Handwritten (Shawn Mendes album)
Handwritten is the debut studio album by Canadian singer Shawn Mendes, released on April 14, 2015, by Island Records. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 119,000 album-equivalent units, of which 106,000 copies were pure album sales, becoming the tenth artist to chart under the age of 18.[2] The album includes "Stitches", which reached top 5 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the UK Singles Chart. The album's reissue, Handwritten (Revisited) features the US top 20 single "I Know What You Did Last Summer". To promote the album, Mendes performed in several television shows and awards. Two concert tours were also supported by the album: ShawnsFirstHeadlines and Shawn Mendes World Tour.
Handwritten
April 14, 2015
May 2014 - March 2015
Noble Street Studios (Toronto, Ontario)
39:29
- Ido Zmishlany
- Martin Terefe
- Teddy Geiger
- Sam Watters
- Louis Biancaniello
- Daniel Parker
- Daylight
- Scott Harris
- Craven J
- Geoff Warburton
- Shawn Mendes
Background[edit]
After signing a record deal with Island Records in June 2014 at 15 years old, Mendes released his debut single "Life of the Party" which peaked at number 24 on the US Billboard Hot 100.[3] Following the single release, an EP titled The Shawn Mendes EP was released on July 28, 2014, and sold 48,000 copies in its first week. Mendes announced his debut album title and artwork on January 27, 2015, and it was made available to pre-order on February 2, 2015.
Handwritten was reissued in a revisited edition on November 20, 2015. It includes five live recordings tracks from the Greek Theatre and four brand new songs.[4]
Commercial performance[edit]
The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, selling 119,000 album-equivalent units in its first week, of which 106,000 copies were pure album sales. He became the youngest artist since Justin Bieber to have a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 album chart in nearly five years. Bieber was 16 years and 2 months old when his album My World 2.0 spent its fourth and final week at the top. Mendes was 16 years and 8 months old.[9] In its second week, the album descended to number seventeen with 20,000 equivalent album units, of which 12,000 copies were pure album sales, an 89% pure album sales decrease (from 106,000 copies), surpassing Madonna's MDNA (2012) for the biggest second-week percentage drop for a number-one debuting album in the Nielsen SoundScan era.[10][11] As of August 2016, Handwritten has sold 391,000 copies in the United States.[12]
In his native Canada, the album debuted at number one with first-week sales of 14,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[13] In its second week, the album descended to number six.[14]