Whitney Houston: "I Will Always Love You"
"I Will Always Love You" spent 14 weeks at the top of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, a record at the time. The single became Houston's longest run at number one. It debuted at number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became Houston's tenth number one hit a mere two weeks later.
Houston's single sold approximately 400,000 copies in its second week on the summit, making it the best-selling song in a single week. It broke its own record in the following three weeks, peaking at 632,000 copies the week of December 27, 1992. "I Will Always Love You" was certified 4× Platinum in the U.S. for shipments of over 4 million copies by the RIAA on January 12, 1993, making Houston the first female artist with a single to reach that level in the RIAA history. According to Nielsen SoundScan, as of 2009, the single sold 4,591,000 copies in the U.S. alone.
The song was international success, peaking at number one of the singles charts in almost every country. In the United Kingdom, the single sold over 1,450,000 copies. It was certified Platinum for shipments of over 500,000 copies by the BVMI in Germany. In Japan, "I Will Always Love You" sold over 810,000 copies, staying for 27 weeks on the charts, and became the best-selling single by a foreign female artist.
"I Will Always Love You" won the Record of the Year, and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female at the 36th Grammy Awards in 1994. During the Grammy Award telecast, the Record of the Year award was presented to Houston by composer Dolly Parton, along with David Foster. The single topped the 1993 Billboard Hot 100 Single and Hot R&B Single year-end chart simultaneously, becoming the first single by a female artist and the second overall to achieve that feat. In addition, it received Favorite Pop/Rock Single and Favorite Soul/R&B Single awards at the 21st American Music Awards, which was the first record by a solo female artist to win both categories, and the third overall in AMA history.
How awesome is that?
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