The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album is the first soundtrack album by American singer Whitney Houston, released on November 17, 1992 by Arista Records to promote the film of the same name. It also contains songs by her label mates Lisa Stansfield, Kenny G, The S.O.U.L. S.Y.S.T.E.M. and Curtis Stigers as well as Joe Cocker. The album is credited as a Whitney Houston album because she recorded the majority of the tracks.
The Bodyguard was Houston's first box office film. Initially, Houston was reluctant to take on the role but was convinced by co-producer and co-star Kevin Costner to take it, to which she agreed. Arista Records president Clive Davis had apprehensions of Houston's role in the film without much music from the script, convincing Costner and the film's distributor Warner Bros. Pictures to add songs to the film, in which Houston made a deal for back royalties for its music and attained creative control. Houston agreed to record six tracks, five of which were featured in the film. Houston began working on the soundtrack in November 1991, and contacted previous producers of her work, including Babyface, Antonio "L.A." Reid, BeBe Winans and Narada Michael Walden, to participate in the album. It also marked the first time Houston worked with renowned producer David Foster, who would produce three of the six Houston tracks, as well as the production duo of Clivillés and Cole, while Houston herself co-produced two songs. Both Houston and Clive Davis were listed as executive producers on the album.
Upon its release in November 1992, The Bodyguard received mixed-to-positive reviews from music critics, who praised Houston's vocal performance but criticized certain aspects of its songwriting and production. The album was a global commercial success, topping the record charts in 21 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Italy and Japan as well as the European album chart. 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, remaining there 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 one million copies within a single week, making Houston the first artist to accomplish this following verification by Nielsen SoundScan. It would continue to sell a million copies per week for several weeks in a row and would eventually be certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of ten million copies in November 1993, becoming the first female album to sell that many copies in the United States and would be one of three Houston albums to receive that milestone, eventually selling 19 million in the country alone. Overall, the album would sell over 45 million copies worldwide, becoming the best-selling soundtrack album of all time, the best-selling album by a female artist in music history, and the best-selling album of the decade.
The album was supported by five Houston singles — "I Will Always Love You", "I'm Every Woman", "I Have Nothing", "Run to You" and "Queen of the Night". All five singles achieved chart success of varying degrees, with "I Will Always Love You" being the most successful, topping the charts in 34 countries and selling over 24 million copies worldwide, going on to become the best-selling single by a female artist of all time. Houston set a US chart record after three of the soundtrack's singles landed at the top twenty simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100. Two of the songs — "I Have Nothing" and "Run to You" — each received nominations at the Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Though not officially released to promote the soundtrack, the non-Houston songs, "Someday (I'm Coming Back)" by Lisa Stansfield and " It's Going to Be a Lovely Day" by The S.O.U.L. S.Y.S.T.E.M., found moderate chart success as well. Houston further promoted the soundtrack with a lengthy world tour that lasted seventeen months between May 1993 and November 1994.
The soundtrack received several awards and accolades for Houston, including seven American Music Awards, a Brit Award, a Juno Award and the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, marking only the second time in Grammy history that an African American woman won the Grammy in that category. In 2017, a 25th anniversary re-release, I Wish You Love: More from The Bodyguard, was issued. The album and film changed Houston's career and made her a megastar. As of 2026, music videos for "I Have Nothing" and "I Will Always Love You" have surpassed one billion views on YouTube, making the soundtrack the first 1990s album to have two videos with over 1 billion views. Houston is the first artist ever to have two 1990s videos to do so.