Sweat is the thirdstudio album byAmerican rapperNelly. It was intended to be released on August 17, 2004, before being delayed and released on September 13, 2004, by his labelDerrty Entertainemt,Fo' Reel Entertainment, andUniversal Records. Production was handled by several producers, includingJason "Jay E" Epperson,Midi Mafia,The Neptunes,Trife,Jazze Pha, Doe andthe Alchemist. Released in conjunction withSuit, Nelly intended to release a single album before conceptualizing and releasing two albums simultaneously, both which would contrast each other's themes. Nelly characterizedSweat as "more up-tempo" and "energetic" while describingSuit as more of "a grown-up and sexy vibe [...] it's more melodic".
While recording material for his third studio album,Nelly had his intention of producing one album. Songs were being recorded at a steady pace, with Nelly composing more ideas, to which he established the idea of two albums released simultaneously to house all the tracks.[2] On April 27, 2004, Nelly's representative initially described the upcoming albums as thematically dissimilar, "one is more melodic and party-oriented in the vein of records like "E.I." and "Tip Drill", while the other was described as having a "harder edge".[3] The track "Another One" was allegedly a diss at fellow St. Louis rapperChingy after the two had begun a publicized feud in the media.[4] Nelly released singles accompanied by music videos from both albums.[3] Talking toMTV News, Nelly described the differences between both albums; their titles ofSweat andSuit were announced on May 27, 2004.[5] He notedSweat as "more up-tempo" and "energetic", while characterizingSuit as more of "a grown-up and sexy vibe [...] it's more melodic".[2]
Sweat andSuit were intended to be released on August 17, 2004, but were pushed back and released on September 14 in the United States, Canada and Japan.[5][6][7][8]Sweat was released on September 13, 2004, in the United Kingdom and Germany.[9][10]
In its opening week,Sweat debuted at number 2 on the USBillboard 200 chart, selling 342,000 copies.[21] On the same day ofSweat's release, Nelly'sSuit, released in conjunction with the former album, debuted at number one on theBillboard 200, selling 396,000 copies, becoming his third consecutive US number-one album followingCountry Grammar (2000) andNellyville (2002).[21] The combination of both album's opening figures of 737,000 surpasses that ofNellyville's, which debuted with 714,000 copies sold.[21] With the debuts, Nelly became the first act to achieve the feat of obtaining album's number one and number 2 on the USTop R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart simultaneously. He is the second artist, following Americanhard rock bandGuns N' Roses, to achieve the same feat, but on theBillboard 200 chart.[21] Guns N' Roses attained the accomplishment in 1991 withUse Your Illusion II andUse Your Illusion I, with the former debuting at number one and the latter at number 2, selling 770,000 and 685,000 copies, respectively.[21]
The following week ofSweat's release, it fell to number 4 on theBillboard 200 chart, selling 127,500 copies.[22] In its third week,Sweat sold 80,000 copies, dropping to number 8.[23] In the album's fourth week of release, its sales further decreased to 64,000 copies, falling to number 12.[24] In its fifth week,Sweat's again decreased, to 62,000 units, sustaining its position at number 12.[25] The album's sales continued to decrease in its sixth week of release, selling 50,000 copies, moving to number 16 on the chart.[26] On November 1, 2004,Sweat went on to be certified platinum by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipments of 1,000,000 copies.
