Who recorded it first
The Best
Not a Tina Turner original — a 1988 Bonnie Tyler single
Almost everyone hears “The Best” as a Tina Turner song, written for her and born with her. It was not. Mike Chapman and Holly Knight wrote it, offered it first to Paul Young — who passed — and Bonnie Tyler made the first recording, issued as the lead single from her album Hide Your Heart in January 1988 on CBS Records. Tyler’s single reached no. 10 in Norway and no. 25 in Finland but spent a single week in the UK chart at no. 95; Turner’s Capitol version arrived in August 1989 and became one of the most recognisable records of her career.
The record
Who recorded it first
Released Issued as a single on CBS Records in January 1988, ahead of its parent album Hide Your Heart, which followed on 9 May 1988 and carried it as track 7.
Charted No. 10 in Norway and no. 25 in Finland, with a no. 8 placing on Italian airplay — but only one week in the UK Singles Chart, at no. 95, and no US chart placing at all.
Hear Bonnie Tyler’s original 1988 recording of “The Best” www.youtube.com · Auto-generated distributor upload on the “Bonnie Tyler – Topic” channel; the description reads “Provided to YouTube by Sony Music UK” and carries a ℗ 1988 Sony Music Entertainment UK line. Its runtime of 4:16 matches the MusicBrainz recording for the Hide Your Heart track exactly, confirming it is the 1988 master and not a later re-recording.Following the paper trail
Wikipedia’s article on “The Best” ↗ states plainly that Bonnie Tyler recorded the first version, released in January 1988 as the lead single from Hide Your Heart, and that Tina Turner’s version followed on 21 August 1989.
The album entry for Hide Your Heart ↗ confirms the CBS Records issue on 9 May 1988, Desmond Child as producer, and “The Best” at track 7 running 4:16.
The MusicBrainz recording entity ↗ for the Tyler track gives a length of 4:16 on the 1988 Hide Your Heart release — the same runtime as the distributor-supplied audio linked above.
Wikipedia: “The Best” — both recordings, side by sideKnow more about the original — or think we’ve got it wrong? Add a source →
Fact-check
What people get wrong
The song is so completely fused with Tina Turner that the existence of an earlier recording surprises most listeners. Here is the record.
Tina Turner originated “The Best” in 1989
Her Capitol single is the version used in advertising, in sport and in tribute for decades, and it is treated as synonymous with her name.
Bonnie Tyler, January 1988, CBS Records
Released as the lead single from Hide Your Heart, ahead of the album’s 9 May 1988 issue. It reached no. 10 in Norway and no. 25 in Finland but spent one week at no. 95 in the UK.
Mike Chapman and Holly Knight
They wrote it and pitched it to Paul Young, who turned it down. Turner later went back to Knight and asked for the bridge and key change that define the famous version.
Bonnie Tyler recorded it first, in January 1988. Tina Turner recorded it better, in August 1989 — and reshaped it while she was at it.
Context
Why the cover swallowed the original
The interesting question is not why Tina Turner had a hit with “The Best” — it is why almost nobody remembers there was anything to cover. Bonnie Tyler’s original was not a flop everywhere; it reached no. 10 in Norway. But in the two markets that write pop history it barely registered, spending exactly one week in the UK chart at no. 95 and never charting in the US at all. A record that faint leaves no memory for a later version to compete with.
Then Turner did something covers rarely do: she changed the architecture. She asked Holly Knight for a bridge and a key change before she would record it, and those additions are precisely the parts the song is now famous for — the lift that makes it work as a stadium record. The Turner version went on to sell Pepsi, Toyotas and T-Mobile contracts, to become the anthem of Australian rugby league after a 1990 campaign, and to attach itself to Ayrton Senna after he appeared during her performance at the 1993 Australian Grand Prix. Decades of that kind of use will overwrite anyone’s memory of a single that lasted seven days at no. 95.
The chronology, step by step
- Mike Chapman and Holly Knight write “The Best” and offer it to Paul Young, who declines it.
- January 1988 — Bonnie Tyler’s recording is released on CBS Records as the lead single from her forthcoming album.
- 9 May 1988 — the album Hide Your Heart, produced by Desmond Child, is released; “The Best” is track 7, running 4:16.
- The single reaches no. 10 in Norway and no. 25 in Finland, but spends one week in the UK Singles Chart at no. 95 and does not chart in the US.
- 21 August 1989 — Tina Turner’s version is released on Capitol Records as the lead single from Foreign Affair, with a bridge and key change added at her request.
- Turner’s version reaches no. 5 in the UK and no. 15 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and is certified double platinum in the UK.
- 1992 — Turner re-cuts it as “(Simply) The Best” with Jimmy Barnes to promote the New South Wales Rugby League season, reaching no. 14 in Australia.
The original charted for one week in Britain. The cover charted for a generation.