It’s been six years since the world lost Whitney Houston, one of music’s most iconic voices.
Thursday, August 9, marks what would have been Houston’s 55th birthday. To remember the singer we’ve created a quick list of records the singer broke during her career.
1. Whitney Houston was the only singer to ever turn the “The Star-Spangled Banner” into a pop hit.
Houston’s rendition of the national anthem spent 27 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number six. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Houston’s brother Gary recalled his sister’s reaction to having achieved such a massive moment in her career, “There were always times when she’d be like, ‘Do you remember going into the Super Bowl?’ and just being excited about it. She’d say, ‘It had that impact? It affected people that way? That was me?’ She never believed things were happening to her at that magnitude. And she was just really excited and elated. And just kind of shocked that people reacted the way they did.”
2. Houston became the first artist to hold the record for most Billboard Music Awards in one night.
Houston took home 11 Billboard Music Awards in 1993. The record has since been broken by Adele and, later, Drake, but it was Houston who was the first to claim the record.
3. Houston’s self-titled debut album was the first from a female artist to receive RIAA certification.Whitney Houston hit the 10 million mark by the RIAA in 1994, making it the first debut album by a female artist and the first album to attain the certification.4. The singer was the first female artist to have two 10x platinum albums.
Houston’s debut and The Bodyguard Soundtrack earned the certification in 1993. 5. The Bodyguard Soundtrack holds the record as the best-selling soundtrack of all-time.
The soundtrack is 18x platinum with 18 million units sold in the US>
