New Whitney Houston Hits Album Due This Fall

The first authoritative greatest hits album from the late singer Whitney Houston is due out this fall in the U.S. on RCA Records.

While a tracklist, title and release date has not been announced, sources have suggested it will be the first compilation to span her entire career and include the familiar hit versions of her Billboard chart-topping singles.

That would stand in contrast with Houston's first, and only other American hits set, "Whitney: The Greatest Hits," which was released in 2000.

While that 36-track Arista Records album offers most of her best-known ballads, it substituted remixes of her uptempo singles instead of the well-known original versions. For example, "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" is represented by a Junior Vasquez club mix, while "So Emotional" was reworked by Dave Morales.

To date, the album has sold 2.6 million copies in the U.S. according to Nielsen SoundScan. This year, it has moved 836,000 -- most in the wake of Houston's death on Feb. 11. It is currently the fourth biggest-selling album of 2012.

In her lifetime, Houston notched 39 hit singles on the Billboard Hot 100, with 23 of those reaching the top 10. Of those, a whopping 11 went to No. 1, including "How Will I Know," "I Will Always Love You" and "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)." Her most recent Hot 100 hit was 2009's "Million Dollar Bill," which peaked at No. 100. (Though it climbed to No. 1 on the Dance Club/Play Songs chart, in part thanks to the popularity of a remix by the Freemasons.)

Unlike Houston's superstar peers of the '80s and '90s (Michael Jackson, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Celine Dion and so on), Houston is one of the few to only have one greatest hits album in their U.S. catalog. Previous to his death, Jackson had five sets dedicated to his Epic Records material. Meanwhile, Madonna's Warner Bros. catalog is represented by three best-ofs (not including a ballads compilation).

Outside of America, Houston issued "The Ultimate Collection" in 2007, which is a more traditional hits album and features 18 songs (the bulk of which were not remixed). On the Official U.K. Albums chart, it peaked at No. 3.

Houston is currently charting this week on Billboard's tallies as a featured player on the soundtrack to her final film, "Sparkle." The album debuts at No. 26 on the Billboard 200, selling 12,000 copies in its first week. It includes two cuts by Houston: "Celebrate" (a duet with her co-star Jordin Sparks) and a cover of "His Eye Is On the Sparrow."