gold 250,000 Sweden (GLF)[26] Gold 25,000 United Kingdom (BPI)[27] Silver 200,000 United States (RIAA)[28] Gold 500,000 ^*sales figures based on certification alone ^^shipments figures based on certification alone ^xunspecified figures based on certification alone

Cover versions

När kärleken föds

In 2006, the Swedish pop singer Shirley Clamp recorded a Swedish language cover version of "It Must Have Been Love" called "När kärleken föds" ("When Love is Born") that was released as a single in April of that year and peaked at #6 at the Swedish singles chart.^[29] On 11 June 2006, "När kärleken föds" entered eighth place on Svensktoppen. "När kärleken föds" had no words related to Christmas or other seasons or holidays. The song was also included at her cover album Favoriter på svenska.^[30]

With these lyrics, the song was also recorded by Wahlströms in the 2010 album Vårt älskade 80-tal.^[31]

Track listing

1. "När kärleken föds" - 5:08
2. "Öppna din dörr" - 4:12

References

1. "Roxette's Billboard Hot 100 chart history". www.billboard.com.
2. "2005 BMI awards". bmi.com.
3. "Sir Tim Rice and Top Songwriters Honored at 2014 BMI London Awards". BMI.com. 2014-10-13. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
4. Lindström, Sven. "Greatest hits album notes ("Don't Bore Us - Get to the Chorus!"". pergessle.net. Archived from the original on August 25, 2012. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
5. "Single discography". Roxette.
6. "Box Office Mojo's page on Pretty Woman". Box Office Mojo.
7. "Roxette's RIAA single & album certifications". www.riaa.com.
8. "Billboard's 1990 year end chart.". www.billboard.com.
9. "Pretty Woman's soundtrack RIAA multi platinum award". www.riaa.com. Retrieved 2009-02-04.
10. "Roxette's biography". www.sonofaplumber.com/www.roxette.se.
11. "Swedish singles chart". swedishcharts.com.
12. "UK Chart Stats". chartstats.com. Archived from the original on 2012-05-25.
13. "Roxette's Billboard AC chart history". www.billboard.com.
14. "German Album Chart". charts-surfer.
15. "Australian Singles Chart". australian-charts.com.
16. "Austrian Singles Chart". austriancharts.com.
17. "Polish Singles Chart |".
18. "Swiss Singles Chart". swisscharts.com.
19. "Norwegian Singles Chart". norwegiancharts.com.
20. "Irish Singles Chart". irishcharts.ie. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
21. http://www.aria.com.au/pages/aria-charts-end-of-year-charts-top-50-singles-1990.htm
22. "Billboard Top 100 - 1990". Retrieved 2009-09-15.
23. "ARIA Accreditations (1987-2010)". Australian Fun Countdowns. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
24. "Austrian single certifications – Roxette – It Must Have Been Love" (in German). IFPI Austria. Retrieved 20 April 2012. Enter Roxette in the field Interpret. Enter It Must Have Been Love in the field Titel. Select single in the field Format. Click Suchen
25. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Roxette; 'It Must Have Been Love')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
26. "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 1987−1998" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
27. "British single certifications – Roxette – It Must Have Been Love". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 20 April 2012. Enter It Must Have Been Love in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select single in the field By Format. Select Silver in the field By Award. Click Search
28. "American single certifications – Roxette – It Must Have Been Love". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 20 April 2012. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH
29. Swedishcharts - När kärleken föds (It Must Have Been Love) at the Swedish singles chart
30. "När kärleken föds". Svensk mediedatabas. 2006. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
31. "Vårt älskade 80-tal". Svensk mediedatabas. Retrieved 10 May 2011.

Chart successions

External links

• "It Must Have Been Love" music video on YouTube, EMIMUSIC
• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics