Both the Rimes and the Yearwood versions debuted on the US
Billboard Hot 100 on the week ending June 14, 1997. Rimes's version was noted for its extreme longevity, spending a record-breaking 69 weeks on the chart, with 62 of those weeks being in the top 40, 32 weeks in the top ten and 25 in the top five, all records at the time. Such was the run in the top five for Rimes that, despite not peaking at No. 1 and instead spending five non-consecutive weeks at No. 2, it competed directly with two songs by
R&B singer
Usher, "
You Make Me Wanna..." and "
Nice & Slow", which were released five months apart from each other. Rimes's version also performed well on other component charts, most notably spending 11 weeks atop the Adult Contemporary chart. Despite this success, Trisha Yearwood's version was most successful on country radio. Although Yearwood's version was moving quickly up the pop charts, getting as high as No. 23, MCA refused to issue further copies of the single, afraid of cannibalizing album sales. As a result, the limited press run of 300,000 sold out quickly, and the single was off the Hot 100 after 12 weeks. However, on country radio it became much more commercially successful, climbing all the way to No. 2, where it peaked for one week, outpacing the peak of 43 set by the recording Rimes released. Consequently, Yearwood's version was among the top 20 biggest country singles of 1997, while Rimes's version was the ninth and fifth best- charting singles on the pop charts for the years 1997 and 1998, respectively. Rimes's version was later ranked at No. 4 on
Billboard's All Time Top 100 in 2008. It was ranked by
Billboard as the 12th-most-successful single of the 1990s at the end of the decade in 1999. 15 years later, after retabulations, it was re-ranked as the second best-charting single that was released during the decade, and the best-charting single of the 1990s proper. In a retrospective compilation in conjunction with
SiriusXM from 2019,
Billboard ranked "How Do I Live" second on their list of top performing songs of the decade. while Yearwood's version landed at No. 66. Rimes's version additionally charted across central Europe, reaching the top 5 in the Netherlands and Norway, the top 20 in Denmark, and the top 40 in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. Conversely, in both Ireland and Australia as well as on the Canadian country charts, Yearwood's version managed to outpace Rimes's peak at Nos. 2, 3, and 1 to Rimes's 14, 17, and 60, respectively. Consequently, Yearwood's version was ranked in the top 20 and 30 for the 1997 Australian and Canadian country year-end charts, respectively. ==Accolades==