Westlife is the self-titled debut studio album by Irish boy band Westlife. The album was released on 1 November 1999 through RCA. The album spawned the five UK number-one hit singles "Swear It Again", "If I Let You Go", "Flying Without Wings", the double A-side "I Have a Dream"/"Seasons in the Sun", and "Fool Again". The album broke several records: the most entries at number one by a debut act; the only music act to have four number ones on the UK Singles Chart in a calendar year; the first and only artist so far to have every single from their album reach number one on the singles chart; the male group with the most original songs from an album to reach number one on the UK Singles Chart; biggest-selling single in its first week of sale by a debut artist; the first pop band and boy band to hit number one with its first two singles; and biggest selling international/foreign album act in Philippine and Indonesian music record history.
Background
Westlife signed to Arista Records for the North American territory after auditioning for the label's founder, Clive Davis. Westlife released "Swear It Again" as their debut and only single released in the United States. The singles was serviced to radio in February and released commercially 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". In 2005, the album was released in a compilation box collection with Westlife's fourth studio album, Turnaround.
Commercial performance
Due to all five singles from the album peaking at number one on the UK Singles Chart in less than a year, Westlife created a chart history record that remains unbroken to date. Despite this, however, the album entered and peaked at number two, being beaten only by an extra 1,000 copies of Steptacular by Steps. 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. Despite the history, the album successfully managed to peak at No. 1 in Scotland in the year 2001 after premiering at No. 6 at the Scottish Charts in 1999. The album became the eighth best-selling album of 1999 in the United Kingdom, and ended up being certified 4× Platinum. The album went on to spend seventy-four weeks in the UK Top 100. A 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 was available on both VHS and DVD. The DVD was later made available in a five disc set entitled "Westlife: The Complete Story". In 2000, the album was released in the United States and debuted at number 2 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers and peaked at 129 on the Billboard 200. The album also peaked at number 1 in Ireland and 15 in Australia. Westlife also remains the best-selling international album ever in Indonesia and 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.
Track listing
The album's standard edition featured 17 tracks. While the band said they recorded 22 songs for the debut album, standard and other versions have a total of 26 tracks overall. Notes
"Swear It Again" is also referred to as "Swear It All Over Again" according to music repertoires.
"No No" is also referred to as "No No I Don't Need Nobody" or "No No " according to music repertoires.
"I Don't Wanna Fight" is also referred to as "I Don't Want to Fight" according to music repertoires.
"Miss You" is also referred to as "I Miss You" according to music repertoires.
"Can't Lose What You Never Had" is also referred to as "Can't Lose What U Never Had" according to music repertoires.
