Millennium (Backstreet Boys album)

Millennium
Studio album by Backstreet Boys
Released	May 18, 1999
Recorded	October 1, 1998 – March 1999
Studio	Battery Studios (New York City, New York, U.S.) Parc Studios (Orlando, Florida, U.S.) Cheiron Studios, Polar Studios (Stockholm, Sweden)
Genre	Pop, dance-pop, teen pop
Length	48:11
Label	Jive
Producer	Max Martin, Kristian Lundin, Rami Yacoub, Robert John "Mutt" Lange, Stephen Lipson, Mattias Gustafsson, Timmy Allen, Edwin "Tony" Nicholas, Eric Foster White
Backstreet Boys chronology
Backstreet's Back (1998) Millennium (1999) For the Fans (2000)
Singles from Millennium
"I Want It That Way" Released: April 12, 1999 "Larger than Life" Released: September 3, 1999 "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely" Released: December 21, 1999 "The One" Released: May 16, 2000

Millennium is the third album by the American boy band the Backstreet Boys. It was a highly anticipated follow-up to both their U.S. debut album, and their second internationally released album. It was their first album to be released in both the U.S. and internationally in the same form, at the same time.

In the United States, it holds the record for most shipments in one year, with 11 million in 1999. It was nominated for five Grammy Awards and spawned four Top 40 singles, including the single "I Want It That Way". Three of the singles, "I Want It That Way", "Larger than Life" and "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely", became some of their most successful and remembered hits of all time, with "I Want It That Way" becoming their biggest hit to date. Millennium has since become one of the best-selling albums of all time, selling over 40 million copies worldwide.^[1][2][3][4]

Singles

Four singles were released from the album.

• "I Want It That Way" is the lead single from the album. It was released on April 12, 1999. It is one of the Backstreet Boys' most commercially successful songs and is often regarded as the group's signature song.
• "Larger than Life" is the second single from the album. It was released on September 3, 1999.
• "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely" was released as the third single. It was released on December 21, 1999. It peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100.
• "The One" is the fourth and final single from the album. It was released on May 16, 2000.

Tour

The album was supported by the Into the Millennium Tour which started from June 2, 1999 and ended on March 15, 2000 with a total of 123 shows in 84 cities spanning three legs.^[5] The first leg of the North American tour initially sold 53 dates (40 announced and 13 added) due to demand^[6] in 39 cities, scheduled to run from September 14–December 2, 1999.^[6][7] The concert at Georgia Dome, Atlanta, was the 5th most attended concert in American history and the most attended concert by a pop artist.^[8]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[9]
Entertainment Weekly	B−[10]
Robert Christgau	[11]
Rolling Stone	[12]

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave the album 4 stars out of 5, writing, "Millennium has no pretense of being anything other than an album for the moment, delivering more of everything that made Backstreet's Back a blockbuster."^[9]

Commercial performance

Preceded by the worldwide hit single "I Want It That Way", anticipation for Millennium was high. All versions of Britney Spears's debut album ...Baby One More Time released prior to May 18, 1999 featured previews of tracks from this album.^[13] On May 18, 1999, the day of the album's release, the Backstreet Boys made a heavily-publicized appearance on MTV's Total Request Live. Millennium entered the Billboard 200 at number one, where it remained for 10 non-consecutive weeks. It sold 1,134,000 copies in its first week of release, shattering the previous Nielsen SoundScan record held by Garth Brooks for single-week record sales. This record was subsequently overtaken in 2000 by NSYNC with No Strings Attached. Millennium sold nearly 500,000 copies in the U.S. on its first day alone, setting a record for first-day sales.^[14] Millennium became the best-selling album of 1999, selling 9,445,732 albums.^[15] Millennium remained on the Billboard chart for 93 weeks, eventually selling over 13 million copies in the United States and being certified 13 times platinum.^[16] As of October 2014, the album stands as the fifth best selling album in the United States of the SoundScan era with 12,250,000 units sold.^[17] In 2003 it was also reported as being the fourth biggest seller for Music Club sales in the U.S. over the past 14 years with sales of 1.59 million.^[18] In Canada, the album is seventh biggest selling album since 1995 in the Canadian Soundscan sales era up to end of December 2007.^[19] In Japan, it sales 1 million copies totally according to Billboard magazine.^[20]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Larger than Life"	Max Martin, Kristian Lundin, Brian Littrell	Lundin	3:52
2.	"I Want It That Way"	Martin, Andreas Carlsson	Martin, Lundin	3:33
3.	"Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely"	Martin, Herbert Crichlow	Martin, Lundin	3:54
4.	"It's Gotta Be You"	Martin, Robert John "Mutt" Lange	Martin, Lange, Rami Yacoub	2:57
5.	"I Need You Tonight"	Andrew Fromm	Lange	4:23
6.	"Don't Want You Back"	Martin	Martin, Yacoub	3:26
7.	"Don't Wanna Lose You Now"	Martin	Martin, Yacoub	3:55
8.	"The One"	Martin, Littrell	Martin, Lundin	3:46
9.	"Back to Your Heart"	Kevin Richardson, Gary Baker, Jason Blume	Stephen Lipson, Timmy Allen^[a]	4:21
10.	"Spanish Eyes"	Andrew Fromm, Sandy Linzer	Allen, Mattias Gustafsson	3:55
11.	"No One Else Comes Close"	Joe Thomas, Baker, Wayne Perry	Allen, Edwin "Tony" Nicholas	3:43
12.	"The Perfect Fan"	Littrell, Thomas Smith	Eric Foster White	4:15

Bonus tracks (Australia / Japan / Singapore / China)
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
13.	"I'll Be There for You"	Baker, Perry, Allen	Allen, Larry "Rock" Campbell	4:35
14.	"You Wrote the Book on Love"	Baker, Perry, Butch Johnson	"Fitz" Gerald Scott	4:38

Indonesian bonus tracks
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
13.	"I'll Be There for You"	Gary Baker, Timmy Allen, Wayne Perry	Allen, Larry "Rock" Campbell	4:35
14.	"If You Knew What I Knew"	A. J. McLean, Billy Chapin, Bryan Bonnett		4:16

South Korean bonus track
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
13.	"My Heart Stays with You"	Full Force	Full Force	3:38

Taiwanese bonus tracks
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
13.	"I'll Be There for You"	Gary Baker, Timmy Allen, Wayne Perry	Allen, Larry "Rock" Campbell	4:35
14.	"My Heart Stays with You"	Full Force	Full Force	3:38
15.	"Christmas Time"			4:03
16.	"As Long as You Love Me" (Unplugged)			3:33
17.	"Quit Playing Games (with My Heart)" (E-Smoove Vocal Mix)			6:47

Bonus disc (Singapore / Malaysia / Hong Kong)
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Larger than Life" (The Video Mix)			3:56
2.	"Larger than Life" (Instrumental)			3:56
3.	"If You Knew What I Knew"			5:03

Singaporean special edition bonus disc
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Larger than Life" (Eclipse's New Life Mix)
2.	"Larger than Life" (Keith Litman Club Mix)
3.	"Larger than Life" (Jazzy Jim's Bonus Beats)
4.	"Larger than Life" (Jack D. Elliot Radio Mix)
5.	"Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely" (Soul Solution Mixshow Edit)
6.	"Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely" (Jason Nevins Crossover Mix)
7.	"Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely" (Soul Solution House of Loneliness Vocal)
8.	"Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely" (Jazzy Jim's Bonus Beats)

North America/Europe double sided audio cassette (frontside)
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Larger than Life"		3:52
2.	"I Want It That Way"		3:33
3.	"Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely"		3:54
4.	"The One"		3:46
5.	"I Need You Tonight"		4:23
6.	"Don't Want You Back"		3:25

North America/Europe double sided audio cassette (backside)
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Don't Wanna Lose You Now"		3:54
2.	"It's Gotta Be You"		2:57
3.	"Back to Your Heart"		4:21
4.	"Spanish Eyes"		3:53
5.	"No One Else Comes Close"		3:42
6.	"The Perfect Fan"		4:13

Notes

• ^{^[a]} signifies additional vocal production

Charts and certifications

Charts Chart (1999) Peak position Australian ARIA Albums Chart[21] 2 Austrian Albums Chart[21] 1 Belgian Flemish Albums Chart[21] 1 Belgian Walloon Albums Chart[21] 2 Canadian Albums Chart[22] 1 Danish Albums Chart[23] 1 Dutch Albums Chart[21] 1 European Top 100 Albums[23] 1 French SNEP Albums Chart[21] 8 Finnish Albums Chart[21] 1 German Albums Chart[24] 1 Hungarian Albums Chart[25] 2 Irish Albums Chart[26] 2 Italian Albums Chart[27] 1 Japanese Albums Chart[28] 6 Malaysian Albums Chart[23] 1 New Zealand RIANZ Albums Chart[21] 1 Norwegian Albums Chart[21] 1 Portuguese Albums Chart[23] 1 Scottish Albums Chart[29] 4 Spanish Albums Chart[23] 1 Swedish Albums Chart[21] 1 Swiss Albums Chart[21] 1 Taiwanese Albums Chart[30] 1 UK Albums Chart[31] 2 US Billboard 200[32] 1 Decade-end charts Chart (1990–1999) Position US Billboard 200[33] 16

Certifications Region Certification Certified units/Sales Argentina (CAPIF) 3× Platinum[34] 180,000 Australia (ARIA) 3× Platinum[35] 210,000 Austria (IFPI) Gold[36] 25,000 Belgium (IFPI) 2× Platinum[37] 100,000 Brazil (ABPD) 2× Platinum[38] 500,000 Canada (Music Canada) Diamond[39] 1,000,000 Colombia (IFPI) Gold[40] 30,000 Finland (IFPI) Platinum[41] 42,525 Germany (BVMI) 3× Gold[42] 750,000 Mexico (AMPF) 4× Platinum/Gold[43] 675,000 New Zealand (RIANZ) 2× Platinum[44] 30,000 Norway (IFPI) Platinum[45] 50,000 Poland (ZPAV) Gold[46] 50,000 Portugal (IFPI) Platinum[47] 40,000+ Sweden (IFPI) Platinum[48] 80,000 South Korea (IFPI) 4× Platinum[49] 250,000 Switzerland (IFPI) Platinum[50] 50,000 United Kingdom (BPI) Platinum[51] 300,000 United States (RIAA) 13× Platinum[52] 13,000,000 Summaries Europe (IFPI)[53] 2× Platinum 2,000,000^* ^*sales figures based on certification alone ^^shipments figures based on certification alone

Personnel

Credits for Millennium adapted from AllMusic.^[54]

Hans Åkeson – viola Timmy Allen – producer Tomas Andersson – violin Adam Barber – engineer, vocal engineer Joe Bates – engineer Tim Berkebile – drums, musical director Torbjörn Bernhardsson – viola Adam Blackburn – engineer Daniel Boom – engineer Randy Bowland – guitar, guitar (acoustic) Nick Carter – arranger, vocals Billy Chapin – guitar Tom Coyne – mastering Asa Forsberg – cello Ulf Forsberg – viola Andrew Fromm – piano Dennis Gallo – guitar, keyboards Nick Gamma – art direction, design Stephen George – engineer Ben Glynne – programming Mattias Gustafsson – bass, guitar, keyboards, producer, programming Mick Guzauski – mixing Paul Howards – keyboards, percussion, saxophone Charles Infante – set design Henrik Janson – arranger, conductor Uli Janson – arranger, conductor Bashiri Johnson – percussion Devon Kirkpatrick – assistant engineer

Robert John "Mutt" Lange – producer Tomas Lindberg – bass Steve Lipson – producer, programming Brian Littrell – conductor, vocal arrangement, vocals Kristian Lundin – engineer, mixing, producer Max Martin – mixing, producer Svein H. Martinsen – viola Dominic Miller – guitar Chieli Minucci – guitar (acoustic), guitar (electric) Heff Moraes – engineer, mixing Jackie Murphy – art direction, design Edwin Nicholas – bass, keyboards, producer, programming Esbjörn Öhrwall – guitar Samuli Ornstromer – cello, Doug Petty – piano Rami – mixing, Elisabeth Arnberg Ranmo – viola Dawn Reinholtz – assistant engineer Kevin Richardson – arranger, bass, keyboards, vocals Carl Robinson – engineer Olle Romo – keyboards, programming Tom Smith – keyboards, piano George Spatta – engineer Chris Trevett – engineer, mixing Peter-John Vettese – keyboards, programming Louie Vigilante – bass Georg "Jojje" Wadenius – guitar Eric Foster White – bass, conductor, engineer, guitar (electric), keyboards, producer Christian "Wicked" Wicht – engineer Dan Wojeciechowski – drums

See also

• List of best-selling albums
• List of fastest-selling albums worldwide
• List of best-selling albums in the United States
• List of best-selling albums in Canada

References

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