It Must Have Been Love
original song written and composed by Per Gessle; originally recorded by Roxette and released in 1987
"It Must Have Been Love", originally "It Must Have Been Love (Christmas for the Broken Hearted)", is a song written by Per Gessle and performed by the Swedish pop duo Roxette. The power ballad became the duo's third number one hit in the United States, and is one of their best selling releases, being certified gold or platinum in a number of countries. It remains their best-known and signature song.
Five different versions of the song have been officially released. The original song was released in 1987, which was followed by the most successful incarnation, a slightly edited and overdubbed version, omitting the Christmas references, created for the soundtrack to the 1990 film Pretty Woman. During the "Join the Joyride! World Tour" in 1991, the band recorded a country music version in Los Angeles, included on their 1992 album Tourism. A Spanish-language version of the Pretty Woman recording was released on their 1996 compilation Baladas en Español. Finally, an orchestral live performance from the band's 2009 concert at Night of the Proms was included on their 2012 studio album, Travelling.
Original release (1987)
The song was first released as "It Must Have Been Love (Christmas for the Broken Hearted)" in December 1987.
“It Must Have Been Love” enters the record as original song written and composed by Per Gessle; originally recorded by Roxette and released in 1987. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Must, Have and Been can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1507812. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1987, 1990, 1991 and 1992.
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This entry incorporates text from “It Must Have Been Love” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.