Music

Country Music Memories: ‘Wynonna Judd’ Goes Quadruple Platinum

Twenty-eight years ago today (Jan. 20, 1995), Wynonna Judd was undoubtedly toasting her own success. It was on that date that her eponymous album from 1992, her first as a solo artist, was certified quadruple platinum, for sales in excess of 4 million copies.

Wynonna was released one year after the Judds, Judd’s duo with her mother, Naomi Judd, disbanded when the elder Judd was diagnosed with Hepatitis C.

Wynonna album

Curb / MCA Nashville

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“I went through every possible emotion,” Wynonna Judd says of branching out as a solo artist. “I felt terrified. I felt frustrated and resentful of the fact that … all of a sudden — bam! My mother was gone. I didn’t speak to Mama for a month. I had to leave home, you know, pack my bags, just take off … It was the most alone I have ever been in my life, and the most depressed.”

Judd took eight months to record Wynonna, but her hard work paid off: The record spawned three No. 1 singles, “She Is His Only Need,” “I Saw the Light” and “No One Else on Earth.” The album, which spent four weeks at the top of the charts, also earned a CMA nomination for Album of the Year.

Wynonna is available for purchase on Amazon.

This story was originally written by Gayle Thompson, and revised by Annie Zaleski.

PICTURES: The Judds Through the Years

Take a look back at these snapshots of Naomi and Wynonna Judd, from the beginnings of their country music career to their final appearance together in 2022.