THE ALBUMS THAT MAKE UP USHER’S SUCCESS STORY
Officially ranked as one of the best selling artists of all time and the number one Hot 100 artist of the 2000s decade, Usher became a super star right from the get-go. Here is the list of the albums that helped him get to the top!
Usher
His self titled album released three singles: “Can U Get Wit It”, “Think Of You”, and “The Many Ways” and peaked at number twenty-five on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Though not as successful as the later ones, the album still has sold over 500,000 copies, to date.
My Way
His second album “My Way” was released in 1997 in collaboration with Jermaine Dupri. The album went six times platinum in the US with two singles-“You make me wanna” and “Nice and slow” peaking at No. one on various charts. “My Way” was responsible for establishing Usher as a Hip Hop superstar, both in the US and the UK.
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Though radio and internet leaks somewhat dampened the craze of the fans for Usher songs in this album, it still went four times platinum and produced superhits like “Pop ya collar”, U remind me” and U got it bad”.
Confessions
This is the album that made Usher one of the most successful hip hop artist of all time. “Confessions” grossed the highest first-week numbers ever scanned by a male R&B artist and earned a Diamond certification by the RIAA. It earned him a series of awards including four American Music Awards, two MTV Europe Music Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards for Usher music videos from the album, three World Music Awards, three Grammies and the title of “Artist of the year” at the 2004 Billboard Music Awards. Till today, the album has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. “Confessions” was the album that got Usher to the top of the hip hop industry.
Here I stand
The grand success of “Confessions” created spectacular media hype with Usher pictures plastered all over the news and the internet. This made the release of his subsequent album one of the most awaited events of the year. The album debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200 Chart. Although it did not live up to the expectations, “Here I stand” gained critical acclaim and was praised for the maturity in the album’s lyrics. The album’s single “Love in the club” became Usher’s eighth number-one single and the fastest-rising song of his career.
Raymond v Raymond
This album also debuted at number one, featured chart topping singles like “Papers”, “Hey daddy (Daddy’s home)” and “There goes my baby”. The song “OMG” was an international super hit with the Usher music video receiving constant on air play on VH1. An extended version of the album was also released in 2010 under the name “Versus” that featured seven new tracks and various collaborations.
With a new album due for release in 2012, fans are expecting even better music from this R&B megastar. Usher truly is one of the best selling artists in American Music history.
About the Author:
James Griffith is a freelance writer from London specialising in writing hiphop r&b music and uk grime music articles. Over the years he has developed an extensive knowledge of urban music and urban music artists and is considered one of the leading authorities on this subject. With a passion for Hip hop and R&B music since childhood, James Griffith brings great knowledge and a great understanding of this exciting music genre and his articles are both informative and entertaining too.
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