To the surprise of almost no one with a pulse at the time, the Millennium album debuted at No. (For the millennials reading this, 1999 was part of the pre-streaming/pre-iTunes era when brick-and-mortar record stores still existed and physical media – either CDs or cassette tapes, and sometimes vinyl – was still the primary means of purchasing music.) That album sales figure (a Nielsen SoundScan one-week record at the time) was largely due to the anticipation built by “I Want It That Way,” the album’s lead-off hit which had been on pop radio for more than a month but was not itself available in stores as a commercial single. This year marks the classic tune’s 20th anniversary – as well as that of its blockbuster parent album, Millennium, which sold more than 1.13M copies in just its first week of release back in May 1999.
See the viral video in this article from Billboard. It was one of those magical moments that served as a reminder that not only is music still the unifying force even for complete strangers on a subway train, but that “I Want It That Way” still jams after all these years and – judging by the diversity of folks belting it at the top of their lungs in the viral Twitter video – it wasn’t just your stereotypical pop teeny-bopper who was rocking it back in the day. Well, apparently you’re not alone (assuming you said yes).Įarlier on June 19, a Twitter post of a shirtless NYC subway rider bumping the Backstreet Boys’ signature tune from his speakers – and (obliviously) being joined in a singalong by nearly everyone in the train car – went viral. Have you heard “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys recently and thought to yourself: “damn that song is still a bop after all these years!”?