All the coverage about this week’s finale of The Oprah Winfrey Show made sure to mention the power of Oprah — books, education, her Favorite Things — all received a major boost from the airtime given to them. But often overlooked in those stories was music, which played a big part in the show’s 25-year history as well. For artists who scored an appearance, The Oprah Winfrey Show was also quite the platform and sales catapult.

On Wednesday, the same day the talk-show’s final episode aired, Billboard did post “Oprah: 10 Favorite Music Moments,” but the feature suffered from the recency effect. With the exception of Oprah’s 1993 interview with Michael Jackson at the Neverland Ranch (actually an ABC primetime special and not from her daytime talk show), all of the clips picked are from 2007 or later, though what made the list is likely a function of what was able to be sourced via YouTube.

One of my most memorable Oprah music moments dates way back to March 5, 1991, when she had Oleta Adams on to sing “Get Here.” Adams’ major-label debut, Circle Of One, had been released the previous May, and hadn’t made much of a ripple. I don’t recall the details of how the album made its way to Oprah, but I do remember she said she’d bought several copies so that the Circle Of One CD was in nearly every room and in her car. That’s how much she liked it.

Adams had been discovered singing in a Kansas City, Missouri hotel bar by Tears For Fears’ Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, who invited her to join the band for The Seeds Of Love album and world tour. She was eventually signed to the same record label, with Orzabal co-producing Circle Of One. “Get Here,” written by Brenda Russell, was actually the third single from the set — remember, the album was initially released in May 1990 — peaked at #5 on March 23, 1991, a couple of weeks after Adams’ performance on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Ron Carter, Adams’ then-publicist, recalls that the day after she sang “Get Here” on Oprah, Circle Of One sold 100,000 copies. Within a week, the total numbered 300,000, propelling the album to #20 on the Billboard albums chart. I don’t recall going out that day to buy Circle Of One, but it wasn’t too long before I did. Strangely though, it wasn’t until college that I became enraptured with The Seeds Of Love, and Adams’ turn on “Woman In Chains,” worthy of its own future flashback.

Purchase Oleta Adams – “Get Here” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.