Pop superstar breaks record held by iconic Whitney Houston album
For decades, no one has been able to compete with Houston for the title of the best-selling female album of all time.
'The Bodyguard' was not just a big-screen hit.
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It also gifted multiple generations with one of the most renowned soundtracks of all time, featuring the Whitney Houston classic 'I Will Always Love You'.
The album was released in 1992 to help promote the film and quickly became a global commercial success, topping the record charts in 21 countries.
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In the United States, the album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 before climbing to number one in its second week of release, where it remained for 20 non-consecutive weeks, making it the first album by a female artist to top the charts for that many weeks.
In its sixth week, it sold 1 million copies, making Houston the first artist to do so.
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By November 1993, it had sold 10 million copies, becoming the first female album to do so in the United States.
Overall, the album would sell over 45 million copies worldwide and break multiple records, including the best-selling soundtrack album of all time, the best-selling album by a woman in music history, and the best-selling album of the decade.
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The Grammy Awards wrote in 2017, on the 25th anniversary of the film, "Of course, the feat can be attributed largely to the appeal of late pop queen Whitney Houston, who co-starred in the film and contributed six songs, among them her jaw-dropping version of Dolly Parton's 1974 ballad 'I Will Always Love You' that features Houston delivering arguably the best female pop vocal performance of all time."
Unfortunately, another extremely talented vocalist has dethroned Houston and has taken the top spot of the best-selling female album of all time.
Adele is starting 2026 on a high note as her album '21' has officially sold 56,381-million copies, overtaking Houston's record of 56,375-million.
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According to ChartMasters/CSPC, the British pop star's 2011 album is also 11th on the combined list.
Here is the complete list of best-selling female albums of all time:
- Adele - '21'
- Whitney Houston - 'The Bodyguard Soundtrack'
- Shania Twain - 'Come On Over' (47,665,000 albums sold)
- Celine Dion - 'Let's Talk About Love' (47,502,000 albums sold)
- Lady Gaga - 'The Fame/The Fame Monster' (44,971,000 albums sold)
- Celine Dion - 'Falling Into You' (43,577,000 albums sold)
- Alanis Morissette - 'Jagged Little Pill' (43,272,000 albums sold)
- Taylor Swift - '1989' (41,884,000 albums sold)
- Madonna - 'Like A Virgin' (41,220,000 albums sold)
- Madonna - True Blue' (38,121,000 albums sold)
One of the collaborators Adele worked with on '21', producer and singer-songwriter Ryan Tedder, took to Instagram to share the exciting news:
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