November 17 will mark 30 years since the release of one of the most iconic albums in Pop music history.
Whitney Houston’s groundbreaking and record-shattering soundtrack to the film The Bodyguard, which also marked her debut as a motion picture actress, was released in the year 1992 – catapulting her to an unprecedented level of stardom.
By this time, Houston had already had three record-breaking studio albums, which had already established her as the biggest selling female artist on the planet at that time. But The Bodyguard soundtrack in 1992 took this several leaps further. (Although the feat has since then, passed on to others like Mariah Carey, Celine Dion and Madonna).
It was also a year after the phenomenal singer had cemented her name in history books by delivering one of the most iconic renditions of the American national anthem at the Super Bowl game.
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It was only inevitable any further success was going to take her star beyond any other female artist had gone in global superstardom, but The Bodyguard even broke those expectations and reached international musical markets, that no other female artist of color had reached before.
Over the years, the album added many historic feats and feathers to it’s coveted hat and to that of the legacy of Whitney Houston. And as we celebrate 30 years of the landmark album, here’s looking at 5 of those biggest achievements from this album:
Biggest Selling Female Album
The album has pulled over 45 million copies sold worldwide over the years – making it the biggest female album in history. And the interesting thing is – being a catalog seller, the album continues to sell and pull decent numbers steadily even today.
Biggest Selling Song By A Female
The album gave birth to one of the most iconic Pop ballads in music history – and one that became not only Houston’s signature track but also her musical identity to the masses. It was the Dolly Parton written tune ‘I Will Always Love You’, which showcased her at the top of her vocal prime – and over the years, became the best selling song by a female artist, bar none. It has sold over 21 million copies worldwide, till date.
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1 Of the 3 Diamond Albums From Whitney
One of her most recent feats, achieved posthumously, was when her second album earned a Diamond certification by the RIAA (which means sale of 10 million or more units in the United States), becoming her third album to do so after her self-titled debut and of course – The Bodyguard OST. The three albums, made her the first and only black artist in history, male or female, to boast of 3 diamond-certified albums.
Best Selling Soundtrack Album
This isn’t just the best selling female album of all time, but also the best selling soundtrack album of all time. Surpassing many other iconic soundtracks like – Dirty Dancing, Saturday Night Fever and Titanic.
First Album To Sell Over One Million Copies In A Week
Before Adele did it. Before Taylor Swift did it (in the digital era, mind you). It was Whitney Houston who sold over 1 million physical copies in a single week, with this soundtrack album back in 1992, making it the first album in music history to do so.
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Aside from these five glorious feats, the album also went on to win 3 major Grammy awards in the year 1994, including Album Of The Year, Record Of The Year and Best Pop Female Vocal Performance. It was also nominated for two Oscars in the ‘Best Original Song’ category for the songs – ‘I Have Nothing’ and ‘Run To You’.
In the year 2020, the song ‘I Will Always Love You’ became one of the rare recordings to be inducted into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress, amounting as a piece of recorded music with historic and cultural significance.
Recently, in the year 2022 – the song was also certified diamond, making her one of the few artists to have multiple diamond certifications across singles and albums. Parallelly, the song also crossed 1 billion views on YouTube, making it the first pre-2000’s Pop song to do so on the platform, even before Michael Jackson’s iconic hit ‘Billie Jean’ could do it.
It is safe to say that Pop music would not have been the same without this album. Or even without the earlier work of Houston, that led to this.