The song found immediate success upon its release. In the United States, it became Houston's third consecutive number one single on the Billboard Hot 100, where it would stay for three consecutive weeks, becoming her third consecutive chart-topper and made her the first female artist to produce three number one singles off a single album on the Billboard Hot 100. In Canada, it became Houston's second number one single as well as in Ireland and her first chart-topper in Panama and Australia and would chart successfully in other countries, reaching the top ten in the United Kingdom and reaching the top 20 in five other countries. The song won Houston a Grammy Award nomination for Record of the Year at the 29th Annual Grammy Awards in 1987, her first nomination in that category.
The song and its popular music video, which became the first music video on MTV by a black female artist to immediately debut to heavy rotation on the channel, cemented her international superstardom.
Background
In 1977, 14-year-old Whitney Houston entered a statewide talent competition in her home state of New Jersey and became a finalist, competing against another young female vocalist for the championship. Houston's song for the competition, as given to her by her mother Cissy Houston, was the Barbra Streisand ballad "Evergreen". Houston lost by technicality due to singing above the minute limit. Ironically, the girl who won had performed the song "The Greatest Love of All", which was a popular song at the time. Houston was also a fan of the song and eventually included it in performances while singing with her mother.
By 1983, the song had become a regular inclusion in Houston's short set list, along with other pop standards such as "Home" and "Tomorrow". That year, she had been spotted by Arista RecordsA&R man Gerry Griffith, who was so impressed with her performance that the following day, he went to Arista CEO Clive Davis and asked him to come see Houston's show at the Manhattan jazz club Sweetwater's. Davis went that night and upon hearing Houston perform "The Greatest Love of All" decided to sign the aspiring 19-year-old singer.
For the first couple of months following Houston signing with the label in April 1983, the singer and Davis hosted showcases in nightclubs to seek producers without much success until Davis called producer Michael Masser to come to New York to see Houston performing "The Greatest Love of All", which he co-wrote with Linda Creed for George Benson in 1977 for the Muhammad Ali biopic, The Greatest.
Arista had won rights to produce the soundtrack of the film and Masser, who had composed hits for Diana Ross, had been contacted by Davis to pen the film's theme song. Benson's version became a moderate hit upon its release, reaching the top 30 of the Billboard Hot 100 and became Arista's first top ten R&B hit. Upon hearing Houston sing the song, Masser was moved and convinced Davis to let Houston be the featured duet performer of Teddy Pendergrass' ballad, "Hold Me" under the condition Masser produce for Houston's debut, to which Masser agreed. "Hold Me" would produce Houston's first taste of success, becoming a top ten hit on the R&B and adult contemporary charts.
Recording
According to the label, work on Houston's debut album took over a year. Initially budgeted for $200,000, it was now over the budget, approaching $400,000.[3] Houston had insisted on recording the ballad sensing that it was important for music to have a positive message reaching people. Davis, however, refused, telling Houston that there were already too many ballads recorded.
Michael Masser, however, who had produced "Saving All My Love for You" and "All at Once" for Houston, felt it was right to record the song as he had been moved by Houston's performance of it a year before. Davis begrudgingly agreed to let them record it, but warned the pair that it wouldn't be released as a single.
According to Houston, who was gaining a reputation as a single-take vocalist, Masser recorded 60 takes of the song during the December 1984 session, which drove a weary and angry Houston to call Davis to tell him to end the session because she began sounding hoarse. The ballad would become the final song to be recorded for Houston's album and would be placed as the next to last track on the album. In the album version, the song includes an electric piano intro. In the single version, the piano is replaced by a synthesizer keyboard.
At the time of the recording, the song's lyricist Linda Creed, who had composed the song's lyrics after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1975, was dying of the disease and became bed-ridden. Creed had often told people that though she liked what George Benson had done with the original version of the song, she wished to hear the song in a version that she heard in her head, with her husband and widower Stephen "Eppy" Epstein claiming before her death, she reportedly approved of Houston's version. Shortly afterwards, Creed would die on April 10, 1986, just as Houston's version of the song entered the top 40 of the US pop charts.[4]
Critical reception
Many critics called the song the centerpiece of Houston's debut album. Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote that "Houston sings it with a forceful directness that gives its message of self-worth an astounding resonance and conviction" and called the song a compelling assertion of spiritual devotion, black pride, and family loyalty, all at once.[5] Don Shewey of Rolling Stone wrote that as the song builds, Houston "slowly pours on the soul, slips in some churchy phrasing, holds notes a little longer and shows off her glorious voice."[6] In his March 7, 1985 review of Houston's debut, Liam Lacey of The Globe and Mail hailed the ballad, along with "Saving All My Love for You" and "Hold Me" as "some of the loveliest pop singing on vinyl since the glory days of Dionne Warwick."[7]
Release
Chart performance
North America
Houston became the first female artist since Kim Carnes(pictured in 1981) to simultaneously top the Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot 100 with her self-titled debut album and Greatest Love of All.
Initially issued as the b-side of "You Give Good Love" in February 1985, after heavy airplay on radio stations across the country, the song became the sixth official release from the album on March 18, 1986. Over a week after its release, it entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 54 as the "Hot Shot Debut" of that week. It entered the top 40 the following week (April 5). It entered the top ten in its sixth week for the issue dated May 3, 1986. Two weeks later for the issue dated on May 17, it topped the Hot 100, becoming Houston's third consecutive number one single after "Saving All My Love for You" and "How Will I Know". It replaced the Pet Shop Boys' "West End Girls" at the top and would stay there for three consecutive weeks, becoming her longest running chart topper at the time.[8][9]
In the same week it topped the chart, her album, Whitney Houston, was number one on the Billboard 200, making Houston the first female artist to do this since Kim Carnes achieved the same feat when her hit single, "Bette Davis Eyes", topped the Hot 100 while her album, Mistaken Identity also topped the Billboard 200 simultaneously in the same week in June 1981.[10] It also topped the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart on the April 26, 1986 issue of Billboard, staying for five consecutive weeks, her longest running number one on the chart, later tied with "I Will Always Love You" nearly seven years later.[11] It would peak at number three on the Hot Black Singles chart for the week of May 24, 1986, becoming her sixth top ten R&B hit in a row, making her the first recording artist to do so with her first six singles.[12]
Due to this success, it made Houston the first female artist in history to produce three number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100.[13] Houston had also become the first female solo artist to produce three consecutive number one hit singles in a row, breaking disco-pop singer Donna Summer's record of having two consecutive number one singles back in 1979. Houston would then go on to score four more consecutive number one hits in the next year and a half, setting an all-time chart record. Houston was also the first female act in general to have three consecutive number ones since The Supremes.
During its initial run on the charts, it spent 14 weeks inside the top 40, including seven weeks in the top ten, spending an initial 18 weeks on the charts. In 2012, following her death, the song re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 49 for the week of February 27 and moved up to number 36 the following week (March 3), giving Houston three posthumous top 40 singles along with "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" and "I Will Always Love You", culminating in a total of twenty weeks.[14]
In Canada, the song became Houston's second number one single for the week of June 7, 1986 after "How Will I Know" and her fourth consecutive top ten hit in the country. In the Central American country of Panama, the song reached number one over there, becoming her first number one hit in that country.[15]
Europe
In Europe, it was also successful, peaking at number eight in the United Kingdom and became her second chart-topping hit in Ireland and also reached the top ten in Iceland and Luxembourg. It reached the top 20 in Italy, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands Dutch Top 40 and Switzerland while reaching the top 30 in the Netherlands Single Top 100, Germany, Austria and Belgium. Due to this success, the song peaked at number 11 on the European singles chart.
Oceania
In Oceania, the song was also successful, peaking at number 12 in New Zealand and topping the Australian ARIA Singles Chart for a week.
In Australia, it helped her debut album top the official albums chart, making her the first black female artist to accomplish this feat.[16]
Sales
It would become one of Houston's best-selling and best performing singles. In the United States, it's the third biggest hit of her career.[17] It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in December 1995 for physical sales of half a million copies. In March 2019, it was certified platinum for sales-equivalent units of a million copies. In January 2023, it was certified double platinum for sales of two million copies.[18] In Canada, it has been certified platinum in Canada for sales of over 80,000 copies. In the United Kingdom, the song has been certified gold for sales of over 400,000 copies. In New Zealand, it was certified gold for sales of over 15,000 copies.
According to Maclean's, Lightfoot commented, "It really rubbed me the wrong way. I don't want the present-day generation to think that I stole my song from him."[19]
Lightfoot has stated that he dropped the suit when he felt it was having a negative effect on Houston, as the suit was about Masser and not her.[20]
Ultimately the case was settled out of court and Masser issued a public apology.[21]
Music video
The music video for Greatest Love of All was among one of the first music videos to be shot at the Apollo Theater.
Houston's music video was filmed at Harlem's Apollo Theater in New York City. In the video, she is a successful singer who is about to perform in front of an audience. She reminisces about the time when she was a child performing in a talent competition and receiving encouragement from her mother. As a child, Houston had witnessed her mother Cissy Houston perform at the theater when her group The Sweet Inspirations were active.
The video features Cissy playing herself supporting a young Houston, as well as hugging present Houston at the end of the video. It was directed by Peter Israelson, filmed with James Contner as DP and Steadicam operator Robin Buerki shooting 35mm film. Israelson would go on to direct Houston in two more music videos for her hits "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" and "All the Man That I Need".
At this point in her career, Houston had broke through on MTV with the music videos to "Saving All My Love for You" and "How Will I Know", the latter of which becoming one of the most played videos of 1986, later winning her an MTV Video Music Award. During the making of the video, Houston was interviewed by MTV about the music video and later filmed a commercial promoting the channel while on set.
It was her first music video to receive a world premiere from the channel and debuted on heavy rotation for the week of March 26, 1986, the first music video by a black female artist to do so.[22] In February 2020, the music video was restored in 4K.[23] The video is one of Houston's most viewed videos on YouTube, with over 379 million views as of September 2025.
Houston, who often called the ballad the favorite of her songs to perform, would perform the song on all of her regional and world tours. During the US Summer Tour (1985) and the Greatest Love World Tour (1986), she would open the tours with the bridge and close the song by performing a slowed-down gospel-influenced rendition. In May 1987, Houston performed the song for the Linda Creed Memorial Scholarship Fund Concert in tribute to Creed. On the Moment of Truth World Tour (1987-88), it would be the next-to-last song before she'd return onstage to perform "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)". Houston repeated this pattern on the Feels So Right tour in 1990. It was the last song she'd perform during the I'm Your Baby Tonight World Tour (1991) though occasionally she had encores. For her expansive world tour for her successful soundtrack to The Bodyguard, she opened the show with the first verse and chorus, arriving through a silhouette. During the South African leg of the tour, the song would be performed in full as part of a three-song encore.
Houston mostly left it out of the set list of her My Love Is Your Love World Tour in 1999; the singer later explained to John Norris, correspondent for MTV that it was cut due to both the tour length and the sales comparison of her later hit "I Will Always Love You". However, she would perform the song during a 1999 show at Sportpaleis in Antwerp. In later tours such as the Soul Divas Tour (2004) and her final concert tour, the Nothing but Love World Tour (2009-2010), she placed the ballad as a part of a medley of her classic love songs.
Houston also performed it live on television, first doing so on the Dutch TV show, Show van de maand on April 19, 1985. On July 4, 1986, Houston performed a stirring rendition of the song at the Americana music concert during Liberty Weekend. In September 1986, Houston performed the song in the original pitch at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards. At the 29th Annual Grammy Awards, Houston performed the song, also in its original pitch.
A performance of the song at London's Wembley Arena in May 1988 was first broadcast on an Italian TV documentary on Houston. Houston ended her set at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute at London's Wembley Stadium with the song on June 11, 1988 in front of over 72,000. Houston gave a well-received performance of the song on Arista's 15th anniversary AIDS benefit concert at Radio City Music Hall in March 1990, which aired on CBS. Houston ended her acclaimed HBO-TV concert special, Welcome Home Heroes with Whitney Houston, with the song while surrounded by a couple of children of American troops returning from the Persian Gulf War on March 31, 1991. A year later, in February 1992, Houston performed the song in tribute to Muhammad Ali for the Muhammad Ali's 50th Birthday Celebration TV special, which resulted in a standing ovation and moved the former heavyweight champion boxer out of his seat to embrace Houston. That same year, on Houston's first TV special, This Is My Life, which aired on ABC, Houston is seen performing the song during a rehearsal.
At the 2012 NAACP Image Awards, Kirk Franklin and The Family started their tribute performance of Houston by starting it with "Greatest Love of All".[35] During the Recording Academy tribute to Houston, We Will Always Love You: A Grammy Salute to Whitney Houston, the song was performed by Celine Dion, a longtime admirer of Houston's. Dion had also performed the same song on Canadian television as a teenage singer over 25 years before.
Houston's version of the song was featured in the first season of RuPaul's Drag Race, being performed by contestants Akashia and Shannel in a "lipsync for your life". It was also parodied in the 1988 film, Coming to America, starring Eddie Murphy, who portrayed singer Randy Watson in the performance clip with his band Sexual Chocolate and performed a rendition that is received by a muted response outside of one person. In the Houston-estate approved biopic, Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (2022), the song is performed during the scene where Houston, played by Naomi Ackie, is told by her mother Cissy (played in the film by Tamara Tunie) to sing the song after spotting Clive Davis (Stanley Tucci) in the audience at Sweetwater's, which reenacts Davis' real-life discovery of Houston performing the song, leading to her signing with Arista shortly thereafter. The song was at least remixed three times — first in 2000 by Junior Vasquez for the Houston compilation, Whitney: The Greatest Hits, by Peter Rauhofer that same year under the moniker Club 69, and in 2022 by Jax Jones for the official soundtrack to Houston's biopic.
Legacy
Writing for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Justin Kantor in his article celebrating Houston's legacy following her death stated that "Greatest Love of All" "forever secure[d] [Houston's] prominent place in universal pop culture and the lives of countless millions... bec[oming] the soundtrack to graduations and celebrations of achievements everywhere."[36]
Forbes ranked the song third place among the 20 greatest Whitney Houston songs of all time.[37]
MTV placed the song as one of the ten best Houston songs with correspondent Kelley L. Carter calling it "her musical calling card". [38]
BET ranked the song the second best Whitney Houston songs out of forty, calling it Houston's "superstar-making moment", further explaining that the song was "one of her greatest and earliest triumphs -- soaring, uplifting and heartbreaking all at the same time".[39]
Billboard ranked the song number nine in their 25 best Whitney Houston songs list.[40] The same magazine ranked the song the 41st best love song of all time in 2025.[41]
The Guardian voted the song as Houston's ninth greatest song, comparing it to the Benson original, saying "[Benson's version] is fine, a big tearjerking MOR ballad fit to climax a movie, which it did. But Houston turned it into a showstopper; there's a force and power to her delivery that immediately makes the original sound lacking."[42]
Smooth Radio ranked it the ninth best Whitney Houston song in their list.[43]
About.com ranked it the second best Whitney Houston song of all time.[44]
Track listings
US 7-inch vinyl single
A: "Greatest Love of All" – 4:51
B: "Thinking About You" – 4:06
UK 12-inch vinyl maxi single
A1: "Greatest Love of All" – 4:49
B1: "Thinking About You" – 4:03
B2: "Shock Me" (duet with Jermaine Jackson) – 5:05
↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (Illustrateded.). Sydney: Australian Chart Book. p.143. ISBN0-646-11917-6. N.B. The Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA between 1983 and June 26, 1988.
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