1998 No. 1 Hit Ranked 'Best Power Ballad of All Time' Was Iconic Rock Band's Bestselling Single Ever

By Jacqueline Burt Cote Parade - Trending Stories

Updated April 14, 2026 8:12 PM

Considering Aerosmith is one of the most successful and popular rock bands in history, one might assume that at least a few of their hit songs went all the way to #1 on the Billboard charts. Interestingly, though, that's not the case: Aerosmith has only had one #1 single over the course of their decades-long career, and it didn't come along until 1998. Not only that, but the tune wasn't even written for them in the first place.

Released in 1998, "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" was the theme song for the sci-fi blockbuster Armageddon, starring Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Bruce Willis and, of course, Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler's daughter, Liv Tyler. The sweeping, emotional ballad debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, the first Aerosmith song to achieve such a milestone, and it reigned supreme for four weeks.

Not bad for a song that was originally intended for somebody like...Celine Dion.

As legendary songwriter Diane Warren told Short List, she definitely wasn't thinking of Aerosmith when she wrote "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing."

"When I wrote it I thought it would end up being like Celine Dion or somebody like that," she said, going on to explain that she was inspired to write the song by an interview with James Brolin where the actor admitted he doesn't like falling asleep because he worries about missing his wife, Barbara Streisand.

"I kept it in the back of my head and when that movie came round I thought, ‘You know, I'm gonna write this song because it could be about the end of the world - it could fit that storyline or it could fit this love story,'" Warren said.

Even if she originally had a very different type of voice in mind for "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing," Warren ended up being pleasantly surprised by the Aerosmith version, particularly Tyler's delivery of the line: "Don't want to close my eyes / I don't want to fall asleep / 'Cause I'd miss you baby / And I don't want to miss a thing"

"What was so cool about when Aerosmith did it, when Steven Tyler sang it, it became a different thing," she said. "It's so much cooler to hear someone like Steven Tyler – this gruff, macho rock star, this amazing tough guy - for him to say that lyric, it just brought a whole other dimension to it. I don't think it would have been the same hit, or the same standard if it wasn't for someone like Steven Tyler doing that song."

Indeed, in the years since it was released, it seems fan affection for the song has only grown stronger. "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" has over one billion streams on Spotify alone and was ranked "Best Power Ballad Ever" by Classic Rock.

"It's a poignant epic characterized by one of Steven Tyler's most impassioned performances," raved the CR article. "He takes an essentially wimpy song and transforms it into one of soul-searing grandeur via some feral vocal pyrotechnics (‘Forever, forever… and E-E-E-EVER!'). Ms Warren - more at home with the likes of Celine Dion and Whitney Houston - must've been awestruck by this interpretation of her song. In literary terms, the Boys From Boston transformed a chaste romantic novel into a steamy bodice-ripper."

And that's how Aerosmith ended up with their very first #1.

This story was originally published April 14, 2026 at 6:58 PM.

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