It peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 albums chart and has been certified 14× platinum (diamond) by the RIAA for sales to retailers, having sold over 14 million copies to date in the United States.

[2] The album was reported as the second highest seller in the past fourteen years for Music Club sales as of 2003, selling 1.72 million units.

Jive Records planned to relaunch the group in the United States in 1997 with the new song "If You Want It to Be Good Girl (Get Yourself a Bad Boy)".

The reissue contains the single mixes of "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)" and "As Long as You Love Me" in addition to an extended version of "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)".

The group also appeared on Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and a remix of "Hey, Mr. DJ (Keep Playin' This Song)" was included on the show's soundtrack.

Steve Jones of USA Today rated it three stars out of four, commenting that the Backstreet Boys "are confident enough in their voices not to let them get lost in waves of harmonies.

"[12] Allmusic rated the album four out of five stars, with Stephen Thomas Erlewine calling it "thoroughly enjoyable" and the group "as reliant on their personality as they are their talent".

[9] Billboard was complimentary of the different styles presented on the album, regarding "Quit Playing Games" and the lead singles as "lethally catchy" and the cover of "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss" to show "more sophisticated musical leanings".