Released 1 November 1999 Label RCA, BMG | Genre Pop | |
Recorded 1998–99;
Rokstone Studios
(London, England),
Cheiron Studios
(Stockholm, Sweden)
CaVa Studios
(Glasgow, Scotland) Length 65:32 (international)
50:59 United States Producer Simon Cowell (exec.), Steve Mac (also exec.), Wayne Hector (exec.), Per Magnusson, David Kreuger, Rami Yacoub, TTW, David Foster, Pete Waterman, Jake Schulze, David Frank, Steve Kipner, Cutfather & Joe, Jaime Ikeda, Rovi | ||
Westlife is the self-titled debut studio album by Irish boy band Westlife. The album was released on 1 November 1999 through RCA. The album spawned the five UK number-one hit singles "Swear It Again", "If I Let You Go", "Flying Without Wings", the double A-side "I Have a Dream" / "Seasons in the Sun", and "Fool Again".
Contents
Background
Westlife signed to Arista Records for the North American territory after auditioning for the label's founder, Clive Davis. Westlife released "Swear It Again" as their debut single in the United States. The singles was serviced to radio in February and released commercially on 7 March 2000. The album was released on 4 April 2000 with an altered track listing that included the new song, "My Private Movie".
In 2005, the album was released in a compilation box collection with Westlife's fourth studio album, Turnaround.
Commercial performance
Due to all five singles from the album peaking at number one on the UK Singles Chart in less than a year, Westlife created a chart history record that remains unbroken to date. Despite this, however, the album entered and peaked at number two, being beaten only by an extra 1,000 copies of Steptacular by Steps. The album became the eighth best-selling album of 1999 in the United Kingdom, and ended up being certified 4× Platinum. The album went on to spend seventy-four weeks in the UK Top 100. A video album related to the release, entitled "The Westlife Story", was released in October 2000, peaking at number 15 on the UK Visual Chart. The release was available on both VHS and DVD. The DVD was later made available in a five disc set entitled "Westlife: The Complete Story".
In 2000, the album was released in the United States and peaked at number 129 on the Billboard 200.
The album also peaked at number 15 in Australia. Westlife also remains the best-selling international album ever in Indonesia and Philippines, receiving 20× platinum certifications for over 1 million copies sold in Indonesia and 25× Platinum certifications for over 500,000 units sold in the Philippines. Overall, the album has sold more than five million copies worldwide.