Combined the singles from this album spent 28 weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The large success of the album prompted a fall re-release, featuring another #1 single, the Alicia Keys assisted “My Boo”. But the album’s reception was one that even Usher couldn’t have expected.Ĭonfessions debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 with sales of over one million copies in the United States, the first R&B album in the history of music to do so something that has not been duplicated by anyone, not even the likes of Rihanna or Beyonce. The album’s contents were primarily a the backstory of it’s executive producer, Jermaine Dupri, who penned many of the album’s tunes, including the album’s third #1 single, “Confessions, Pt. Or at least we thought the album addressed their breakup. The album’s second single, the break-up ballad “Burn”, would also hit #1 and would set the tone for an album rooted in the controversial break-up of he and Chilli, member of R&B group TLC. The single is one of the 25 biggest songs of all-time and was the third biggest song of the 2000s decade, behind The Black Eyed Peas “I Gotta Feeling” (#2) and Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together” (#1). The trio’s bonafide club banger, based on meeting a shawty in the club, would go onto reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remain there for 12 non-consecutive weeks, the longest stay for all three at the top. The collaboration was also at an all-time high for Atlanta based music on mainstream charts, as both rappers had #1 singles the year prior. The first single from his breakthrough album Confessions, “Yeah!”, we saw Usher join forces with Lil’ Jon and Ludacris at the respective peak of both of their careers. So it was only a matter of time before he took the world by storm and became the biggest story of music.

He was officially transitioning from a heartthrob performer, into a grown man still straddling the line. His 2001 album, 8701, was a commercial success due to singles “U Remind Me”, “U Got It Bad”, and “U Don’t Have to Call”. In the first quarter of 2004, R&B’s rising prince would transform into one of the all-time greats in R&B. 7 Our writer takes a stroll down memory lane through one of R&B’s most scandalous albums of the 00s.

Who produced usher confessions album