<P> In the United Kingdom, the single sold over 1,550,000 copies, becoming the tenth best - selling single of the 1990s, and was certified two times Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on January 1, 1993 . It was certified Platinum for shipments of over 500,000 copies by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI) in Germany . In Japan, "I Will Always Love You" sold over 810,000 copies, staying for 27 weeks on the chart, and became the best - selling single by a foreign female artist at the time, despite not topping the charts . </P> <P> Houston's version was later called her "signature song". Stephen Holden of The New York Times said it was a "magnificent rendition", commenting </P> <P> Houston transforms a plaintive country ballad into a towering pop - gospel assertion of lasting devotion to a departing 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 . </P> <P> Writing for USA Today on November 17, 1992, James T. Jones IV called it a "tour - de-force", and added "(Houston) gives a 3 ​ ⁄ - star (out of four) performance . Where Dolly Parton's original' I Will Always Love You' was plaintive and tear - stained, Houston's is gospel - infused and dramatic ." Chris Willman of the Los Angeles Times stated: "Houston has the goods to deliver on the tune's haunting beauty and resists overpowering it--until the finale, when the key change and stratospheric notes drain all the heart - rending sadness out of the song and make it sound like just another anthem of survival ." Amy Linden of Entertainment Weekly wrote Houston's version "is artistically satisfying and uncharacteristically hip for the MOR songbird ." Stewart Mason of AllMusic found Houston's cover "repulsively overwrought...so boomingly bombastic and glutinous with self - approbation that the tenderness of Dolly Parton's song is lost in the mire". </P>

The song i'll always love you by dolly parton