The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified Whitney Houston’s unique cover version of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” as a diamond song.
In the United States, diamond status is awarded by the RIAA to songs and albums that have sold and streamed 10 million equivalent units. Diamond status is equivalent to platinum status 10 times over.
The latest honor is the late artist’s fourth diamond certification. The soundtrack to The Bodyguard, which includes “I Will Always Love You,” has gone 18 times platinum. “I Will Always Love You,” is Whitney’s first diamond single.
Following Mariah Carey and Taylor Swift, Houston is the third female artist to have a diamond-certified song and album.
Whitney’s version of the song was used in her film debut in 1992 (The Bodyguard), in which she acts as a successful female artist who falls in love with her bodyguard (acted by Kevin Costner). According to Nielsen Music, the song debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 28, 1992, and spent 14 weeks at the top, selling 3.1 million copies to become the year’s top-selling single in just nine weeks.
