Faith Hill's 1998 album, Faith, moved her closer towards a mainstream, pop-oriented sound, which lost her many of her long-time fans. "This Kiss" became a #1 country hit, and went to #7 on the pop charts.


Faith Hill's fame grew rapidly as she signed an endorsement deal with CoverGirl makeup and released Breathe, an even more successful pop hit that became one of the biggest albums of 2000. The title track "Breathe" was the #1 pop airplay song that year and has become Hill's signature song; especially notable is the power and control she shows in her lower register during the song. "The Way You Love Me" hit the top ten as well (#7), and becoming one of the longest running singles in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 (57 weeks). The album won Faith Hill three Grammy Awards including Best Country Album.


In 2002, Hill released Cry. Though the album debuted at #1 on Billboard magazine's pop and country album charts, its singles (including the title track, written and originally performed by Angie Aparo) received much less radio airplay than her previous smashes. In fact, country radio pretty much ignored the songs, considering them "too pop". The album did win one Grammy Award and has sold nearly 3 million copies worldwide.


In the summer of 2004, Faith Hill co-starred with Nicole Kidman and Matthew Broderick in director Frank Oz's remake of the 1975 thriller The Stepford Wives.

Follow up:

Faith Hill references this sojourn in Hollywood as well as the chilly reception of Cry in the 2005 country release "Mississippi Girl", the first single from her back-to-roots album Fireflies. It worked, as the song restored her to the top of the country charts. "Mississippi Girl" is her 8th song to have reached #1. Faith Hill performed this song along with "Breathe" and "Piece of My Heart" at the Live 8 concert in Rome on July 2, 2005, where Tim McGraw also performed. The second single, "Like We Never Loved At All", featured a duet with Tim McGraw and reached the top five of the country chart, as well as winning the duo a Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. A third single called "The Lucky One" has been released on February 2006. The album "Fireflies" has sold more than 2 million copies in the US and has been certified Double Platinum on January 2006.


On the same month, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw decided to reprise their Soul II Soul tour. The co-headlining arena tour will begin April 21 and will run through Labor Day, with a total of about 70 dates in the works.





By the holidays she had contributed "Where Are You Christmas?" to the movie How the Grinch Stole Christmas; this gospel-flavored song became very popular on the all-Christmas-all-the-time holiday formats that American radio stations adopted in the 2000s. The following summer she recorded the Diane Warren penned "There You'll Be" for the Pearl Harbor soundtrack. After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Faith Hill showed her gospel colorings again when she performed "There Will Come a Day" on the America: A Tribute to Heroes benefit telethon. At the end of 2001, Faith Hill released her first collection called "There You'll Be" which reached top 30 of the Italian album chart and #6 on the UK album chart selling nearly 1 million copies worldwide.