Aretha Franklin’s Sparkle soundtrack reached No. 18 on the U.S. Billboard 200. The album, officially titled Music from the Warner Bros. Picture “Sparkle,” was released by Atlantic Records on June 1, 1976, as the soundtrack to the Warner Bros. film Sparkle.
Curtis Mayfield wrote and produced the project, while Franklin supplied the lead vocals for songs originally performed by the film’s fictional singing group. The album marked a commercial rebound after two lower-selling Franklin releases and was certified Gold in the United States.
The soundtrack also performed even better on the R&B chart, where it reached No. 1. Its first single, “Something He Can Feel,” topped the R&B chart and reached No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100. That single is an easy source of confusion: No. 28 belongs to the song, not the album.
The soundtrack later gained another generation of listeners when En Vogue covered “Something He Can Feel” on their 1992 album Funky Divas.