Back to Black is the second studio album by English recording artist Amy Winehouse, released on 27 October 2006 by Island Records. It is the last album released in her lifetime. The album incorporates 1960s soul music styles and modern R&B production, with subjective lyrics that concern relationships and reflect on Winehouse's experiences with drinking, sex, and drugs.^[1] The album produced several singles, including "Rehab", "You Know I'm No Good", "Back to Black", "Tears Dry on Their Own", and "Love Is a Losing Game". Back to Black received generally positive reviews from music critics, earning praise for its classicist soul influences, Salaam Remi and Mark Ronson's production, and Winehouse's songwriting and emotive singing style.

At the 50th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony, Back to Black won five awards, tying the record (with Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys, Beyoncé Knowles, Norah Jones, and Alison Krauss) for the second-most awards won by a female artist in a single ceremony. The album won Best Pop Vocal Album, while "Rehab" won Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, Song of the Year and Record of the Year with Winehouse winning Best New Artist. The album was also nominated for Album of the Year. In late 2011, Back to Black was announced as the UK's second best-selling album of the 21st century by the Official Charts Company, having sold 3.5 million copies in the UK alone. As of 2011, the album has sold approximately ten million copies worldwide.^[2]

Background[link]

This section requires expansion.

The track "Tears Dry on Their Own" samples the backing music from Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's 1967 song "Ain't No Mountain High Enough".^[3]

On the song "Rehab", Winehouse mentions "Ray" and "Mr. Hathaway", in reference to Ray Charles and Donny Hathaway. However, for some time during live performances, she replaced "Ray" with "Blake", referring to her ex-husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, who served time in prison for charges relating to grievous bodily harm.^[4]

Release and promotion[link]

A deluxe edition of the album was released in Europe on 5 November 2007. The re-issue features the original studio album remastered as well as a bonus disc including various B-sides, rare, and live tracks, including the Live Lounge rendition of the single "Valerie", which was originally only available (in studio form) on Mark Ronson's Version album. The first single released from the album on 23 October 2006 was the Ronson-produced "Rehab", a song about her past refusal to attend an alcohol rehabilitation centre despite prodding by her management company.^[5] On 22 October 2006, based solely on download sales, it entered the UK Singles Chart at number nineteen and when the physical single was released the following week, it climbed to number seven. By the end of 2007, the album was certified five-time platinum by the BPI, making it the best-selling album of 2007.^[6][7]

The second single from the album was "You Know I'm No Good". The single was released on 8 January 2007 with a remix featuring rap vocals by Ghostface Killah. It reached number eighteen on the UK Singles Chart and, in the same week's chart, "Rehab" climbed back up to number twenty. Back to Black was released in the United States in March 2007, with "You Know I'm No Good" as its lead single. A third UK single, "Back to Black", was released on 30 April 2007, and peaked at number twenty-five. "Rehab" rose to number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 the week of 14 June, after a performance of the song at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards. The following week it peaked at number nine. Two further singles were released from the album. "Tears Dry on Their Own" was released on 13 August 2007, and peaked at number sixteen in the UK, while "Love Is a Losing Game", released on 10 December 2007, reached number forty-six.

Reception[link]

Commercial performance[link]

	"Rehab" noicon An eighteen-second audio sample from "Rehab". The song recounts her experience with avoiding rehab, despite the urgings of her family and record company. "Tears Dry on Their Own" noicon A nineteen-second audio sample from "Tears Dry on Their Own". The song samples the '60s classic "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", written by Ashford & Simpson.
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During its first two weeks on sale, Back to Black, which entered at number three, sold a total of 70,784 copies in the UK, including 43,021 in its first week. By the end of the year, the album had been certified platinum. Back to Black first reached number one on the UK Albums Chart during the week ending 20 January 2007, its eleventh week on the chart after entering at number three.^[8] It spent two weeks at number one and a third non-consecutive week five weeks later. The deluxe edition also spent a week atop the UK chart for the week ending 8 March 2008, its seventeenth week on the chart after entering at number twenty-two.^[9] The two albums charted separately at the time and were both in the top ten for the week ending 29 December 2007.^[10] As of 14 June 2009 it was the eighteenth highest-selling album of all time in the UK (with all versions combined).^[11] As of December 2011, the album has sold 3.5 million copies in the UK, becoming the UK's second best-selling album of the 21st century (behind Adele's 21).^[12]

It achieved its peak of number one on the UK Albums Chart for the week ending 20 January 2007, and with sales of 1.85 million was confirmed as the UK's biggest-selling album of 2007.^[13] Its nearest rival was Leona Lewis' debut album Spirit, which finished with 1.59 million copies.^[13] On 25 February 2007, Back to Black climbed from a number two position to number one, staying three weeks atop. Between January and July 2007, the album spent twenty-seven consecutive weeks inside the UK top ten. On 14 December 2007, Back to Black was certified six-time platinum in the UK in recognition of over 1.8 million shipments.^[14] The album also topped the Irish Albums Chart for the week ending 17 January 2008.^[15]

The album was officially released in the United States on 13 March 2007 via Universal Republic Records. It debuted on the US Billboard 200 at number seven with first-week sales of about 51,000 copies,^[16] becoming the highest debut entry for an album by a British female solo artist at the time. Upon the week of release in the US, copies had the same cover as all other versions; however, the following week copies with alternative covers were found in store. Following Winehouse's multiple wins at the 50th Grammy Awards, the album jumped from number twenty-four to a new peak of number two on the Billboard 200 chart issue dated 1 March 2008, selling 115,000 copies—a 370% jump from the previous week.^[17] The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America on 10 July 2007 for shipments of more than one million units,^[18] becoming the twenty-fourth best-selling album of 2007.^[19] It was eventually certified double platinum on 12 March 2008,^[18] and has since sold over 2.4 million copies in the United States.^[20]

Back to Black saw massive success in mainland Europe; it topped the European Top 100 Albums chart for thirteen non-consecutive weeks and reached number one in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland.^[21] In late 2011, the album was certified octuple platinum by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, denoting sales in excess of seven million copies across Europe.^[22] In Germany, it is the fifth most downloaded album of all time.^[23] The album was certified septuple platinum in Austria, making it one of the best-selling albums there.^[24]

Critical response[link]

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	81/100[25]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[26]
The A.V. Club	A−[27]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[28]
The Guardian	[29]
The New York Times	favourable[30]
Pitchfork Media	6.4/10[31]
Rolling Stone	[32]
Slant Magazine	[33]
The Times	[34]
Uncut	[25]

Back to Black received general acclaim from music critics.^[25] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 81, based on 26 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim".^[25] It received comparisons from critics to Motown-era R&B and soul music.^[32][35][36] Allmusic writer John Bush gave the album five out of five stars and lauded Winehouse's musical transition from her debut album, stating, "Although Back to Black does see her deserting jazz and wholly embracing contemporary R&B, all the best parts of her musical character emerge intact, and actually, are all the better for the transformation from jazz vocalist to soul siren."^[26] Jake Henneman of Crawdaddy! called its music "sensuous neo-soul and R&B".^[37] New Statesman writer Jude Rogers called it "an astonishing soul record, soaking up the sounds of Motown and 1960s girl groups and spitting them back with panache, glamour and a contemporary twist."^[35] The Washington Post's J. Freedom du Lac wrote that its music "recalls two cultural factories from the past, Motown and Brill Building", but acknowledged its "modernity" and dubbed it a "classic-contemporary mix".^[3] Helen Brown of The Daily Telegraph called its music "wall-of-sound bombast with brazenly catchy hooks and smart, modern, soul-scouring lyrics".^[38] BBC Music's Matt Harvey cited it as "[o]ne of the best UK albums of the year".^[39] Dorian Lynskey of The Guardian found it an improvement over her previous album and wrote "this time the music, too, packs a similar punch, and the upshot is a 21st-century soul classic".^[29]

Rolling Stone's Christian Hoard stated, "The tunes don't always hold up. But the best ones are impossible to dislike."^[32] In a retrospective 2010 review, Douglas Wolk of Rolling Stone gave the album four and a half out of five stars and referred to it as "an unlikely marvel, a desperately sad and stirring record whose hooks and production (by Remi and Mark Ronson) are worthy of the soul hall-of-famers she namedrops—'Tears Dry On Their Own' is basically 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' recast as self-recrimination".^[40] In his review for Blender, Wolk gave the album three and a half out of five stars and wrote that it "sounds fantastic—partly because the production nails sample-ready '60s soul right down to the drum sound; and partly because Winehouse is one hell of an impressive singer, especially when she's not copping other people's phrasing".^[41] Pitchfork Media's Joshua Klein criticised Winehouse's "defensive", subjective lyrics concerning relationships, but stated, "Fortunately, Winehouse has been blessed by a brassy voice that can transform even mundane sentiments into powerful statements".^[31] Reviewing the album's deluxe edition, NME's Gavin Haynes gave it a 5/10 rating, but expressed that its original release "is worth an 8/10".^[42] In his consumer guide for MSN Music, critic Robert Christgau gave the album an honourable mention () rating,^[43] indicating a "likable effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well enjoy".^[44]

Entertainment Weekly's Will Hermes complimented Mark Ronson's "ear for period detail" and wrote that "[i]t's precisely Winehouse's lyrics—smartass, aching, flirty, and often straight-up nasty—that raise this expertly crafted set into the realm of true, of-the-minute originality".^[28] Sal Cinqueamni of Slant Magazine commended Winehouse's "ear for poetry" and described her along with the album's producers as "expert mood-setters or crafty reconstructionists".^[33] Victoria Segal of The Times stated "these are explicit, honest songs [...] For all the old-fashioned warmth of the arrangements, this is an album from a thoroughly modern milieu".^[34] The Observer's Stuart Nicholson stated "it works [...] by dint of its clever melody lines and smart lyrics".^[45] Jon Pareles of The New York Times called the album "a wonderfully time-twisted batch of songs".^[30] The New Yorker's Sasha Frere-Jones praised Winehouse's "mush-mouthed approach" and "range and delivery".^[46] PopMatters writer Christian John Wikane stated that "[o]nly a few tracks preclude Back to Black from being uniformly excellent". Wikane felt that Winehouse's "blunt lyrics" contradict the album's "sensibilities of 1960s pop and soul", and wrote "Winehouse is sincere: this particular marriage of words and music mirrors the bittersweet dichotomy that sometimes frames real relationships".^[47] The A.V. Club's Nathan Rabin found Winehouse's lyrics contradictory to the album's musical influences, stating that "[t]here's something beguilingly perverse about the incongruity between Winehouse's trifling lyrical concerns and Back To Black's wall-of-sound richness".^[27]

Accolades[link]

Back to Black was named one of the ten best albums of 2006 and 2007 by several publications on their year-end albums lists, including The Austin Chronicle (number four), Billboard (number three), Blender (number eight), Slant Magazine (number four), Entertainment Weekly (number two), The New York Times (number three)^[48] and Time (number one).^[49] The album won numerous awards at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year for her hit single "Rehab"; while the album received nominations for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album, winning the latter.^[50][51] Winehouse herself, for the album, was presented the Grammy for Best New Artist,^[50] while Ronson earned the 2008 Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical.^[52] In July 2007, the album made the shortlist for the 2007 Mercury Prize. Other nominees included the eventual winners Klaxons, Dizzee Rascal, and the incumbent winner Arctic Monkeys. This is the second time Winehouse has been nominated for the Mercury Prize; her debut album Frank was shortlisted in 2004. This album was placed at number forty on Rolling Stone's list of The Top 50 Albums of 2007.^[53] Entertainment Weekly critic Chris Willman named Back to Black the second best album of 2007, commenting that "Black will hold up as one of the great breakthrough CDs of our time." He adds, "In the end, the singer's real-life heartache over her incarcerated spouse proves what's obvious from the grooves: When this lady sings about love, she means every word."^[54] Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Albums of the Decade, from 2000–09, ranked the album number twenty.^[55]

The song "Rehab" won the Ivor Novello Award for "Best Contemporary Song" on 24 May 2007.^[56] Time magazine named "Rehab" the best song of 2007. Writer Josh Tyrangiel praised Winehouse for her confidence, opining, "What she is is mouthy, funny, sultry, and quite possibly crazy", adding that "it's impossible not to be seduced by her originality. Combine it with production by Mark Ronson that references four decades worth of soul music without once ripping it off, and you've got the best song of 2007."^[57]

In 2012, Rolling Stone ranked the album at number 451 on its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.^[58]

Posthumous success[link]

Following Winehouse's death on 23 July 2011,^[59] sales of the album drastically increased across the world. The album shot to number one on iTunes charts in nearly every country.^[60] In her native UK, the album re-entered the UK chart on 24 July 2011 at number fifty-nine within only seven hours of sales after the announcement of her death counting towards the respective week's chart figures.^[61] The following week, the album soared back to number one,^[62] marking the fourth time the album has reached the top spot. The following day, the album re-entered the New Zealand Albums Chart at number twenty.^[63] On 26 July 2011, Billboard reported that the album has re-entered the Billboard 200 chart dated 6 August 2011 at number nine with sales of 37,000 copies in approximately 36 hours from the announcement of her death ^[64] and next week album surges up to number four with sales of 54,000 copies in full week.^[65] In Canada, the album re-entered the Canadian Albums Chart at number thirteen on sales of 2,500 copies on 27 July 2011, an increase of 2,172% from the previous week.^[66][67] It rose to number six the following week, selling an additional 5,000 copies.^[68] In continental Europe, the album returned to the number-one spot in Austria,^[69] Croatia,^[70] Germany,^[71] the Netherlands,^[72] Poland^[73] and Switzerland,^[74] while reaching number one for the first time in Italy.^[75]

Track listing[link]