"Back at One" is a song written and performed by American recording artist

Brian McKnight Brian Kelly McKnight (born June 5, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, radio host and multi-instrumentalist. He is most recognized for his strong head voice, high belting range and melisma. McKnight is known for h ...

, taken from his fifth studio album of the same name (1999). The single was released on August 9, 1999. An English-Brazilian Portuguese version was released in South America on September 12, 2000, featured Brazilian recording artist

Ivete Sangalo Ivete Maria Dias de Sangalo (; born 27 May 1972) is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, TV host, and occasional actress. She was on six albums with Banda Eva, and seven more solo albums. Sangalo is noted for her powerful voice, charisma and live pe ...

Chart performance

"Back at One" went on to be one of McKnight's biggest successes, reaching the top ten in New Zealand, Canada and the United States, where it eventually peaked at number two for eight weeks but was kept off of the top spot by "

Smooth Smooth may refer to: Mathematics * Smooth function, a function that is infinitely differentiable; used in calculus and topology * Smooth manifold, a differentiable manifold for which all the transition maps are smooth functions * Smooth algebrai ...

" by

Santana Santana may refer to: Transportation * Volkswagen Santana, an automobile * Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles * Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer Boats * Santana 20, an American sailboat design by W. D. Sch ...

Music video

The music video was directed by

Francis Lawrence Francis Lawrence (born March 26, 1971) is an Austrian-born American filmmaker and producer. After establishing himself as a director of music videos and commercials, Lawrence made his feature-length directorial debut with the superhero thrille ...

and was nominated for R&B video of the year in the Music Video Production Association Awards.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

Release history

Mark Wills version

American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist

Mark Wills Mark Wills (born Daryl Mark Williams; August 8, 1973) is an American country music artist. Signed to Mercury Records between 1996 and 2003, he released five studio albums for the label – ''Mark Wills'', ''Wish You Were Here'', '' Permanently'' ...

covered "Back at One" on his 2000 album '' Permanently'', also releasing it as that album's first single. Released in October 1999 (two months after McKnight's version), Wills' cover peaked at number two on the ''Billboard'' country singles charts for a week behind " My Best Friend" by

Tim McGraw Samuel Timothy McGraw (born May 1, 1967) is an American country singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has released 16 studio albums (11 for Curb Records, four for Big Machine Records and one for Arista Nashville). 10 of those album ...

. Despite not reaching the top spot in the US, the song did manage to reach number one on the Canadian ''RPM'' country tracks. In addition to his country chart success, "Back at One" also became his fifth entry on the Hot 100 charts, peaking at number 36 there.

Music video

The music video was directed by Jim Hershleder.

Charts

Year-end charts

Other versions

McKnight also performed the song with Brazilian singer

on her album ''Festa'' (en: ''Party''). In 2000, keyboardist Bob Baldwin released a cover of the song from the album ''BobBaldwin.com''. Also in 2000, Jamaican reggae and dancehall singer Sanchez recorded a reggae cover version of the song over the "Fi Wi Rock" rhythm produced by King Jammy which became a popular dancehall hit in Jamaica and the US. Irish boy band

Westlife Westlife is an Irish pop vocal group formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1998. The group currently consists of members Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan, and Nicky Byrne. Brian McFadden was a member, until he left in 2004. The group temporarily di ...

duetted with

Lulu Lulu may refer to: Companies * LuLu, an early automobile manufacturer * Lulu.com, an online e-books and print self-publishing platform, distributor, and retailer * Lulu Hypermarket, a retail chain in Asia * Lululemon Athletica or simply Lulu, a C ...

in 2002. In 2001, UK music artist

recorded the song for her album

Together ''ToGetHer'' (, aka Superstar Express) is a 2009 Taiwanese drama starring Jiro Wang of Fahrenheit, Rainie Yang and George Hu. It was produced by Comic International Productions ( 可米國際影視事業股份有限公司) and directed by Linzi ...

with a duet with

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

pop band

and performed it live subsequently. Country singer

covered the title song for his album Permanently. In 2003, Smooth jazz guitarist and musician

Paul Jackson, Jr. Paul Milton Jackson Jr. (born December 30, 1959) is an American fusion/urban jazz composer, arranger, producer and guitarist. He was born and raised in Los Angeles. Jackson knew by the age of fifteen that he wanted to become a professional musi ...

covered the song as the closing track from the album ''Still Small Voice''. Another instrumental rendition of this song has been performed by

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

Warren Hill, from his album 2005 ''PopJazz''. In 2006, British pop singer

Shayne Ward Shayne Thomas Ward (born 16 October 1984) is an English actor and singer. He rose to fame as the winner of The X Factor (British series 2), the second series of ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor''. His debut single, "That's M ...

also performed this song on his debut album ''

''. Singer Mijares covered it in his 2009 Spanish album ''

Vivir Así ''Vivir Así'' (English ''Living Like This'') is the 19th studio album by Mexican pop singer Mijares. It was produced by Scott Erickson. The title song ”Vivir Así”, written by Camilo Sesto, was released as single. Mijares had signed with W ...

''.

References

{{Authority control 1999 singles 1999 songs Brian McKnight songs List songs Lulu (singer) songs Mark Wills songs Mercury Nashville singles Motown singles Music videos directed by Francis Lawrence Song recordings produced by Carson Chamberlain Songs written by Brian McKnight Westlife songs