The first album to sell one million copies in a single week
More buzz, bigger shows, more significant album sales: The 1990s was all about success. By the dawn of the new decade, selling a million albums was old news; albums went platinum all the time. But with the record sales hitting new heights, new competitiveness began to emerge. Going platinum wasn’t enough anymore. Now, artists needed to go platinum within a week.
It was the 1960s all over again. After a significant lull, fan mania was back with a vengeance, and once again, it was the boy bands drawing the biggest crowds. Young pop fans were obsessed, I mean obsessed, with the Backstreet Boys. On the week of May 18th, 1999, their album Millenium sold 1,134,00, setting a new record. The group had their single ‘I Want It That Way’ to thank for their success. Penned by Max Martin and Andreas Carlsson, the Swedish producers responsible for some of Britney Spears and Celine Dion’s biggest hits, the single proved that a pop song didn’t need to make the slightest bit of sense to be a hit.
‘I Want It That Way’ was essentially an amalgamation of amorous clichés designed to appeal to adolescents yet to experience love for themselves. Of course, the non-sensical charm of the single might also have had something to do with English not being Max Martin’s first language. “His English has gotten much better, but at the time…” Backstreet Boys’ Kevin Richardson would later admit to LA Weekly.
From its insipid opening chords to its vapid, cookie-cutter lyrics, ‘I Want It That Way’ epitomised everything that is wrong with mainstream pop music. The song’s formulaic structure, devoid of any semblance of originality or innovation, arrived as a predetermined and formulaic slap in the face to the rich tapestry of musical expression that humanity has cultivated over centuries. A factory-made hit designed to tick boxes and drive revenue – and it didn’t disappoint on those accounts.
But it’s not just the lack of musical merit that makes ‘I Want It That Way’ so utterly laughable in the cannon of ’90s nightmares, but it’s also the sheer audacity of its lyrical vacuousness. With lines like “Tell me why, ain’t nothin’ but a heartache” and “I never wanna hear you say, I want it that way”, the song manages to achieve the remarkable feat of saying absolutely nothing while simultaneously assaulting the ears with its mind-numbing banality.
On release, though, none of that mattered. Millenium immediately landed the number one spot on the Billboard 200, staying there for ten non-consecutive weeks. Before its record-breaking release, the Nielsen Soundscan record for the most first-week record sales was held by Garth Brooks. Backstreet Boys would subsequently beat their own record with their next album, Black & Blue. It was also overtaken in 2000 by NSYNC’s No Strings Attached. In its first day alone, Millenium sold nearly 500,000 copies and has since sold over 23 million copies worldwide. Millenium marked the dawn of a new age, where albums could go platinum 13 times over.
If you’re so inclined, you can revisit Backstreet Boys’ ‘I Want It That Way’ below.