Willennium

Willennium is Will Smith's second solo studio album. It was released on the heels of Smith's unprecedented success, Big Willie Style. The blockbuster predecessor album, Big Willie Style, disappeared from the charts only two months before Willennium after enjoying an almost 2-year chart run and selling over 9 million units in the U.S. After such a huge hit, Willennium was received with big expectations from critics and the general public. The album was released on November 16, 1999. It was the only time Smith managed to reach the Top 5 of the Billboard 200 list as a solo artist, as Big Willie Style peaked at No. 9. During the following "millennium-themed" weeks, the album stayed in the Top 10, but on its sixth week it fell very quickly from the charts as the Y2K interest had gone and Columbia could not produce new hits (the third single, "Freakin' It" reached only No. 99 in the U.S. and No. 15 in the UK, making it the second Smith single to fail the UK Top 3 as a solo artist after Just Cruisin' failed to make the top 20 in 1997). The album disappeared from the Billboard 200 list on late June 2000 after 26 weeks of charting, reaching only a quarter of Big Willie Style's chart time. UK charting was similar; the album reached No. 10 and spent 30 weeks on the chart compared to the 108 of Big Willie Style. Willennium produced a new string of hit singles. The first, "Wild Wild West," was originally released earlier in the year as part of the soundtrack to the film Wild Wild West. Although the film was a critical failure, the song managed to be a huge hit throughout the world, reaching No. 1 in the U.S. on July 24, 1999. In the end, Willennium sold 2 million on the U.S. (certified 2xPlatinum by the RIAA on December 17, 1999) and no more than 4 million worldwide, less than a third than its predecessor. "Will 2K" ranked as No. 14 on VH1's list of the 50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs of all-time.