Willennium

Untitled

Willennium is Will Smith's second solo studio album. It was released on the heels of Smith's unprecedented success, Big Willie Style.

Album information

The blockbuster predecessor album, Big Willie Style, disappeared from the charts only two months before Willennium after enjoying an almost 2-year chart run and selling over 9 million units in the U.S. After such a huge hit, Willennium was received with big expectations from critics and the general public. The album was released on November 16, 1999, alongside other huge Christmas-seasoned releases. "Willennium" made it to #5 with 187,000 sales in its debut week, but was blocked by other big new releases as Korn's Issues (which debuted at #1 with 573,000), Dr. Dre's Dr. Dre 2001 (#2 with 516,000 ) and Celine Dion's All the Way... A Decade of Song (#3 with 302,000). It was the only time Smith managed to reach the Top 5 of the Billboard 200 list as a solo artist, as Big Willie Style peaked at #9.

During the following "millennium-themed" weeks, the album stayed in the Top 10, but on its sixth week it fell very quickly from the charts as the Y2K interest had gone and Columbia couldn't produce new hits (the third single, "Freakin' It" reached only #99 in the U.S. and #15 in the UK, making it the first Smith single to fail the UK Top 3 as a solo artist). The album disappeared from the Billboard 200 list on late June 2000 after 26 weeks of charting, reaching only a quarter of Big Willie Style's chart time. UK charting was similar; the album reached #10 and spent 30 weeks on the chart compared to the 108 of Big Willie Style.

Willennium produced a new string of hit singles. The first, "Wild Wild West," was originally released earlier in the year as part of the soundtrack to the film Wild Wild West. Although the film was a box office failure, the song managed to be a huge hit throughout the world, reaching #1 in the U.S. on July 24, 1999. The song also reached Top 10 positions worldwide, including a #2 peak on the UK charts (where it was blocked by ATB's "9pm (Till I Come)".

The follow-up single was the hit "Will 2K". The song was specifically created as a party song for New Year's Day of the new millennium. It features samples from The Clash's "Rock the Casbah" and references Prince's then-timely song "1999" with the lyrics, "Now we gonna party like it's nineteen...hold up, it is." It also pokes fun at the over-hyped Y2K. The song only reached #25 in the US chart but peaked at #2 on the UK charts (this time blocked by Robbie Williams's big-seller "She's the One/It's Only Us" Double-A sided single).

In the end, Willennium sold 2 million on the U.S. (certified 2xPlatinum by the RIAA on December 17, 1999) and no more than 4 million worldwide, less than a third than its predecessor.

"Working Day and Night" a song sampled on the album, would also be sampled exactly 10 years after the song was released on the song "Make Me" by Janet Jackson as a tribute to her brother. "Will 2k" ranked as #14 on VH1's list of the 50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs of all-time.

Two songs on the album "Uuhhh" and "The Rain" were co-written by the rapper Common.

Tracklisting

1. "I'm Comin'" (featuring Tra-Knox) (Runnells, Brown, Rans, Smith, Moore, Bennett) – 3:54
2. "Will 2K" (featuring K-Ci) (Robinson, Smith, Bennett, Henson) – 3:53
3. "Freakin' It" (Sawyer, McLeod, Edwards, Rogers, Smith, Barnes, Bennett) – 3:59
4. "Da Butta" (featuring Lil' Kim) (Grey, Hanks, Smith, Jones, Bennett) – 2:58
5. "La Fiesta" (Puente, Smith, Haggins, Pelzer, Henson, Lynn) – 4:16
6. "Who Am I?" (featuring Tatyana Ali & MC Lyte) (Smith, Jerkins, Daniels, Ali) – 4:02
7. "Afro Angel" (Dorough, Smith, Smith, Bennett) – 5:10
8. "So Fresh" (featuring DJ Jazzy Jeff, Biz Markie & Slick Rick) (Smith, Townes, Hall, Henson) - 4:15
9. "Pump Me Up" (Davis, Barrier, Griffen, Parker, Smith, Townes) – 4:05
10. "Can You Feel Me?" (featuring Eve) (Jackson, Smith, Jeffers, Henson) – 3:44
11. "Potnas"/"Interlude" (Smith, Hutchins, Smith, Bennett) – 6:09
12. "No More" (featuring Breeze) (Larsen, Smith) – 3:29
13. "Uuhhh" (featuring Kel Spencer) (Hakwins, Lewis, Smith, Bennett, Townes, Henson, Lynn) – 4:28
14. "Wild Wild West" (featuring Dru Hill and Kool Moe Dee) (Wonder, Smith, Fusari, DeWese) – 4:28
15. "The Rain" (featuring Jill Scott) (Williams, Neale, Smith, Lynn, Scott, Townes) – 4:48

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1999	The Billboard 200	5
1999	Top Canadian Albums	6
1999	Top Internet Albums	6
1999	Top Internet Albums	15
1999	Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums	8
1999	UK Top 75 Albums	10

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1999	"Wild Wild West"	Canadian Singles Chart	2
1999	"Wild Wild West"	Hot Latin Tracks	39
1999	"Wild Wild West"	Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks	3
1999	"Wild Wild West"	Hot Rap Singles	1
1999	"Wild Wild West"	Latin Pop Airplay	20
1999	"Wild Wild West"	Latin Tropical/Salsa Airplay	14
1999	"Wild Wild West"	Rhythmic Top 40	4
1999	"Wild Wild West"	The Billboard Hot 100	1
1999	"Wild Wild West"	Top 40 Mainstream	4
1999	"Wild Wild West"	Top 40 Tracks	4
1999	"Will 2K"	Canadian Singles Chart	12
1999	"Will 2K"	Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks	66
1999	"Will 2K"	Hot Rap Singles	35
1999	"Will 2K"	Rhythmic Top 40	14
1999	"Will 2K"	The Billboard Hot 100	25
1999	"Will 2K"	Top 40 Mainstream	13
1999	"Will 2K"	Top 40 Tracks	18
2000	"Freakin' It"	Hot Rap Singles	20
2000	"Freakin' It"	Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales	4
2000	"Freakin' It"	Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks	77
2000	"Freakin' It"	Rhythmic Top 40	35
2000	"Freakin' It"	The Billboard Hot 100	99
2000	"Freakin' It"	Top 40 Mainstream	40