Millennium held the record for most shipments in one year, with 11 million shipments sold in the United States in 1999. It was nominated for fiveGrammy Awards and became one of thebest-selling albums of all time, selling 24 million copies worldwide. The Backstreet Boys promotedMillennium through theInto the Millennium Tour, which became one of the fastest-grossing tours ever.
Following the release of their 1997 albumsBackstreet's Back andBackstreet Boys selling a combined 27 million copies worldwide, the Backstreet Boys were met with critics accusing them of being a "flash in the pan" and misconceptions that they earned a lot of money. From 1997 to 1998, the band filed a lawsuit against managerLou Pearlman, stating that they only received $300,000 from recording and touring while he kept over $10 million. Pearlman claimed to be the "sixth Backstreet Boy" and revealed to them that he managed rival boy bandNSYNC, who sold over 6 million copies oftheir debut album, stating that "it's business."[2] On September 18, 1998, the band left their management company Wright Stuff, which was formerly associated with Pearlman's record company Trans Continental Records.[3]
During the same period, the band also dealt with personal tragedies;Kevin Richardson suffered two family deaths,[4]Brian Littrell needed to undergoopen heart surgery,[2]Howie Dorough lost his sister fromlupus,[5] and the band's producerDenniz Pop died of stomach cancer. The album was initially titledLarger Than Life, which Dorough described as "almost like a thank-you song for all they've done" because they always supported the band.[4]
On July 11, 2025, a "Millennium 2.0" remastered album commemorating the 25th year anniversary was released, which included 13 extra tracks.[6]
"I Want It That Way" is the lead single from the album, released on April 12, 1999. It is one of the Backstreet Boys' most commercially successful songs and is often regarded as the group'ssignature song.
"Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely" is the third single, released on December 14, 1999.[10] It peaked at number six on theBillboard Hot 100 during the week of March 18, 2000.[11]
"The One" is the fourth and final single from the album, being released on May 1, 2000.[12] "Don't Want You Back" was originally going to be the fourth single based on aTRL fan vote. However, whenNick Carter called in to vote for "The One," the fans followed after him.[13]
The album's supporting tour,Into the Millennium Tour, started on June 2, 1999, and ended on March 15, 2000, with a total of 123 shows in 84 cities spanning three legs.[14] Their concert at theGeorgia Dome in Atlanta, was the fifth most attended concert in American history, and the most attended concert by a pop artist.[15]
Writing forAllMusic,Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that "Millennium has no pretense of being anything other than an album for the moment, delivering more of everything that madeBackstreet's Back a blockbuster."[1]Robert Christgau gaveMillennium a two-star honorable mention, stating that the album is "softening it a little up for their younger demographic, sexing it up a little for their own peace of mind," specifically praising "I Want It That Way" and "Larger than Life."[16] Jim Farber ofEntertainment Weekly gave the album a B−, stating that they have taken risks in their lyrics, as "Teen acts normally can’t acknowledge their romantic power. They have to remain the longing ones in order to seal the twin fantasies of purity and accessibility".[17]
Arion Berger ofRolling Stone commented that the album was "prefabricated, too pretty, suspiciously well-choreographed", criticizingNick Carter's straining vocals on "I Need You Tonight," calling "It's Gotta Be You" a rehash of their 1997 single "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)", and describing "The Perfect Fan" as bland. However, he praised "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely," describing it as "digging its melodic claws into your skull on the first listen [...] it's the swooniest blending of the five vocalists' timbres to date, and mighty pretty besides".[18] Writing forSpin,Joshua Clover criticized the opening track "Larger than Life," stating that it "boogies deftly and punks daftly [...] but huffs fame like glue", while praising other uptempo songs such as "I Want It That Way," "Don't Want You Back," "It's Gotta Be You," and "Spanish Eyes".[20] He concluded by stating that while "the calendar flipping soundtrack" isn'tRobbie Williams' song "Millennium" (1998), it 'smashesSilverchair's "Anthem for the Year 2000"' (1999), comparing the band more toAlanis Morissette than NSYNC.[20]
Millennium debuted at number one on theBillboard 200, where it remained for 10 non-consecutive weeks. It sold 1,134,000 copies in its first week of release, breaking the previousNielsen SoundScan record of 1.09 million copies held byGarth Brooks'Double Live for single-week record sales.[21] This record was subsequently overtaken in 2000 by NSYNC with the release ofNo Strings Attached.[22]Millennium sold nearly 500,000 copies in the US on its first day alone, setting a record for first-day sales,[23] and became the best-selling album of 1999, selling 9,445,732 albums.[24] It remained on theBillboard chart for 93 weeks, eventually selling over 13 million copies in the United States and being certified 13 times platinum.[25]
As of 2023, the album stands as the sixth best-selling album in the United States of theSoundScan era with 12.3 million units sold.[26] In 2003 it was also reported as being the fourth biggest seller for Music Club sales in the US over the past 14 years with sales of 1.59 million, though these sales are not included in SoundScan's total.[27] In Canada,Millennium was the seventh biggest selling album since 1995 in the Canadian Soundscan sales era up to end of December 2007,[28] while in Japan, sales reached 1 million according toBillboard.[29] In 2015,Millennium became one of thebest-selling albums of all time, selling 24 million copies worldwide.[30]
After the July 2025 release ofMillennium 2.0, celebrating the album's twenty-fifth anniversary,[32][33] it charted on a number of charts; in the USA,Millennium 2.0 peaked at number 10 on the US iTunes albums chart.[34] In the United Kingdom, the album placed at number 23 on the UK Albums Sales chart, at number 15 on the UK Albums Downloads chart, and at number 29 on the UK Physical Albums Chart. The album additionally placed at number 60 on the Scottish Albums chart.[35]Millennium 2.0 also charted in an additional four countries:Hungary, Japan, Poland, and Spain.
Shannon Anderson, Nancy Baker, Jarred Baugh, Stephen Booth, Leslie Carter, Christina Craddock, Nicholas Daley, Nathan Day, Andrea Dicks, Sean Flaherty, Michael Brad Frazier, Lori Gerlach, Eli Griggs, Noel Harilson, Missy Hogue, Misty Ingels, Jason Jackson, Justin Kearns, Eschelle King, Ryan Kociatek, Toeupu Liu, Rachel Livingston, Rebecca Lord, Kyle Lugger, Ken Mars, Chuck McKenney, Lauren Moss, Charisa Owens, Scott Phillips, Jonathan Prewitt, Merica Rawlings, Luke Sink, Andrea Smith, Beth Smith, Steven Smith, Terri Snider, Heather Tirey, Beth Tober, Mary Trumbo, Patricia Twitty, Cristin Walter, Tasha Webb, Joseph Wells, Ryan West, Shea Popa Wood, Jennifer Schindler
Peter-John Vettese – additional keyboards and programming(track 9)
Jojje Wadenius – guitar(track 3)
Eric Foster White – bass, electric guitar, keyboards, string orchestration and conducting(track 12)
Dan Wojeciechowski – drums(track 12)
Technical
Adam Barber – engineer(tracks 10, 11), additional vocal engineer(track 9)
^As of March 2015, the album has sold 13,812,000 copies in the US according to Nielsen SoundScan, which does not count albums sold through clubs like the BMG Music Club, where it sold 1.59 million units as of February 2003.[125][126] Combined, it has sold over 15,402,000 copies in the United States.
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