The Star Spangled Banner (Whitney Houston Song) - Commercial Reception

Commercial Reception

Whitney Houston's rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" at Super Bowl XXV was released as a single in the United States alone on February 12, 1991 during the Gulf War. The single debuted at number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart, the issue dated of March 9, 1991, becoming her highest first week chart entry at the time and the first rendition of the national anthem to appear on the chart since 1968, when José Feliciano's version during Game 5 pregame ceremonies of the 1968 World Series, climbed to number 50. Her previous highest debut on the chart had been when "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" entered the Hot 100 chart some six places lower at number 38 in May 1987. The following week it leaped to number 25, two weeks later peaked at number 20 on the chart in the March 30, 1991 issue, making Houston the first and only artist to hit the Top 20 with the national anthem since 1958, when the Billboard Hot 100 chart was published first, and spent a total of 11 weeks on the chart. The single was certified Gold for shipments of 500,000 copies and the video single was 2× Platinum for shipping of 100,000 units, respectively, by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on April 11, 1991. "The Star Spangled Banner" became the fastest-selling single in Arista's history at the time, with 750,000 copies sold in the first eight days.

Thanks to re-entering the Hot 100 Airplay list at number 45 with 30 million listeners, Houston's 1991 Super Bowl version of "The Star Spangled Banner" re-visited the Billboard Hot 100 chart at number 50, with the marks for Gold certification and 12 weeks on, the issue date of September 29, 2001. It also debuted for the first time on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart at number 54 in the same week. On its first week of retail release, the song re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Sales chart at number two, and the following week topped the chart in the October 20 issue, becoming her third chart-topper, after "I Will Always Love You" in 1992 and "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)" in 1995. In the same week, the single reached number 13 and a peak of number 30, on the Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart, respectively. On the Billboard October 27, 2001 issue, Houston set another historic Hot 100 record with "The Star Spangled Banner" which reached number six on the chart. She became the first and only artist to make the national anthem Top 10 hit since 1958, when Billboard premiered the Hot 100 chart, and the third overall in music history, following Margaret Woodrow Wilson who hit number seven with it in 1915 and Irish tenorJohn McCormack who made the tune number one in 1917. It stayed on the chart for a total of 27 weeks, combined a fresh-16-weeks with 1991's 11 weeks. The single gave an impressive performance on the Hot 100 Singles Sales chart, spending six weeks on the top of the chart from October 20 to November 24, 2001 and 94 weeks on the chart by May 2003. In October 2001, RIAA certified it Platinum for shipments of 1,000,000 copies, making it Houston's seventh Platinum single. According to Nielsen SoundScan, as of 2007, it sold 1,200,000 copies in the U.S. alone.

As the single was released in some countries in 1991, it failed to make the pop charts outside of the United States. In 2001, however, the single surprisingly debuted a peak of number five on the Canadian SoundScan Singles chart for the week dated November 11, 2001.