parent nodes: Mercedes Meyers
"I Want It That Way" was the most sucessful single of the Backstreet Boys' 1999's five Grammy nominee sophomore album (Millennium). The first single that broke the record for most radio station adds in its first week with 165, reached the #1 spot on the Billboard Adult Contemporary charts, where it stayed for an amazing 14 weeks at the top. It majorly held the #1 spot on the 'American Top 40' chart for 3 months long. It is considered as a straight U.S. No. 1 and the biggest single of '99. The platinum single made it upto the #1 position of all the charts it charted on, but couldn't reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, it charted at No. 6. The song was honored with three Grammy nominations including one for "Record Of The Year". The song was voted #10 in the MTV/Rolling Stone list of the "100 Greatest Pop Songs Of All Time" in 2000.
"I Want It That Way" featured on the 99's highest-selling album Millennium, entered the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart at #1, having sold 1,134,000 copies in its first week of release and shattering the previous Nielsen SoundScan record held by Garth Brooks for single-week record sales (his was a double album released during the Christmas buying season). Significantly, "Millennium" sold nearly 500,000 copies alone on its first day out in the U.S. on May 18, 1999 setting another record for first-day sales.
The song marked big in the UK, debuting at #1 on the Singles chart (where the song was the first new #1 entry since Elton John's 1997 "Candle In The Wind" tribute to Princess Diana). The song eventually set a record for the most weeks on the chart since the chart was conceived in 1980's. In the Netherlands It has never happened that a single went to #1 in the Top 40 in the first week, without being in the 'Tip Parade' first. In the 35 years of existence of the 'Dutch Top 40', "I Want It That Way" was the first single that reached #1, without being in the 'Tip Parade'. The song entered the charts at #1 in the UK, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Canada, Austria, Switzerland and Germany and reached #1 spot in over 18 nations. "I Want It That Way" worldwide spent the majority of the 1999s at the top of the charts and into the 2000s, a total 2 years at #1 in counting.
The song was ranked #16 on Blender Magazine's 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born list and #61 on Vh1 100 Greatest Songs Of The Past 25 Years.
"I Want It That Way" was later released on Backstreet Boys' greatest hits album, The Hits: Chapter One, in 2001.