Westlife signed to RCA in November 1998 and immediately flew to Stockholm to commence recording their debut album. Their lead single "Swear It Again" was released in April 1999. Two further singles followed and the album was released in November 1999.[4] The album's standard edition features 17 tracks, while the band said they had recorded 22 songs for their debut album.[5]
For North America, Westlife signed to Arista Records after auditioning for the label's founder, Clive Davis.[6] Westlife released "Swear It Again" as their debut there 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".[6]
A documentary 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, available in VHS and DVD, tells the story of how the five members became Westlife, the recording of their first album, and includes their then 4 music videos. On 26 June 2000, the DVD was re-released, containing all their then 6 music videos, and on 18 November 2002, it was included in the five disc box set entitled Westlife: The Complete Story.
Commercial performance
All five singles from the album peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart in less than a year. Despite this, however, the album itself entered and peaked at number two, beaten by Steptacular by Steps.[citation needed] The album was the biggest chart dropper on the top 40 in UK music history when, in its 58th week on the charts it leapt from No. 79 to No. 3 before falling to No. 37 the following week.[7] In Scotland, the album peaked at No. 1 years after its release in 2001 after originally peaking at No. 6 on the Scottish Charts in 1999.[8] The album also peaked at number 1 in Ireland[9] and 15 in Australia.
The album became the eighth best-selling album of 1999 in the United Kingdom and was certified 5× Platinum.[10] The album spent seventy-four weeks in the UK Top 100.[11]Westlife is the best-selling international album ever in Indonesia and the 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.[12][13]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
^"Listen to Westlife by Westlife - Album Reviews, Credits, and Awards". AllRovi. 7 December 1999. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
^"Listen to Westlife by Westlife - Album Reviews, Credits, and Awards". AllMusic. 1999. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
^"Music Zone". The Tribune. 2000. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
^"Westlife: Our Story". HarperCollins Publishers. pp. 89–103. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
^"Westlife: not just another boy band". CNN. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
^ a bTaylor, Chuck (5 February 2000). "Dublin's Darling Westlife Wins Over Europe, Aims For Success in U.S.". Billboard. Vol. 112, no. 6. Nielsen Business Media. p. 110. ISSN 0006-2510.
^"Record-Breakers and Trivia – Albums". everyhit.com.
^ a b"Scottish Albums (14 January 2001)". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
^"Hits of the World". Billboard. 27 November 1999. p. 61.
^ a bGoogle News Archive (15 May 2001). "Westlife brings Coast to Coast in Manila". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 8 April 2012. {{cite news}}: |author= has generic name (help)
^ a bSofia, Maya (20 October 2011). "Boyband Westlife Resmi Bubar Tahun Depan" (in Indonesian). Viva News. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
^"Westlife Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
^"Jaaroverzichten 1999". Ultratop. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
^"Års Hitlister 2000" (in Danish). IFPI Denmark. Archived from the original on 16 November 2001. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
^"Jaaroverzichten – Album 1999". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
^"Eurochart Hot 100 Singles 1999" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 17, no. 1. 1 January 2000. p. 11. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
^"Year list Album (incl. Collections), 1999". Sverigetopplistan (in Swedish). Retrieved 27 December 2020.
^"End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 1999". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 13 August 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
^"Jaaroverzichten 2000". Ultratop. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
^"Jaaroverzichten – Album 2000". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
^"Year in Focus – European Top 100 Albums 2000" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 17, no. 52. 23 December 2000. p. 9. OCLC 29800226. Retrieved 19 January 2019 – via American Radio History.
^"New Zealand album certifications – Westlife – Westlife". Recorded Music NZ.
^"Westlife til Norge igjen". E24 Næringsliv (in Norwegian). 9 July 2009. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
^"Life!". The Straits Times. 9 January 2001. p. 2. Retrieved 27 August 2023. The Singapore Phonogram Videogram Association (SPVA) said Westlife's debut sold over 93,000 copies, making it the No. 1 album in the Top 10 English
^"Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 2000" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 May 2011. Retrieved 3 May 2022.