"I Want It That Way" is a song by the Backstreet Boys, from their 1999 album Millennium. It was written by Max Martin and Andreas Carlsson. The song was highly played on the radio, and the video, directed by Wayne Isham, was well played on television. It was later released on the Backstreet Boys' greatest hits album, The Hits: Chapter One, in 2001. The song went on to reach the #1 spot in over 25 nations.

Popular success

The single broke the record for most radio station adds in its first week with 165. It reached the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks charts, where it stayed for 14 weeks. On the Billboard Top 40 Mainstream chart, it set a record for most weeks at #1. The single, however, failed to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #6. The song was honored with three Grammy nominations, including one for "Record Of The Year".

The song hit big in the UK, debuting at #1 on the UK Singles Chart. "I Want It That Way" made chart history in the Netherlands being the first single ever to debut at #1 in the Top 40, without being in the "Tip Parade" first. The song also entered the charts at #1 in Italy, Spain, Canada, Austria, Switzerland and Germany.

The song is also highly critically acclaimed. The song was voted #3 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the '90s in December 2007, #10 in the MTV/Rolling Stone list of the "100 Greatest Pop Songs Of All Time" in 2000. It was ranked #16 on Blender Magazine's 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born list and #61 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs Of The Past 25 Years in June 2003. It was ranked #1 in MTV's Top 99 Of 99 special.

Track listing

Standard

1. "I Want It That Way"
2. "My Heart Stays With You"
3. "I'll Be There for You"

The Remixes - limited edition

1. I Want It That Way (Album Version)
2. I Want It That Way (David Morales Club Version)
3. I Want It That Way (The Wunder Dub)
4. I Want It That Way (Jazzy Jim Vocal Mix)

Remixes double vinyl

1. I Want It That Way (Morales Club Vocal) - 7:21
2. I Want It That Way (Original LP Version) - 3:32
3. I Want It That Way (The Wunder Dub) - 6:50
4. I Want It That Way (Def Drums Mix) - 7:49
5. I Want It That Way (Def Rascals Mix) - 9:19
6. I Want It That Way (After Hours Mix) - 7:51
7. I Want It That Way (Jazzy Jim Vocal Mix) - 3:42

Chart Performance

Chart	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart	2
Austrian Singles Chart	1
Belgian Flanders Singles Chart	4
Belgian Wallonia Singles Chart	7
Canada Singles Chart	1
Chile 100 Singles Chart	1
Finnish Singles Chart	4
French Singles Chart	10
German Singles Chart	1
Indonesian Singles Chart	1
Israeli Singles Chart	1
Italian Singles Chart	1
Latvian Airplay Top	1
Malaysian Singles Chart	1
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart	1
Singapore Singles Chart	1
Spanish Singles Chart	1
Swedish Singles Chart	2
Swiss Singles Chart	1
UK Singles Chart	1
US Billboard Adult Contemporary	1
US Billboard Top 40 Mainstream	1
US Billboard Hot 100	6
United World Chart	1

Music video

The music video is set mainly at LAX International Airport on April 1 1999(date filmed), and features prominent special effects scene transitions between shots. Notably, a high-speed zoom effect which makes it appear that the foreground subject has not changed to a new shot while the background has, fades in and out of white, and shifting between different film speeds during shots. Another special effects sequence using greenscreen, in which the band, dressed in white, would perform a dance sequence while being manipulated over the backdrop of an airport lobby was mostly cut from the video, as it was felt that a dance sequence did not fit with the song, though elements of the dance remain in the second chorus, as do non-dance elements that sequence. As the band prepares to board their plane, they are greeted by a crowd of screaming fans bearing signs and flowers.

The video reached #35 on "Muchmusic's 100 Best Videos."

Parodies and Pop Culture

• Howard Stern had a parody on his show called "The Gay Way", which was sung by his band The Losers.
• Weird Al Yankovic made a parody called "eBay".
• A parody called "Which Backstreet Boy is Gay" became an Internet phenomenon and also became misattributed to "Weird Al" Yankovic.
• I Want A Fat Babe is a ShockWave video featuring the Backstreet Boys (referred to in the parody as the SnackTreat Boys) discovering and praising an obese woman in song and dance.
• I Want It That Way is a humorous video of two Beijing college students lip-synching and imitating the style of the Backstreet Boys.
• The above mentioned lip-synching students are parodied in the first episode of the first season of TV series Heroes. Two young men can be seen miming to the song in a scene featuring Hiro Nakamura and Ando Masahashi in a bar.
• Blink-182 sent the video up in the video for their song All the Small Things.
• Mr. Meaty characters Josh and Parker lip-synched this song in a commercial on Nickelodeon.
• ApologetiX wrote a parody called "I Want in That Place" on their 2000 "Spoofernatural" album.
• Bob Saget sings his version Danny Tanner is Not Gay in his stand-up routine.
• The Oh Boyz sing a parody called "I Want in My Way" on Kim Possible.
• Sanjaya Malakar, Phil Stacey, and Chris Sligh performed the song as a comical performance on American Idol Season 6 Tour.
• Josh Farro, Zac Farro, and Jeremy Davis of Paramore sang this song with a Japanese representative while on tour in Japan for their album All We Know Is Falling.
• Cricketers Brett Lee, Shane Watson, and Kumar Sangakkara sang this song during the inaugural DLF Indian Premier League tournament.
• Main characters, Shawn and Gus from USA Network's Psych, played by James Roday and Dulé Hill respectively, sing a rendition of the song while trying to block Juliet (Maggie Lawson) from the spotlight during the end credits of the episode "Forget Me Not."