The First Time (Surface song)

"The First Time"
"The First Time"
Single by Surface
from the album 3 Deep
B-side	"Closer Than Friends"
Released	October 1990; October 11, 1990; December 6, 1990
Recorded	1989
Genre	R&B; quiet storm;
Length	4:16
Label	Columbia
Songwriter(s)	Brian Simpson; Bernard Jackson
Producer(s)	Surface
Surface singles chronology

"The First Time" is a single by American R&B/pop music trio Surface that hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1991 for two weeks, the trio's only chart-topper. The song also spent one week at number one on the U.S. R&B chart^[2] and two weeks atop the adult contemporary chart.^[3]

Charts[edit]

Chart (1990–1991)	Peak position
Australia (ARIA)^[4]	103
Canada RPM Adult Contemporary^[5]	1
Canada RPM Top Singles^[6]	18
New Zealand Singles Chart^[7]	7
UK Singles Chart	60
US Billboard Hot 100	1
US Billboard R&B Singles^[2]	1
US Billboard Adult Contemporary^[3]	1
US Cash Box Top 100^[8]	1

Year-end chart (1991)	Position
US Top Pop Singles (Billboard)^[9]	9
US Cash Box^[10]	21

Chart (1958–2018)	Position
US Billboard Hot 100^[11]	278

^ ^a ^b Breihan, Tom (November 3, 2021). "The Number Ones: Surface's "The First Time". Stereogum. Retrieved December 19, 2023. Consider the chorus of "The First Time," a tender R&B ballad that was the only #1 hit for the group known as Surface...and "The First Time" sounded like a relic of the smoothed-out quiet storm '80s.
^ ^a ^b Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 559.
^ ^a ^b Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 237.
^ "Bubbling Down Under: Week commencing 11 February 1991". Retrieved February 20, 2022.
^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. February 16, 1991. Retrieved December 21, 2018.
^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. March 2, 1991. Retrieved December 21, 2018.
^ Charts.nz
^ Cash Box Top 100 Singles, February 2, 1991
^ "1991 The Year in Music & Video: Top Pop Singles". Billboard. 103 (51). Nielsen Business Media Inc.: YE-14 December 21, 1991.
^ "Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 28, 1991". Archived from the original on December 28, 2018. Retrieved December 28, 2018.
^ "Billboard Hot 100 60th Anniversary Interactive Chart". Billboard. Retrieved December 10, 2018.

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