"Because You Love Me" is the title of a song written by Kostas

Kostas

Kostas Lazarides is a Greek-born American country music songwriter, known professionally as Kostas. He has written for several country music artists, including Dwight Yoakam, Patty Loveless, and Travis Tritt, and has won eleven awards from Broadcast Music Incorporated...

 and John Scott Sherrill

John Scott Sherrill

John Scott Sherrill is an American songwriter whose work is primarily in the field of country music. He has written songs for such artists as John Anderson, Brooks & Dunn, Jimmy Buffett , Johnny Lee, George Strait, Steve Wariner, Patty Loveless, Josh Turner, Waylon Jennings, Alison Krauss, Peter...

, and recorded by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 country music singer Jo Dee Messina

Jo Dee Messina

Jo Dee Marie Messina , known professionally as Jo Dee Messina, is an American country music artist. She has charted nine Number One singles on the Billboard country music charts. She has been honored by the Country Music Association, the Academy of Country Music and has been nominated for two...

. It was released in October 1999 as fifth and final single from her 1998 album, I'm Alright

I'm Alright (Jo Dee Messina album)

I'm Alright is the second studio album released by American country music singer Jo Dee Messina. It was released in 1998. Her highest selling album to date, it has been certified 2× Multi-Platinum for U.S. sales of two million copies...

, the song peaked at number 8 on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

) chart and peaked at number 11 on the Canadian RPM Country Singles. It also peaked at number 53 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 making it a minor crossover hit.

Critical reception

Deborah Evans Price, of Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

magazine reviewed the song favorably, saying that the song reminds everybody that she is "equally capable of wringing every drop of tender emotion from a power ballad." She calls the lyric a "well-written treatise on the impact love can have on a life, and Messina wraps her voice around the sentiment and carries it like a beloved flag."

Chart performance

"Because You Love Me" debuted at number 51 on the U.S. Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of October 23, 1999.

Chart (1999-2000)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks	8
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	53
Canadian RPM Country Singles	11