Unbreakable is the Backstreet Boys' sixth studio album. It was released on October 24, 2007 in Japan and October 30 in the United States by Jive Records. This is the first Backstreet Boys album that Kevin Richardson has had no involvement in, who made the decision to pursue other interests.

Background

In July 2007, it was announced that the Backstreet Boys would release a new album on October 30, 2007, their first album of new material in two years. Rumoured titles of the album included End to Beginning and Motivation before Brian Littrell and A.J. McLean confirmed on August 13, 2007 that the title of the album would be Unbreakable. Producers include Dan Muckala, who produced the band's 2005 hit single "Incomplete", and Rob Wells. It is the first Backstreet Boys album that former member Kevin Richardson is not involved in, as he had left the group in June the previous year.

In an interview with INROCK magazine, Brian Littrell said the album would include various music styles, combining their earlier late-1990s sound with their more recent guitar-driven pop rock sound. The Boys themselves co-wrote five tracks on this album (including "Intro").

On October 2, 2007, the tracks, "Unmistakable" and "Something That I Already Know" were released on Promosquad and RateTheMusic. The next day, a Japanese radio station leaked the intro of the album, along with the track, "Everything But Mine".

In Japan, the album went to #1 in its first week and sold 102,043 copies. It maintained its #1 position for the second consecutive week beating all of the domestic Japanese competition, a remarkable feat for a foreign band. In the United States, the album debuted at number seven, selling about 81,000 copies in its first week. Although the album is a moderate success worldwide, selling over 500,000 copies, it failed to match the success of Never Gone in the US where only 110,000 copies were sold in the first four weeks.

"Helpless When She Smiles" was the assumed next single from Unbreakable. It has already received airplay on WKSS in Hartford, CT, but this may be because of The WKSS Hey Yo! Christmas Show in which the Backstreet Boys will headline. This news was officially confirmed by the boys when they were on Backstage. The Backstreet Boys had expressed discontent with the record label's decision to choose Helpless When She Smiles as the second single, feeling that it sounded too much like their previous singles. Jive Records declined this.

According to Sony BMGJapan, the video of "Helpless When She Smiles" which is supposed to be the second single of Unbreakable will be filmed on November 13, 2007 at the Joshua Tree National Park, CA. The video premiered on Yahoo! Music on Wednesday December 12, 2007.

There is to be a dvd of the tour as said by the boys in an interview after the show in London on may 14th, the recording for the dvd took place here and can be verified by many fans who attended the events, saying there where cameras and different mics to record the show. The show used pyro for the first time on this tour during this show.

The closing track of the album, "Unsuspecting Sunday Afternoon", is broken into two different parts. The first part leads off the album, and is a one minute acapella version of the chorus, listed as "Intro" on the record. The second part closes out the album, and is about three and half minutes in length. Commencing with only a piano, the song then adds a live drum beat and orchestral instruments, followed by an electric guitar solo and atmospheric harmonies. All four members co-wrote the song and hailed it as the best song in the album.

Sales and reception

The album received generally positive reviews with critics arguing that it was an improvement over their comeback album Never Gone two years ago. Despite positive reviews, it became their least successful album. However, the sales quickly fell. The album debuted at #7 on the Billboard 200 with 81,000 copies sold in its first week. By the second week, the album fell to #10 with 45,000 copies sold. It fell to #52 in its third week with 20,000 copies sold. It fell to #78 in its fourth week with 5,000 copies sold making the total sales of 410,000 copies.

Unbreakable Tour

Track listing

Standard Edition

#	Title	Songwriters	Producer(s)	Time
1.	"Intro"	Brian Littrell, A.J. McLean, Howie Dorough, Nick Carter, Dan Muckala	Dan Muckala	0:58
2.	"Everything But Mine"	Jess Cates, Dan Muckala, Lindy Robbins	Dan Muckala	4:06
3.	"Inconsolable"	Jess Cates, Emanuel Kiriakou, Lindy Robbins	Emanuel Kiriakou	3:36
4.	"Something That I Already Know"	Zukhan Bey, Kara Dioguardi, David Hodges, Mitch Allan	Mitch Allan, Kara Dioguardi, David Hodges	3:29
5.	"Helpless When She Smiles"	Brett Cornelius, Christopher Lindsey, Aimee Mayo, Thomas Verges	John Shanks	4:04
6.	"Any Other Way"	Jess Cates, Dan Muckala, Lindy Robbins	Dan Muckala	3:23
7.	"One in a Million"	Brian Littrell, A.J. McLean, Howie Dorough, Nick Carter, Jess Cates, Dan Muckala, Lindy Robbins	Dan Muckala	3:32
8.	"Panic"	Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, A.J. McLean, Billy Mann, Dan Muckala	Dan Muckala	2:52
9.	"You Can Let Go"	Jess Cates, Dan Muckala, Lindy Robbins	Dan Muckala	3:32
10.	"Trouble Is"	D. Mescall, M. Sutton, P. Sheyne	John Shanks	3:32
11.	"Treat Me Right"	A.J. McLean, JC Chasez, T. Feemster	Neff-U & JC Chasez	4:09
12.	"Love Will Keep You Up All Night"	Dave Schuler, Billy Mann, Brian Paturalski, Larry Gold	Billy Mann	4:14
13.	"Unmistakable"	Adam Anders, Nikki Hassman, Dan Muckala	Dan Muckala, Adam Anders	3:46
14.	"Unsuspecting Sunday Afternoon"	Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, A.J. McLean, Billy Mann, Dan Muckala	Dan Muckala	3:21

Deluxe Edition

• All fourteen songs from the Standard Edition.
• Two bonus tracks.
• The deluxe will contain a poster and special packaging.

#	Title (Bonus Tracks)	Songwriters	Producer(s)	Time
15.	"Downpour"	Jess Cates, Emanuel Kiriakou, Lindy Robbins	Emanuel Kiriakou	3:20
16.	"In Pieces"	Jess Cates, Dan Muckala, Lindy Robbins	Dan Muckala	3:41
17.	"Nowhere to Go" iTunes & Japanese Edition Bonus Track	Rob Wells, Jess Cates, Lindy Robbins	Rob Wells	2:48
18.	"There's Us" (Originally performed by Alexz Johnson) iTunes, Wal-Mart & Australian Edition Bonus Track	Rob Wells, Christopher Ward	Rob Wells	4:13

Asian Tour (Limited Edition) + DVD

Disc 1

#	Title	Time
01	"Intro"
02	"Everything But Mine"
03	"Inconsolable"
04	"Something That I Already Know"
05	"Helpless When She Smiles"
06	"Any Other Way"
07	"One In A Million"
08	"Panic"
09	"You Can Let Go"
10	"Trouble Is"
11	"Treat Me Right"
12	"Love Will Keep You Up All Night"
13	"Unmistakable"
14	"Unsuspecting Sunday Afternoon"
15	"Downpour "
16	"Pieces"
17	"Nowhere To Go"
18	"Inconsolable [Jason Nevins Remix]"
19	"Helpless When She Smiles [Jason Nevins Radio Mix]"
20	"Satellite"

Disc 2

#	Title	Time
01	"Inconsolable [MV] (DVD)"
02	"Making Of "Inconsolable" (DVD)"
03	"Helpless When She Smiles [MV] (DVD)"
04	"Making Of "Helpless When She Smiles" (DVD)"
05	"9 Days In Tokyo - Documentary (DVD)"

Unreleased Track(s)

#	Title (Cut Tracks)	Songwriters	Producer(s)	Time
.	"Happily Never After" (Given to Nicole Scherzinger)	Ne-Yo and Shea Taylor	Ne-Yo	4:19
.	"Evergreen"			3:23
.	"Sick As My Secrets"			3:24

Charts

Chart	Country	Peak position	Certification	Sales
Argentinian Albums Chart	Argentina	6		20,000
Australian ARIA Albums Chart	Australia	25
Austrian Albums Chart	Austria	21
Brazilian Top 30 CD Sales	Brazil	1		30,000+
Canadian Albums Chart	Canada	2	Gold	50,000+
Estonian Top 100 Albums Chart	Estonia	11
Finnish Top 40 Albums	Finland	27
German Albums Chart	Germany	4		58,000
Irish Albums Chart	Ireland	26
Federation of the Italian Music Industry	Italy	15		28,000
Japan Oricon Album Chart	Japan	1	Platinum	359,820
Japan Oricon International Album Chart		1
Japan Soundscan Total Album Ranking Top 20		1
Japan Soundscan International Album Ranking Top 20		1
Dutch Albums Chart	The Netherlands	10
Mexican Albums Chart	Mexico	24
Portugal Albums Top 30	Portugal	17
G-Music Western Chart Weekly Top 20	Republic of China (Taiwan)	1
Singapore Albums Chart	Singapore	4
Hanteo Chart Weekly Pop	South Korea	2		6,1003
Spain Albums Top 100	Spain	7	Gold	56,000
Swedish Top 60	Sweden	28
Swiss Albums Chart	Switzerland	6		<10,000
UK Albums Chart	United Kingdom	21		58,504
Billboard 200	United States	7		124,660
Billboard Top Digital Albums		5
Billboard Top Internet Albums		10
Turkish Albums Chart	Turkey	1		22,859
Venezuelan Albums Chart	Venezuela	19

Release history

Region	Date
Japan	October 24, 2007
Belgium	October 26, 2007
Finland
Germany
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Sweden
Australia	October 27, 2007
Austria
Denmark
Ireland
New Zealand
Switzerland

Region	Date
Czech Republic	October 29, 2007
France
Greece
Portugal
Spain
Ukraine
United Kingdom
Canada	October 30, 2007
Mexico
United States
Israel	October 31, 2007
Thailand

Region	Date
China	November 2, 2007
Hong Kong
Philippines
Malaysia
Taiwan
Vietnam
Russia	November 5, 2007
Brazil	November 10, 2007
Indonesia	November 16, 2007
India	November 22, 2007
North Korea
Singapore
South Korea

References

External links

• Official Backstreet Boys Website
• Offical Jive Records BSB Website
• Jive Records