Its lead single " Love in This Club" topped the Hot 100, marking Usher's eighth number-one on the chart. The album ranked second on the 2000–2009 Billboard 200 Decade-end chart.
Confessions received a diamond certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and has sold over 15 million copies worldwide. "Yeah!" and "Burn" stayed atop the Hot 100 for a combined 20 weeks and were the best-selling singles of 2004, ranking first and second, respectively. It spawned four Hot 100 number-one hits " Yeah!", " Burn", " Confessions Part II", and " My Boo". It was his first US number-one album, and had the highest first-week sales for an R&B artist, with 1.1 million copies sold. Usher's success increased in 2004, with the release of his fourth studio album Confessions.
Its worldwide sales stand at over 8 million. In 2002, the album was certified four-times platinum in the US for sales of 4 million copies. The album produced two number-one singles-" U Remind Me" and " U Got It Bad". It debuted at number four on the Billboard 200. Usher's success continued in 2001 with his third studio album 8701. It was certified six-times platinum in the US, and spawned three successful singles, including his first UK number-one " You Make Me Wanna." and first US Hot 100 number-one song " Nice & Slow". His follow-up 1997 album My Way sold over 8 million copies worldwide, becoming his breakthrough album. In 1994, Usher released his self-titled debut album in North America, producing three singles that had moderate chart success, and the album sold more than 500,000 copies. He has nine Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles (all as a lead artist) and 18 Hot 100 top-ten singles. With over 100 million total records sold worldwide, he is one of the best selling music artists of all time. Usher has sold more than 23 million albums in the United States alone and over 65 million albums worldwide. His music has been released on the LaFace, Arista, Jive and RCA record labels.
“Mars vs Venus,” a very slow jam, soars, while “Pro Lover” is a breezy, casual number filled with sweet dub accents.American singer Usher has released eight studio albums, ten compilation albums, eight extended plays, and 79 singles (including 19 as a featured artist). Two of the best happen to be collaborations with Jam and Lewis and the Avila Brothers. (The combination is as wrong as Eugene McDaniels' “Compared to What” and a soft drink commercial.) Otherwise, the slow jams and the few moments when Usher sounds as if he's having actual fun win out. (Either way, it’s evident that long-term relationships might not be for him.) The sleek dancefloor track “So Many Girls,” one of a few songs in which Usher sounds dead in the eyes, going through the motions, desensitized by the bounty of women at his feet, is followed by the sarcastically titled “Guilty,” where he whines “I guess I’m guilty for wanting to be up in the club” - which warrants a response like “Yes, attached 31-year-old man, that’s correct.” A few songs before that is a quasi-redemptive ballad “Foolin’ Around” he humbles himself, seems to take responsibility for his actions, then casually drops “Guess that’s just the man in me, blame it on celebrity.” The album’s catchiest uptempo song, “Lil Freak,” featuring Nicki Minaj, is effective despite itself, swiping the synthesizer line from “Living for the City” - a classic containing Stevie Wonder's most angered social commentary - for the sake of Usher’s lesbian tryst. Many of the songs on the album have to be taken on their own, stripped of context otherwise, determining what applies to Usher’s real and fantasy lives can be problematic. He pours himself into that song more than any other on the set, and breakup lyrics don’t get much more specific than “You don’t think I know what’s up, but sweetheart that’s what ruined us” or “I done damn near lost my mama.” The song was awarded the top spot on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart, most likely for its lyrical uniqueness since the song does not break out of an exceptionally repetitive twiddle.
“Papers,” the early buzz single for Raymond V Raymond, bears the closest relation to the turbulence he experienced. The making of Usher’s sixth studio album was inevitably affected by the end of his marriage and its aftershocks.