Whitney Houston chart records and achievements

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of chart records and achievements by American singer Whitney Houston.

U.S. Sales records are certified by the RIAA and can be considered accurate. U.S. chart positions are official through Billboard Magazine. However, world sales are a close estimate, as no process exists that certifies global sales.

Contents

[edit] Sales records

  • In 1994, Whitney received an award from the World Music Awards, for being the "best-selling artist of the era". To date she has sold over 230 million records worldwide: 145 million albums and 85 million singles.
  • At the end of 1999, Whitney was named the top-selling R&B female artist of the century.[1]
  • The Bodyguard was the first pop album in Korea to sell one million copies.
  • The world's biggest selling soundtrack is The Bodyguard with over 37 million units sold.
  • Whitney has fourteen gold singles in the United States, behind only Janet Jackson and Madonna among female artists.
  • The world's best selling debut album by a female is Whitney Houston, with over twenty-four million copies sold.(The record was broken in 1999 when ...Baby One More Time by Britney Spears was released with tweny-five million copies sold worldwide.) The album also ranks as the best selling female album of the 1980s.
  • Whitney was the first female artist to have two diamond albums (as of January 1994, both Whitney Houston and The Bodyguard were over ten times platinum). To date, Whitney, Madonna, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Céline Dion, Shania Twain, and The Dixie Chicks are the only female artists with multiple diamond albums.
  • "I Will Always Love You" is the best-selling single by a female artist, and the biggest-selling non-charity single of all time, with world sales of ten million copies.
  • The Bodyguard was the world's largest selling soundtrack of the 1990s with over thirty-three million copies sold from 1992 to 1999.
  • The largest initial certification of any album by the RIAA was for The Bodyguard, whose first certification was for sales of over six million copies.
  • Whitney is one of only two female artists (the other being Mariah Carey) to have three albums sell over nine million copies each in the U.S.: Whitney Houston, Whitney, and The Bodyguard.
  • In the 1990s, Whitney was the best-selling soundtrack artist in the U.S., with her three soundtracks selling over twenty-seven million copies in the United States throughout the decade.
  • The Preacher's Wife soundtrack is the best-selling Gospel album of all time, with sales of over three million copies in the U.S. and six million copies worldwide.
  • Whitney's version of "The Star Spangled Banner" is the only version to be certified platinum.
  • Whitney holds the record for highest one week single sales by a female artist as 632,000 copies of "I Will Always Love You" were sold in the final week of December 1992.
  • The Bodyguard is the best-selling album by a foreign female artist in Brazil.

[edit] Chart records

Hot 100

Hot 100 Single Sales

  • "I Will Always Love You" topped the Hot 100 Single Sales chart for fourteen weeks; the most for any two female artist.
  • With seven songs, Whitney also holds the record for most consecutive number-one singles on the chart.

Billboard 200

  • The first album by a female to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 was 1987's Whitney.
  • Whitney is the only artist with three albums to remain on top of the Top 200 for over ten weeks (Whitney Houston (fourteen weeks), Whitney (eleven weeks), and The Bodyguard (twenty weeks)).
  • The Bodyguard sold a million copies in the final week of 1992. At the time, it set a record for the most albums sold in a single week. The record was broken in 1998 and again in 1999, but this was due to changes in the way the Billboard 200 was compiled, adding extra days' sales for Garth Brooks] and Backstreet Boys. More recently, 'N Sync, Britney Spears, and Eminem have followed in the million-plus league.
  • Whitney's albums have spent fifty weeks at number one on the Billboard 200, more than any other female artist.

Top Gospel Albums

  • Whitney has the longest stay at number one on the Billboard Top Gospel Albums Chart, when The Preacher's Wife remained at number one for twenty-six weeks.

[edit] Other records

[edit] International records

  • Whitney is the first and only female artist to concurrently top the US, UK, and Australian charts with a single song ("I Will Always Love You").
  • Whitney has the longest concurrent topping of the US, UK, and Australian charts when "I Will Always Love You" spent 9 weeks simultaneously topping the charts.
  • Whitney is the only artist to have one song in the UK Year-End Singles Chart for two consecutive years. "I Will Always Love You" ranked #1 in 1992, and #9 in 1993.
  • "I Will Always Love You" was named the Top Australian Single of the 1990s.
  • "I Will Always Love You" is the only single to have a double-digit run at the top of the U.S., UK, and Australian charts.