Whitney Houston was an American singer, actress and film producer who received numerous awards and honorary accolades throughout a career that spanned more than 25 years and posthumously as well. Known as "The Voice," she is one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, and one of the most awarded artists of all time. With 22 wins out of 38 nominations, Houston is the second most-awarded female American Music Awards winner ever; at the 1994 American Awards, Houston won a record eight AMAs, setting an all-time record for most wins in a single night. She is the second most awarded winning entertainer at the NAACP Image Awards with 20 wins. Houston is the ninth most awarded artist at the Billboard Music Awards with 16, including 11 alone in 1993. In 2012, Houston posthumously was awarded the Billboard Millennium Award. Houston is one of the few secular artists to receive awards for gospel work, winning a Stellar Award and two Dove Awards.
Between 1986 and 2000, Houston received six competitive Grammy Awards out of 25 nominations. In 1994, Houston won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year for her soundtrack album, The Bodyguard, from the film of the same name while winning Record of the Year for "I Will Always Love You". In addition, Houston is a two-time inductee to the Grammy Hall of Fame and a recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, which brings her total to nine Grammys. Houston also won five World Music Awards, all of them in a single night record in 1994, including the Legend Award. In 2023, Houston was just one of thirteen musicians to receive the Brit Billion Award for earning a career billion streams in the United Kingdom. A prominent fixture on music video stations such as MTV, BET and VH1 since the 1980s, Houston has been honored with awards from all three networks, and was the first recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the BET Awards and the first female artist to receive the Global Icon Award at the MTV Europe Music Awards.
Although music was her primary source of accomplishment, Houston also received nominations and awards for other works in philanthropy, film and television. Houston received two Emmy Awards in 1986 and 1988, the former for a 1986 Grammy Awards performance, and the latter for having her song "One Moment in Time" being played during coverage of the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Houston was nominated for several acting awards for her works in The Bodyguard, Waiting to Exhale, The Preacher's Wife and Sparkle, later winning the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress for her role in The Preacher's Wife. Houston's work on Cinderella won her another Emmy nomination. Houston received a United Negro College Fund award, a Presidential honor and a VH1 Honors Award for her philanthropy work.
Houston has been inducted into multiple halls of fame, including the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, the New Jersey Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame as well as the Grammy Hall of Fame. Houston's landmark recording of "I Will Always Love You" was inducted into the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry for the class of 2019. In 2020, Houston was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on her first nomination. A prominent black female entertainer, she was also inducted into the BET Walk of Fame and the Soul Train Hall of Fame.