Whitney Houston Instagram – December 5, 1992: “I Will Always Love You” reached #1 on the Billboard Hot R&B Singles Chart, becoming the longest-running Number One on the R&B charts at the time. The New York Times wrote “Houston transforms a plaintive country ballad into a towering pop-gospel assertion of lasting devotion to a departed lover. Her voice breaking and tensing, she treats the song as a series of emotional bursts in a steady climb toward a final full-out declamation. Along the way, her virtuosic gospel embellishments enhance the emotion and never seem merely ornamental.”