Whitney Houston albums discography

The albums discography of American singer, actress and producer Whitney Houston, who is known as "The Voice", consists of seven studio albums, eight compilations, three soundtracks, five box sets and six extended plays. In 1985, Houston released her self-titled debut album. The album would go on to spend fourteen weeks at number one on the Billboard 200, earned three number one singles in a row on the Billboard Hot 100 including "How Will I Know" and "Greatest Love of All" and ended the chart year of 1986 as the top album of the year, according to the chart, earning Houston a distinction as the first female artist in history to earn that honor. The album would become the first studio album by a female artist to be certified over ten-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in January 1994, later earning a Diamond certification and would go on to be certified fourteen-times platinum, tying with Britney Spears' ...Baby One More Time, as the highest-certified debut album by a female artist in history. It would go on to sell 25 million copies worldwide and earn a Guinness World Record as the best-selling R&B studio album by a female artist in the United States. Houston's second album, Whitney, was released in 1987 and became the first album in history by a female artist to debut at the top of the Billboard 200. It also became the first female album to spend its first ten weeks at number one, eventually staying there for eleven consecutive weeks. The album earned four number one singles in a row including "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)", which helped Houston become the only artist to produce a record seven consecutive number-one hits. The album would go on to be certified Diamond by the RIAA for sales of ten million equivalent album sales and would top the charts in numerous other countries, eventually selling in excess of 20 million copies worldwide. Houston earned a third consecutive top ten album on the Billboard 200 with the release of I'm Your Baby Tonight in 1990. The album would help Houston become the first female artist to earn multiple number one singles off three or more albums.

In 1992, Houston released her first soundtrack album, The Bodyguard, from the film of the same name. Recognized as a Houston album despite the addition of several other artists, the album made Houston the first female artist to have three albums accumulate ten or more weeks at number one on the Billboard 200. It also became the first album by a female artist to accumulate 20 or more cumulative weeks at number one, including 13 consecutive weeks atop the chart. In November 1993, the album made Houston the first female artist in history to earn a RIAA certification of ten-times platinum, for selling ten million copies alone in the United States, and earned a third Diamond award, later selling 18 million copies alone in the United States. It would sell 45 million copies worldwide, becoming the best-selling album by a female artist, the best-selling soundtrack album of all time, and one of the best-selling albums of all time. The soundtrack produced the international number one hit, "I Will Always Love You", which later went Diamond for selling over ten million equivalent song sales in the United States, hit number one in almost every country it charted, and eventually sold 24 million copies worldwide, becoming the best-selling single by a female act and one of the best-selling singles of all time. After contributing three songs to the multi-artist soundtrack, Waiting to Exhale, from the 1995 film of the same name, including the number one hit, "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)", Houston released her second soundtrack album for the 1996 film, The Preacher's Wife, which debuted at number one on Billboard's Top Gospel Albums chart, staying there for a then-record 26 consecutive weeks. The album would be certified three-times platinum by the RIAA and would be certified platinum by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), selling over a million copies in Europe, and would go on to sell six million copies worldwide, becoming the best-selling gospel album of all time.

In 1998, Houston released her fourth studio album, My Love Is Your Love, which would go on to produce three top ten singles including the title track, and sell over ten million copies, including four million alone in Europe and four million in the United States, earning a sixth consecutive multi-platinum album in the latter country. In 2000, she released her first greatest hits compilation, Whitney: The Greatest Hits. The album would go on to sell five million copies alone in the United States, going five times platinum, while topping the UK Albums Chart where it eventually sold 1.66 million albums in that region, going on to sell ten million copies globally. After renewing her contract with Arista Records for a historic $100 million deal, Houston released three more albums in her lifetime, including 2002's Just Whitney, which earned certifications in five countries, including the United States, France and Japan, and sold around two million copies globally, following that up with her only Christmas album, One Wish: The Holiday Album, in 2003, which later earned a gold certification from the RIAA for sales of 500,000 units, and, in 2009, her seventh and final studio album, I Look to You, which earned certifications in fourteen countries including the United States and becoming her fourth career number one on the Billboard 200, selling around three million copies globally.

Houston is one of the twenty highest-certified albums artists of all time in the United States with sales of 61 million albums alone in that country with two of her albums: Whitney Houston and The Bodyguard being among the top 100 certified albums according to the RIAA. In October 2020, Houston became the first black artist ever to have three diamond-certified albums in the country after the Whitney album joined Whitney Houston and The Bodyguard in earning a diamond certification. Houston has sold over 220 million records worldwide, including 104 million records alone in the United States, becoming one of the best-selling music artists in history.