Whitney Houston Becomes the First Black Artist With Three Diamond Albums

We will always love Whitney Houston. And now we know how much. According to Sony Music, as of Wednesday (Oct. 28), Houston is officially the first Black recording artist to put up three RIAA Diamond-certified albums now that her second studio effort, 1987's Whitney, has been certified 10x Platinum.

The album produced five Billboard Top 10 singles, with the first four -- "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)," "Didn't We Almost Have It All," "So Emotional" and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go"-- going No. 1, making her the first female recording artist ever with four consecutive Hot 100 No. 1s.

When added to the three straight No. 1s from her debut, Whitney Houston -- "Saving All My Love for You," "How Will I Know," "Greatest Love of All" -- Houston had an unprecedented run of seven No. 1 singles in a row.

With Whitney joining the singer's 1985 self-titled debut and the 1992 soundtrack to The Bodyguard in the Diamond column, the singer becomes the first Black artist (male, female, solo or group) to earn that three-peat designation. Whitney has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide, while her debut has gone 13x Platinum and The Bodyguard soundtrack has been certified 18x Platinum. Her video for "I Will Always Love You" also recently reached its own lofty perch -- one billion YouTube views.

To date, three Black artists have had two Diamond Albums -- Michael Jackson, 2Pac and Mariah Carey. Ten more have had one. They are Prince & the Revolution, Boyz II Men, TLC, The Notorious B.I.G., OutKast, Hammer, Lionel Richie, Nelly, Stevie Wonder and Usher.

billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/9474391/whitney-houston-first-black-artist-three-diamond-albums

Queen Whitney

I'm glad her estate finally recertified Whitney cuz it was sitting at 9x platinum for forever

Mariah will match her when her debut self-titled album is finally re-certified. It's been sitting at 9x platinum for over 20 years. And I know Janet should join the list of black artists with 2 diamond albums whenever Rhythm Nation 1814 and janet. get recertified.

mariah is black. i'm glad they're finally acknowledging that

Whitney one of a kind. will never be another

Take care, views and scorpion soon come!

🙄🙄🙄

That’s great.

Queen Whitney

How many artists in general have 3 diamond albums? Why they gotta specify she's black?

because it's harder for us

I think she's the 3rd artist to have 3 diamond album. Garth Brooks has the most at 7 and Whitney has tied Shania Twain for most diamond albums by a female artist with 3.
And they pointed it out cuz it's rare to go diamond in the first place, but EXTREMELY RARE for a black artist to go diamond once, let alone THREE TIMES

MJ doesn’t have three??

Jersey Excellence

Nope, just Bad and Thriller

Wow. That’s insane.

Congrats to the queen

Yo, congrats to Whitney. One of the best vocals I've ever heard in any genre.

7?!?!?

Wtf

Bad and Thriller are diamond. OTW, Dangerous and History are all 8x platinum.

Off The Wall was certified 8x plat 11 years ago, I‘m sure in the next 5 years it’s gonna get that diamond certification.

Wow. They should get there since streaming exist but those arent his most popular so idk

yeah country fans are very loyal lol

(Who cares)

She has the W on her name