Selling high amounts of albums and singles with the same material is a tough target. This being said, The Bodyguard managed it perfectly. The lead single I Will Always Love You sold an absurd total of 10,56 million physical units, making it the highest selling single studied so far and replicating the album achievement, an unreal result. Just like in the album front, it tops none other than the Grease Soundtrack lead single, You’re the One That I Want. The Top 10 prior to this article is displayed below.
1 1978 Soundtrack – You’re the One That I Want [Grease] – 10,400,000
2 1997 Céline Dion – My Heart Will Go On [Let’s Talk About Love] – 8,100,000
3 1984 George Michael – Careless Whisper [Make It Big] – 6,500,000
4 1975 Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody [A Night At The Opera] – 6,400,000
5 1999 Britney Spears – …Baby One More Time […Baby One More Time] – 6,000,000
1 1992 – Soundtrack / Whitney Houston – I Will Always Love You [The Bodyguard] – 10,560,000
2 1978 – Soundtrack – You’re the One That I Want [Grease] – 10,400,000
3 1968 – Beatles – Hey Jude [Orphan] – 8,200,000
4 1997 – Soundtrack / Celine Dion – My Heart Will Go On [Let’s Talk About Love] – 8,100,000
5 1963 – Beatles – I Want to Hold Your Hand [Orphan] – 7,800,000
6 1977 – Soundtrack / Bee Gees – Stayin’ Alive [Saturday Night Fever] – 6,470,000
7 1975 – Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody [A Night At The Opera] – 6,400,000
8 1984 – George Michael – Careless Whisper [Make It Big] – 6,290,000
9 1999 – Britney Spears – …Baby One More Time […Baby One More Time] – 6,000,000
10 1979 – Bee Gees – Too Much Heaven [Spirits Having Flown] – 5,640,000
Whitney Houston sold way more singles during the 90s than just this one with at least 2 songs from each era topping the million mark. With 7,44 million units sold combined, My Love Is Your Love hits performed incredibly well.
The Bodyguard (1992) – 4,074,000 equivalent albums
I Will Always Love You – 10,560,000
I Have Nothing – 1,150,000
I’m Every Woman – 1,440,000
Run to You – 290,000
Queen of the Night – 140,000
NB: Song It’s Gonna Be a Lovely Day which isn’t from Whitney Houston sold 300,000 units, adding 90,000 units to the album as we will see in final totals.
The Preacher’s Wife (1996) – 741,000 equivalent albums
I Believe in You and Me – 1,110,000
Step by Step – 1,280,000
My Heart Is Calling – 80,000
My Love Is Your Love (1998) – 2,232,000 equivalent albums
It’s Not Right, But It’s Okay – 1,450,000
Heartbreak Hotel – 1,600,000
My Love Is Your Love – 2,640,000
When You Believe – 1,320,000
If I Told You That – 130,000
I Learned from the Best – 300,000
MJD, If Waiting To Exhale Soundtrack wasn’t included in Whitney’s Albums, can you still have study on it at least?
You mean to tell me she didn’t sell anything in africa. When she had 3 successful concerts in africa??
Where is it stated she sold nothing in Africa exactly? 😉
Well where are her sales for africa then?
They’re just now shown in the breakdown but they are taken into account. Africa + Middle Eastern sales should be around 1.6m
MJD, Can you please update this article?
Because it’s really needed since her Higher Love Single and now
Whitney Album turns to Diamond in US:
https://news.yahoo.com/whitney-houston-makes-history-3rd-111409063.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cDovL20uZmFjZWJvb2suY29tLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAGmr2spsrG8ISrQkv3ksMwHofdx73RXd1r1AqfriA6UnvHYEgCzQ2Zw-HwwQuX8QaiG-xMczTPkcLcaL4f_poV4Zn_Hln7PAUahS60Do_FfI21x8rs6TPJB9OsVF1mi9W15IfZlGAu2GdG1KUcT7lDexSSI0hO_n-dgVcCgrQPof
The ‘Whitney’ album has finally gone diamond! The first African American artist to ever have 3 diamond albums in the US
This needs to be updated. I know for a fact she has sales in Africa!!
Please update Whitney’s discography. We wait for so long
Her appeal in Europe surprises me. 40 million albums sold there is very impressive. Even during her most R&B era “My Love Is Your Love,” that album sold an impressive 4 million copies in Europe.
Her latest hit “Higher Love” did best in Europe and was a true hit for her. Europeans have stayed loyal to Whitney no matter what.
This needs to be updated. I know for a fact she has sales in Africa.
Higher love sold more than 2 million in 2019.. it is still in UK chart on it’s 47th week. Her Ultimate album is in the top 40 again in UK after what 7- 8 yrs in the chart? it is gonna be 6x platinum in us soon, Whitney’s second album will be diamond in US soon, I read somewhere only less than 50k needed to be certified 10x platinum . and her first album is almost 14x olatinum if that happens, whitney will have 3 diamond albums. This is from world music 1994 award whitney was the biggest selling female… Read more »