The writing's on the wall

The Writing's on the Wall is the second album by American girl group Destiny's Child, released by Columbia on July 27, 1999 in the United States. The album featured production from Missy Elliott, Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs, Rodney Jerkins, and Beyoncé among others and featured guest appearances from Missy Elliott and R&B trio Next. The Writing's on The Wall spawned four singles, including the number one-hits Bills, Bills, Bills, and Say My Name, the Beyoncé-penned Jumpin' Jumpin' and the Top 40 hit Bug a Boo. This is the last album with the group's original line-up.

The album saw the group taking creative control from writing and producing their own tracks working closely with producer Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs and singer-songwriter Xscape member Kandi Burruss. Bills, Bills, Bills and Bug a Boo were among the first songs written and produced by the group.

The album debut at number six on the Billboard 200 chart on August 14, 1999 with first-week sales of 132,000 units and later peaked at number five on May 6, 2000. It earned Destiny's Child six Grammy nominations for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals (twice), Best R&B Song (twice), Record of the Year. and Song of the Year. The Writing's on The Wall was certified 8x platinum by the RIAA on November 6, 2001. The album has sold over 13 million copies worldwide.

Billboard magazine ranked The Writing's on the Wall at number 39 on the magazine's Top 200 Albums of the Decade.[1]

Chart performance

[hide] Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [2]
Entertainment Weekly (B)[3]
In the United States the album debuted at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 14, 1999 selling over 132,000 copies in its first week and slipped to #10 the following week with 100,000 copies. It remained in the Top 20 for most of 1999 and had sold over 1.6 million copies by the end of the year according to Nielsen SoundScan and was certified 2x platinum in January, 2000. Nine months after its release The Writing's on the Wall following the huge success of its third single, the Billboard Hot 100 number one "Say My Name", returned to the top ten peaking at #5 on May 5, 2000. During its first year on the chart it spent 47 out of 52 weeks in the Top 40 or better and was the tenth best-selling album of the year 2000 selling 3.8 million copies during the year. The Writing's on the Wall spent 99 consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200 (from the summer of 1999 to the spring of 2001) and has been certified eight-time platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America on November 8, 2001 and has sold over 6.2 million copies in the United States according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Worldwide The Writing's on the Wall was a similarly huge hit and became one of the best-selling R&B albums of all-time. It achieved gold, platinum and multi-platinum status across Europe and was certified 2x platinum by the IFPI in early 2001 in recognition of 2 million albums sold. In Canada the album peaked within the top and was certified 5x platinum (500,000 sales), it was certified 3x platinum in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia.The album has sold over 13 million copies worldwide.

Track listing

"Intro (The Writing's on the Wall)" (Beyoncé Knowles, LaTavia Roberson, Kelly Rowland, LeToya Luckett) – 2:05
"So Good" (Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs, Kandi Burruss, B. Knowles, L. Luckett, L. Roberson, K. Rowland) – 3:13
"Bills, Bills, Bills" (E. Phillips, Kandi, B. Knowles, L. Luckett, K. Rowland) – 4:16
"Confessions" (featuring Missy Elliott) (M. Elliott, D. Holmes, G. Thomas) – 4:57
"Bug a Boo" (K. Briggs, Kandi, B. Knowles, L. Luckett, L. Roberson, K. Rowland) – 3:32
"Temptation" (Dwayne Wiggins, C. Wheeler, A. Ray, B. Knowles, K. Rowland, L. Luckett, L. Roberson) – 4:05
"Now That She's Gone" (Chris Valentine D. Boynton, T. Geter, L. Simmons, A. Simmons) – 5:35
"Where'd You Go" (P. Status, C. Stokes, L. Roberson, L. Luckett, K. Rowland, B. Knowles) – 4:15
"Hey Ladies" (K. Briggs, Kandi, B. Knowles, L. Luckett, L. Roberson, K. Rowland) – 4:16
"If You Leave" (featuring Next) (T. Turman, R. L. Hugger, C. Elliot, O. Hunter) – 4:35
"Jumpin', Jumpin'" (R. Moore, Chad Elliot, B. Knowles) – 3:50
"Say My Name" (Rodney Jerkins, Fred Jerkins III, LaShawn Daniels, B. Knowles, L. Luckett, K. Rowland, L. Roberson) – 4:31
"She Can't Love You" (K. Briggs, Kandi, B. Knowles, L. Luckett, K. Rowland, L. Roberson) – 4:04
"Stay" (Darryl Simmons) – 4:51
"Sweet Sixteen" (D. Wiggins, J. Watley, B. Knowles, K. Rowland) – 4:12
"Outro" (Amazing Grace... Dedicated to Andretta Tillman) – 2:38
[show]International Edition COL 494394 2
The Vinyl Classics
German Spiegel Edition (Vinyl Classics)
[show]Houston Special Edition
[show]Australian Edition
[show]EU Limited Platinum Edition Bonus CD[5]
[show]UK Limited Edition Bonus CD
European Re-Release COL 494394 5[6]

Credits and personnel

Bill Ortiz – trumpet
Daryl Simmons – drum programming, keyboard programming
D'Wayne Wiggins – guitar, producer
Rodney Jerkins – producer
Claudine Pontier – assistant engineer
James Hoover – engineer
Steve Baughman – mixing assistant
Missy Elliott – performer
Jimmy Douglas – engineer
Prince Charles Alexander – mixing
Vince Lars – saxophone
Albert Sanchez – photography
Blake Eiseman – engineer
Dexter Simmons – mixing
Brian Springer – engineer
Joey Swails – engineer
Destiny's Child – main performer
Dan Workman – engineer
LaShawn Daniels – vocal producer
Anthony Hardy – producer
Beyoncé Knowles – lead vocals, background vocals
LeToya Luckett – background vocals, Lead vocals
LaTavia Roberson – background vocals, lead vocals
Mathew Knowles – executive producer, mixing
Kelly Rowland – lead vocals, background vocals
Michelle Williams – background vocals (re-issued version only on UK Limited Edition Bonus CD "Independent Women Part I & II")
Farrah Franklin - background vocals (re-issued version only on UK Limited Edition Bonus CD "Independent Women Part I & II")
Kenny Stallworth – assistant engineer
Donald "Lenny" Holmes – producer
Gerard Thomas – producer
Chris Bell – engineer
Brad Gildem – engineer
Jean Marie Hurout – engineer, mixing
Kevin "Shekspere" Briggs – producer
Kevin "KD" Davis – mixing
Tara Geter Tillman – background vocals
Mike Calderon – engineer
Jon Gass – engineer
Thom "TK" Kidd – engineer
Tony Williams – drum programming
Vernon J. Mungo - engineer

Chart (1999) Provider Peak
position Certification
Australian ARIA Albums Top 50[7] ARIA 2 3x Platinum (210,000)
Austrian Albums Chart[7] Media Control 18
Belgian (Flanders) Albums Chart[7] Ultratop 8
Belgian (Wallonia) Albums Chart[7] 19
Canada Top 50 Albums CRIA/Nielsen SoundScan 2 5x Platinum (500,000)
Danish Albums Chart[7] 16 Gold (30,000)
Dutch Albums Chart[7] MegaCharts 3 2x Platinum (160,000)
Finnish Albums Chart[7] 15
French Albums Chart[7] SNEP/IFOP 32 Gold (150,000)
German Albums Chart Media Control 21[8] Gold (250,000)
Japanese Albums Chart[9] Oricon 33
New Zealand Albums Chart[7] RIANZ 6 3x Platinum (45,000)
Norwegian Albums Chart[7] VG Nett 6 Gold (30,000)
Swedish Albums Chart[7] GLF 21 Gold (50,000)
Swiss Albums Chart[7] Media Control 23 Gold (45,000)
UK Albums Chart BPI/The Official UK Charts Company 10 3x Platinum (900,000)
U.S. Billboard 200 Billboard 5 8x Platinum (8,000,000)
U.S. Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums 2