On this day in 1986, “How Will I Know” by Whitney Houston hit #1 on the Billboard charts. This was the third single released off of Whitney’s legendary self-titled debut album, and was her second #1 hit. The song received two nominations at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards; Best Female Video and Best New Artist, winning the former category.
It was written by George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam  who are best known as the duo Boy Meets Girl and had a hit in 1988 with “Waiting For A Star To Fall.” They had originally written it for Janet Jackson for her Control album. But, Janet’s people passed.

The video was directed by Brian Grant, who also did Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical” and Donna Summer’s “She Works Hard For The Money.” According to Songfacts, Grant recalls Houston being very grounded, showing up at the shoot with just a friend and a rep from her record company. He told her to relax and have fun with it, which she did despite being apprehensive at first about the bevy of dancers popping out at her.