The Bodyguard (soundtrack)

Tour

Houston embarked on a world tour to continue promoting the album, which would remain on the charts throughout its duration. During the tour, Houston performed full length versions of all six of the Bodyguard tracks on the tour, with "I Have Nothing" and "I Will Always Love You" being prominently featured on the tour as showstoppers, with the latter song being performed near the end of the concert before returning onstage to sing "I'm Every Woman" as an encore, while "Jesus Loves Me" was performed as part of the gospel music portion of the show. "Queen of the Night" would start with the original hard rock version before Houston returned onstage and then it transformed into the house version, produced by C.J. Mackintosh. "Run to You" was sporadically performed during the tour on select dates.

Houston launched the tour at the James L. Knight Center in Miami, Florida on July 5, 1993, and ended it at the Green Point Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa on November 19, 1994, where she performed a total of 120 shows in front of more than half a million fans in five global continents and performed at the continents of South America and Africa for the first time in her career. During the 1993 leg, most of the dates were at theaters because Houston wanted an intimate setting. During the second North American leg of the tour, Houston performed at the opening ceremony of the 1994 FIFA World Cup at the Rose Bowl Stadium.^[34] Houston performed for the first time at stadiums in South America and South Africa to audiences as large as 75,000. The South Africa concerts in particular were special due to Houston being the first international artist to headline at the country following the abolishing of apartheid in the region and the presidential election win of Nelson Mandela. The Johannesburg show at Ellis Park Stadium aired on HBO to high ratings on November 12, while the November 8th show at Durban's Kings Park Stadium was posthumously shown at selected film theaters in October 2024 and was followed by a live recording, released on the 30th anniversary of the concert.

The tour proved to be a huge success as most of the dates were sold out. The success of the tour helped Houston make Forbes magazine's Richest Entertainers list. Houston earned over $33 million during 1993 and 1994, the third highest for a female entertainer.^[35] The tour led to several positive reviews of Houston's performance. During her first Radio City Music Hall performance in New York City, Stephen Holden of the New York Times wrote that "her stylistic trademarks — shivery melismas that ripple up in the middle of a song, twirling embellishments at the ends of phrases that suggest an almost breathless exhilaration — infuse her interpretations with flashes of musical and emotional lightning."^[36] At one of her Atlantic City dates, Kevin L. Carter of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that Houston handled her songs "with subdued emotionalism and the intelligence that only a gifted musician can bring to a song.^[37]

"Saving All My Love for You" was turned into a "smoky saloon-style ballad".^[38] Many critics noted that the highlight of the show was when Houston took on "And I Am Telling You" from Dreamgirls, and "I Loves You Porgy" from Porgy and Bess. Stephen Holden wrote of the medley that "her voice conveyed authority, power, determination and just enough vulnerability to give a sense of dramatic intention".^[36] As always, Houston included gospel songs. She introduced her band while performing 'Revelation.' Houston spoke about the Lord before going into 'Jesus Loves Me' which was often accompanied with complete silence from the mesmerized crowd."^[39] During Houston's seven consecutive sold-out residency at Radio City Music Hall in September 1994, New York Times critic Jon Pareles wrote, "Houston belted ballads, predictably bringing down the house with songs that moved from aching verses to surging choruses. A medley of hits from Dionne Warwick, Ms. Houston's cousin, lacked Ms. Warwick's lightness, but Ms. Houston made "Alfie" sound like the ethical wrangle it is".^[40] Ira Robbins of Newsday wrote, "Houston peaked in the Warwick segment with marvelous adaptions of "I Say a Little Prayer" and "Alfie", and "after the powerful one-two of "I Have Nothing" and a rendition of "Run to You" so compelling it would have been no shock to see Kevin Costner jog out".^[41]

Singles

Houston’s covers of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” and Chaka Khan’s “I’m Every Woman” were hit singles off the album.

"I Will Always Love You" was released as the lead single from the soundtrack, on November 2, 1992. The song became an immediate hit upon its release, receiving extensive airplay on multi-format stations as well as genre stations all over the country, appealing to pop, adult contemporary and R&B radio markets. On the November 14th issue of Billboard, "I Will Always Love You" entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 40, making it Houston's third highest debut at the time.^[42] Two weeks later, on its November 28 issue, the song shot to number one, giving Houston her career tenth number one single, tying her with Madonna for most number ones by a female artist at the time.^[43] The song stayed at number one for a record fourteen weeks, all of them spent consecutively, which remains a record to this day.^[44]

The song took off internationally as well, landing number one for fourteen weeks in New Zealand, ten weeks in the United Kingdom and Australia, nine weeks in Norway, 8 weeks in France and Switzerland, six weeks in the Netherlands and 3 weeks in Sweden, as well as thirteen weeks atop the European Singles chart.^{[45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52]} Eventually, the song would reach the top ten in more than 40 countries and top the charts in 34 of those countries. At 24 million copies sold globally, it is the best-selling single of all time by a female artist. The music video for the song, notable for Houston sitting on a stool singing the song while scenes of the film were interpolated, became an immediate hit on all music video stations including MTV, earning heavy rotation. The success of the video helped Houston win the MTV Movie Award for Best Song. The song also became her career sixth number one single on the Hot R&B Singles chart, where it stayed for a then-record 11 consecutive weeks, and also became her career ninth number one hit on the adult contemporary chart, where it stayed for 5 consecutive weeks.

The album's second single, "I'm Every Woman", was released on January 2, 1993. The song also became an immediate success, eventually peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100, all while "I Will Always Love You" remained at number one on the chart. The song followed "I Will Always Love You" to international chart success, reaching the top ten in fifteen other countries including the United Kingdom, Canada, Poland, New Zealand, Italy, Belgium, Denmark and the European Singles chart, placing in more top ten placements throughout its tenure than the Chaka Khan original did fifteen years earlier. The song's music video, directed by Randee St. Nicholas, was also a hit, with Houston featuring notable women such as the song's original co-writer Valerie Simpson, R&B group TLC, mother Cissy Houston and the song's original vocalist Khan. It later won Houston the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Music Video. The song reached number one on the Hot Dance Club Play chart, earning Houston her fourth career number one hit on the chart and her first to top the chart since "Love Will Save the Day" in 1988.

The third single, "I Have Nothing", was released on February 20, 1993, and also became an immediate hit, eventually peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. During the week of March 13, 1993, Houston made chart history as the first artist since the verification of Nielsen SoundScan in 1991 to land three songs simultaneously in the top twenty of the Billboard Hot 100, where "I Have Nothing" shot up to number 11 while "I'm Every Woman" and "I Will Always Love You" were numbers five and seven respectively, repeating this for the week of March 20, 1993.^[53][54] In addition to its Academy Award nomination,^[55] the same song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media, alongside "Run to You". The song reached number one on the Billboard Radio Songs and adult contemporary chart, earning a career tenth number one on the latter chart. The music video for the song also became a hit on every music video station as soon as it premiered.

The fourth song, "Run to You", was released as the next single on June 21, 1993. By this time of the album's chart tenure, it was selling anywhere between half a million and a million copies per week and due to this, the song only reached as high as number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming more of a modest success, though the song would spend 20 cumulative weeks on the chart, which showed Houston's strong chart presence at the time. Globally, its success was also modest, reaching the top ten in Canada, Ireland and Portugal, while peaking at number 15 in the United Kingdom. It was a bigger hit on the Billboard adult contemporary chart, reaching number ten.

The fifth song, "Queen of the Night", was mainly released only as a European market-only single on October 13, 1993. Its success on the European charts was also modest, reaching the top 20 in Belgium, Iceland, and the United Kingdom, where it reached number 14. In the US, a commercial single wasn't released, but the song made the top 20 on the Billboard Pop Airplay chart at number 17 and number 36 on its Radio Songs chart. Meanwhile, a house remix of the song by CJ Mackintosh, helped to send Houston a number one hit on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart, giving Houston her first career number one chart single as a songwriter.

While it was never released as a single, "Jesus Loves Me" earned significant radio airplay on gospel stations. Following Houston's sudden passing in 2012, the song reached the Billboard Gospel Digital Song Sales chart at number four for the week of February 25 of that year, giving Houston a sixth top ten Billboard chart single from the soundtrack and was also one of many Houston tracks to chart there.^[56] It later charted on Billboard's Gospel Streaming Songs chart for the week of April 11, 2015, landing at number 23, one of three Houston gospel tunes to chart there that week. The song was the last from the soundtrack to reach the Billboard charts. It also remains the only version of "Jesus Loves Me" to make a record chart.

Critical reception

More information Initial reviews (in 1992/1993), Review scores ...

Professional ratings

Initial reviews (in 1992/1993)
Review scores
Source	Rating
Entertainment Weekly	B[57]
Los Angeles Times	[1]
NME	4/10[58]
New York Times	(favorable)[33]
Orlando Sentinel	[59]
Q	[60]
Rolling Stone	[61]
Select	[62]
USA Today	[63]

Close

More information Retrospective reviews (after 1992/1993), Review scores ...

Professional ratings

Retrospective reviews (after 1992/1993)
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
MusicHound R&B	[64]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[65]
Sputnikmusic	[66]

Close

Upon its release, The Bodyguard received mixed-to-positive reviews, with most of the positive reviews, aimed at the production of Houston's songs and Houston's vocals. AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine views that the first half is characterized by urban pop songs similar to I'm Your Baby Tonight (1990), while the second half has miscellaneous tracks more "typical of a big-budget soundtrack".^[2]

In her Entertainment Weekly review, Amy Linden wrote, "Houston’s portion [of the soundtrack] is evenly divided between (a) the pleasantly efficient, yet soulless stuff from her three albums and (b) two stunning cover versions, whose selection is both artistically satisfying and uncharacteristically hip for the MOR songbird."^[57]

In his December 23, 1992 review of the album for The Washington Post, Geoffrey Himes wrote that the soundtrack was "the [then] 29-year-old star's best album yet", stating that "it provides her with the best material and least obtrusive arrangements."^[67]

In its retrospective review, MusicHound declares the album "contains Houston's best vocal performance ever" with "I Will Always Love You".^[64]

In its Rolling Stone review, the soundtrack "is nothing more than pleasant, tasteful and urbane, but for a phenomenon, it's worthy of its numbers."^[61]

Commercial performance

In the US, The Bodyguard debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart dated December 5, 1992, behind Ice Cube's The Predator, selling 144,500 copies in the first week.^[68] In the following week dated December 12, the album topped the Billboard 200, for increased sales of 292,000 units.^[69][70][71] While the album stayed at the summit on the charts, it broke the sales record for most single-week sales twice. During its fifth week, it sold 831,000 copies, breaking the single-week sales record set by heavy metal band Guns N' Roses' 1991 set, Use Your Illusion II.^[72] The following week, it broke its own record for most albums sold in a single week since Nielsen SoundScan introduced a computerized sales monitoring system in May 1991 when it sold approximately 1,061,000 copies, making Houston the first artist in the SoundScan era to have an album sell over a million copies in a single week.^[73][74][75] The album would spend a total of twenty cumulative weeks atop the Billboard 200, marking the first time a female artist had accumulated that many weeks at number one, including thirteen consecutive weeks at the summit, which became the second most consecutive weeks by a female artist, succeeded only by Carole King's Tapestry. In addition, Houston set another chart record when she spent the most cumulative weeks simultaneously on both the Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot 100 with The Bodyguard and "I Will Always Love You" spending twelve consecutive weeks at number one on the respective charts. One of the fastest-selling albums in music history, the album was eventually certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on November 3, 1993, less than a year after its release, becoming the first album by a female artist to go diamond for sales of ten million copies by the RIAA, eventually selling 19 million copies alone in the country.^[76][77]

In addition, after debuting at number two,^[78] the album also topped the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart in its second week^[79] and would go on to stay atop that chart for eight consecutive weeks, matching her run on the chart with her previous effort, I'm Your Baby Tonight (1990). On the Billboard 200, the album would spend 42 of its weeks inside the top ten, her second most weeks inside the top ten after Whitney Houston (1985), which spent 48 weeks inside the top ten during its run. It would eventually spend 155 cumulative weeks on the Billboard 200 and 122 weeks on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, marking the second time in the chart's history that a female artist had spent 100 or more weeks on the chart, followed by Houston's 1985 debut, which spent 116 weeks.^[80][81][82] It held a 19-year chart record as the female album with the most weeks at number one until singer Adele broke it with her album, 21, which went on to spend 24 weeks at number one. As of 2025, Houston and Adele remain the only female artists to have an album register at number one on the chart for twenty or more weeks.^[83] Due to its success on Billboard, the soundtrack was ranked the top album on the Billboard Year-End pop and R&B album lists, marking the second time Houston accomplished this since her debut, Whitney Houston, had done it in 1986.^[84] It was also the first album in Nielsen SoundScan history to rank among the top three albums in two consecutive years, ranking at number three in 1992 and number one for 1993, and the best-selling soundtrack by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) in 1993–1994.^[85][86] After the soundtrack was credited as a Whitney Houston album in Billboard's archives, Houston became the only artist of the Billboard 200 era with three albums to remain atop the chart for over eleven weeks ㅡWhitney Houston (14 weeks), Whitney (11 weeks) and The Bodyguard (20 weeks). Houston also broke the record for the most cumulative weeks at number one by a female artist with 46 cumulative weeks until Taylor Swift surpassed it in 2020 with her album Folklore.^[87] It also set an RIAA sales record for receiving the largest initial certification of any album at six-times platinum on January 18, 1993.^[88] The record was later broken by *NSYNC's No Strings Attached, certified 7× Platinum initially in April 2000.^[89] When the RIAA launched the Diamond Awards on March 16, 1999, The Bodyguard joined it along with 62 other albums.^[90][91] It is the first album to reach both the 10 million and 11 million sales mark in the US since 1991, when Nielsen SoundScan started tracking music sales.^[92] As of late 2014, it had sold 12,140,000 copies; it is the sixth best-selling album of the SoundScan era in the United States.^[93]

The Bodyguard became an international smash, going to number one in 20 other countries, including Australia for five weeks,^[94] Austria for nine weeks,^[95] Canada for 12 weeks,^[96] France for eight weeks, Germany for 11 weeks,^[97] Hungary for two weeks,^[98] Italy for two weeks, Japan for two weeks,^[99] Netherlands for six weeks,^[100] New Zealand for eight weeks,^[101] Norway for six weeks,^[102] Sweden for four weeks^[103] and Switzerland for nine weeks.^[104] In the United Kingdom, the album didn't chart on the main albums chart because compilation albums were excluded from the main albums chart from January 1989.^[105] Instead, the album reached the top on the official compilation albums chart and stayed there for 11 weeks, spending 60 non-consecutive weeks in the top 10 and for a total of 107 weeks on the chart. Through its massive success across Europe, it topped the European Top 100 Albums chart for 15 non-consecutive weeks.^[106] In the UK, the album was certified 7× platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on January 1, 1994,^[107] and has sold 2,255,000 copies, landing at number sixty on the list of UK's 100 best-selling albums of all time.^[108] In Japan, it was certified 2× million by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) in 1994, the first time a foreign artist achieved that feat in Japanese music history, and eventually became the best-selling foreign album with 2.8 million copies sold.^[109][110] The record was later broken by Mariah Carey's #1's, certified 3× million in 1998.^[110] In Germany, the album has sold more than 1.7 million, earning 3× platinum awards by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI).^[111][112] In addition, it was awarded Diamond for the sales of over 1 million in both France and Canada.^[113][114] It was certified 3× platinum in Brazil, becoming one of the best-selling international album by a female artist and set a record for the best-selling foreign album with the sales of 1.2 million over in South Korea.^{[115][116][117]} In Australia, it became the best selling album of 1993.^[118] In Mexico, the soundtrack sold more than 500,000 copies, making it the best-selling English-language record in 1994.^[119] To date, the album has sold 45 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling soundtrack of all time, the best-selling album by a female artist ever and the best-selling album of the 1990s.^[8]

Impact

The film and its accompanying soundtrack changed the direction of Houston's career. Though already a well-established superstar by the time of its release, the film and its soundtrack cemented her as a global megastar. Gail Mitchell, Billboard senior correspondent, stated, "plain and simple, The Bodyguard's unparalleled success cemented Whitney Houston's status in the firmament of iconic female singers," adding that the film sparked Houston's "second career as an actress — a transition that only a few singers have seamlessly accomplished."^[120] The Bodyguard spent 42 weeks inside the top ten of the Billboard 200, the fifth most weeks a soundtrack album has spent inside the top ten in chart history.^[121]

In later years, the soundtrack has been regarded as one of the best albums of all time. The Ringer ranked it the seventh best movie soundtrack of the past 50 years in 2021.^[122] On Pitchfork's 2022 list of its 150 Greatest Albums of the 1990s, the Houston soundtrack was listed at number 147, crediting Houston for influencing future stars such as Christina Aguilera and Ariana Grande. In 2023, the A.V. Club listed it as the 12th best movie soundtrack of all time.^[123] That same year, Cosmopolitan ranked it as the 38th best movie soundtrack of all time, while The Independent ranked it 35th place in its best top 40 film soundtracks.^[124][125] In 2024, it was listed among the 101 Greatest Soundtracks of All Time on Rolling Stone. A year later, in 2025, Entertainment Weekly listed it as one of the best film soundtracks of the 1990s.^[126] That same year, Classic Pop included the soundtrack as one of the 40 best pop soundtracks of all time.^[127]

The lead single "I Will Always Love You" is often recognized in all-time rankings. In 2001, the National Endowment for the Arts in collaboration with the Recording Industry Association of America listed the song at number 108 in its list of 365 songs of the 20th century.^[128] In 2004, the American Film Institute ranked it 65th place in its top 100 songs in American cinema of the 20th century.^[129] Rod Couch listed it as the top of his book ranking The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era: 1955-2015.^[130] The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2018, then selected by the Library of Congress in 2019 for preservation in the National Recording Registry. In 2021, Rolling Stone ranked the song 94th on its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.^[131] Billboard listed it as the 60th best pop song of all time in its 2023 ranking.^[132] At the 2021 funeral for American rapper DMX, Houston's "Jesus Loves Me" from the soundtrack was among the songs played.^[133]

Awards and accolades

Both The Bodyguard soundtrack and its singles received many accolades following its release. At the 65th Academy Awards in 1993, both "I Have Nothing" and "Run to You" received nominations for Best Original Song for its songwriters. At the 36th Annual Grammy Awards, Houston received four nominations and won three, including Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Record of the Year for "I Will Always Love You", while winning the Album of the Year for The Bodyguard, which made Houston just the second black female artist in Grammy history to win the coveted award. To this day, The Bodyguard remains the only soundtrack in history to have the soundtrack and one of its songs win the two top Grammy Awards.^[121]

At the 1994 American Music Awards, Houston won a staggering seven awards for the soundtrack including Favorite Pop/Rock Album, an additional eighth American Music Award for Award of Merit earned Houston a record for the most AMAs won by a woman, tying overall with Michael Jackson. Houston received 11 Billboard Music Awards in 1993, including Top Billboard 200 Album for The Bodyguard. Internationally, Houston won five World Music Awards, six Japan Gold Disc Awards, a Juno Award for International Album of the Year and a Brit Award for Soundtrack/Cast Recording.

I Wish You Love: More from The Bodyguard

I Wish You Love: More from the Bodyguard is the 25th anniversary reissue of the album, released by Legacy Recordings on November 17, 2017. The album was released to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the movie, The Bodyguard, which marked Houston's film debut.^[134] It includes the film versions of her six Bodyguard contributions – "I Will Always Love You", "I Have Nothing", "I'm Every Woman", "Run to You", "Queen of the Night" and "Jesus Loves Me" – as well as remixes and live performances of the songs from subsequent tours.^[134] The album's release coincided with a tribute to Houston and the music of The Bodyguard at the American Music Awards on November 19 on ABC as performed by Christina Aguilera.^[134] Ahead of the performance, Aguilera wrote on Instagram, "I am excited, honored and humbled to perform a tribute to one of my idols."^[135]