How Will Millennium do on the Charts?
Chart Beat Online is the exclusive home of Fred Bronson's Chart Beat Chat and Chart Beat Bonus. Each week, Fred extends his Chart Beat column, which appears weekly in Billboard Magazine, to include Billboard Online user question-and-answer sessions and bonus information not available in the magazine. Stop by here each Friday as the magazine goes to press to check out the latest chart news and trivia.
This is a question posted on Fred's Chart Beat on April 16, 1999
Hi Fred!
I have another Backstreet Boys question for you. The Boys are set to release their third album (second for the US), "Millennium," on May 18. How do you think this album will do on the charts? All of the singles off of their last album were most successful on adult contemporary radio--do you think this album will help them finally shake off the "teenybopper" label they're always stuck with? Also, do you know if the first song off of the album, "I Want It That Way," will be commercially released, and how do you think it will do on the charts?
Tammy Putman - Dallas
Dear Tammy,
I think the anticipation for the new Backstreet Boys album will be so great that it will have a great chance of debuting at number 1 on the Billboard 200, even though their first US release only peaked at number 4. And I think the group's success at adult contemporary radio means they have already shaken off a lot of their teenybopper image. "I Want It That Way" debuts on this week's Hot 100 at number 72 as an airplay track. They haven't had a number 1 single yet---"Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)" is their highest-charting single to date, having peaked at number 2. Maybe this one will take them all the way?