Patrick Tucker, Shepard Solomon, Arnthor Birgisson While the band said they recorded 22 songs for the debut album, standard and other versions have a total of 26 tracks overall.ĭavid Kreuger, Jörgen Elofsson, Per Magnusson The album's standard edition featured 17 tracks. 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. The album also peaked at number 1 in Ireland and 15 in Australia. 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 DVD was later made available in a five disc set entitled "Westlife: The Complete Story". The release was available on both VHS and DVD. 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 album went on to spend seventy-four weeks in the UK Top 100. The album became the eighth best-selling album of 1999 in the United Kingdom, and ended up being certified 5× Platinum. 1 in Scotland in the year 2001 after premiering at No. Despite the history, the album successfully managed to peak at No. 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. Despite this, however, the album entered and peaked at number two, being beaten only by an extra 1,000 copies of Steptacular by Steps. Commercial performance ĭue 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. The album was released on 4 April 2000 with an altered track listing that included the new song, "My Private Movie". Westlife released "Swear It Again" as their debut there on 7 March 2000. įor North America, Westlife signed to Arista Records after auditioning for the label's founder, Clive Davis. Two further singles followed and the album was released in November 1999. Their lead single " Swear It Again" was released in April 1999. The band has also broken a few top records, including "Music artist with most consecutive number 1's in the UK" and the "Biggest selling arena act in the UK".Westlife signed to RCA in November 1998 and immediately flew to Stockholm to commence recording their debut album. The band has also won numerous awards such as the "Best Irish Pop Act" at the annual Ireland Meteor Awards and ITV "Record of the Year" award in the UK. They garnered 14 number one singles in the United Kingdom, the third-highest in UK history, tying with Cliff Richard and tailing behind Elvis Presley and The Beatles. Westlife has sold more than 40 million records worldwide. On March 9, 2004, McFadden left the band to work on solo projects (before his departure, McFadden also contributed lead vocals). All of the band members are songwriters, although most of their hits have been composed by external writers. Filan and Feehily are the band's lead vocalists. The group's original lineup comprised of Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, and Bryan McFadden. Over the years, Westlife's music has evolved from teen pop to an adult contemporary sound, with an emphasis on ballads. They were signed on by Simon Cowell and are currently managed by Louis Walsh. Westlife is an Irish pop band that was formed on July 3, 1998.