Monica was 17 when “The First Night” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1998. Built around a sample of Diana Ross’s “Love Hangover,” the single led the chart for five weeks. It later appeared at No. 26 on a Billboard-based list of the decade’s top 100 songs.
The song came from Monica’s second album, The Boy Is Mine. Jermaine Dupri and Daryl Simmons produced the track, while Dupri, Simmons, and LaShawn Daniels wrote it. Since it uses the Ross recording, “Love Hangover” writers Pam Sawyer and Marilyn McLeod also earned songwriting credits.
“The First Night” first hit No. 1 on October 3, 1998. It stayed there for two weeks, fell away, then returned to the summit for three more. Therefore, it became Monica’s second straight Hot 100 leader after her Brandy duet, “The Boy Is Mine.”
How did Diana Ross inspire Monica’s hit?
The song borrows the patient opening of Ross’s 1976 hit. It uses the piano and bass feel from “Love Hangover,” while Monica sings a different story. Her lyrics focus on a young woman resisting pressure during a date.
Ross also reached No. 1 with “Love Hangover” in 1976. However, Monica used its sound to frame a new R&B song for the late 1990s. The sample linked the two singers without turning their songs into the same story.
Monica discussed the album’s themes in a 1998 Billboard interview. “I’m 17 now; my lyrics aren’t sexually explicit but are about love and being in love,” she said. “I speak on those subjects for what I know them to be.”
Meanwhile, the single also spent six weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B Singles chart. Monica turned 18 while it was still leading the Hot 100. Its extended run made it her first solo No. 1 on that chart.
The Billboard-based 1990s ranking measures songs by their Hot 100 performance, rather than critics’ votes. Still, the No. 26 placement shows that “The First Night” stayed competitive among the decade’s biggest chart hits.
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