3 Words

3 Words is the debut studio album by English singer Cheryl Cole released on 23 October 2009 by Fascination Records. Musically, it features a dance-pop and R&B sound to it. The album debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, selling 125,271 copies in its first week. The album also charted on the Irish, Australian and Swiss charts. In the UK the album was certified three times Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry and has since sold 1,000,000 copies in the country alone.[1]

3 Words
Studio album by
Released23 October 2009 (2009-10-23)
Recorded2009
Studio
Genre
Length43:55
Label
Producer
Cheryl chronology
3 Words
(2009)
Messy Little Raindrops
(2010)
Singles from 3 Words
  1. "Fight for This Love"
    Released: 16 October 2009
  2. "3 Words"
    Released: 20 December 2009
  3. "Parachute"
    Released: 11 March 2010

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic62/100[2]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [3]
Attitude     [4]
BBC Musicmixed[5]
Daily Telegraph     [6]
Digital Spy     [7]
The Guardian     [8]
The Independent     [9]
musicOMH     [10]
The Times     [11]
Nu.nl          [12]

3 Words received generally favourable reviews from music critics, earning a rating of 62 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 6 reviews.[2]

Track listing

No. TitleProducer(s) Length
1. "3 Words" (featuring will.i.am)will.i.am 4:33
2. "Parachute"  Syience 3:40
3. "Heaven" (featuring will.i.am)will.i.am 4:37
4. "Fight for This Love"  
  • Wilkins
  • Kipner
3:43
5. "Rain on Me"  
  • Wilkins
  • Watters
3:50
6. "Make Me Cry"  will.i.am 4:35
7. "Happy Hour"  Soulshock and Karlin 4:06
8. "Stand Up" (featuring Taio Cruz)
  • Smith
  • Cruz
3:24
9. "Don't Talk About This Love"  Syience 3:45
10. "Boy like You" (featuring will.i.am)will.i.am 4:27
11. "Heartbreaker" (will.i.am featuring Cheryl Cole)will.i.am 3:15
Total length:
43:49

Sample credits

  • "Heaven" contains samples from "Is You" by D.I.M., written by Andreas Meid.
  • "Happy Hour" contains samples from "Nevermore" by Renaldo Domino, written by Richard Pegue.
  • "Boy Like You" contains samples from "Little Lies" by Fleetwood Mac, written by Christine McVie and Eddy Quintela.

3 Words – The B-Sides EP

A digital EP featuring the three B-sides to the three singles from the 3 Words album, titled 3 Words – The B-Sides EP, was released online on 18 April 2010 from Fascination Records.[13]

No. TitleProducer(s) Length
1. "Didn't I"  Klaus D 3:47
2. "Boys"  Smith 3:41
3. "Just Let Me Go"  Syience 3:04

Personnel

Charts

The album debuted at number one in the UK with sales of 125,271.[14] It then retained the number 1 position for another week.[15] On 6 November 2009 the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) certified the album platinum.[16] It has since gone 3× Platinum,[16] with sales of over 1,000,000 copies.[17]

Weekly charts

Chart (2009–2010) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[18] 31
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[19] 26
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[20] 99
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[21] 96
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[22] 49
French Albums (SNEP)[23] 53
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[24] 45
Greece Albums (IFPI Greece)[25] 15
Irish Albums (IRMA)[26] 2
Italian Albums (FIMI)[27] 56
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[28] 18
Scottish Albums (OCC)[29] 2
South Korean Albums (Gaon)[30] 5
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[31] 64
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[32] 42
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[33] 52
UK Albums (OCC)[34] 1

Year-end charts

Chart (2009) Position
Irish Albums Chart 23
UK Albums Chart[35] 11
Chart (2010) Position
UK Albums Chart[35] 37

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Ireland (IRMA)[36] 2× Platinum 30,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[37] 3× Platinum 900,000^
Summaries
Europe (IFPI)[38] Platinum 1,000,000*

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

Release history

Region Release date Format Label Catalogue
Ireland[39] 23 October 2009 CD, digital download Polydor 2721459
United Kingdom 26 October 2009 Fascination 2721459[40]
HMV bonus version 2724424[41]
Italy[42] 12 February 2010 CD, digital download Universal Music 060252732483
Netherlands 0602527324838
Switzerland[43]
Portugal[44] 15 February 2010
Russia[45]
Mexico[46] 16 March 2010 602527324838
Brazil[47][48]
Germany[49][50] 19 March 2010 0602527214597
France[51] 22 March 2010
Australia[52] 9 April 2010 0602527324838
Denmark[53] 17 May 2010 Digital download 0602527214597

References

  1. O'Mance, Brad (11 June 2013). "Cheryl Cole's '3 Words' has passed the million sales mark in the UK". Popjustice. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  2. 2.0 2.1 "3 Words". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 31 October 2010. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
  3. Chisling, Matthew. "Review: 3 Words". AllMusic. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  4. Kraines, Talia. "Cheryl Cole – 3 Words". Attitude. Trojan Publishing Ltd. Archived from the original on 24 October 2009. Retrieved 24 October 2009.
  5. Diver, Mike (22 October 2009). "Cheryl Cole – 3 Words". BBC Music. BBC. Archived from the original on 25 October 2009. Retrieved 23 October 2009.
  6. McCormick, Neil (23 October 2009). "Cheryl Cole: 3 Words, CD review". The Daily Telegraph. UK. Archived from the original on 27 October 2009. Retrieved 23 October 2009.
  7. Levine, Nick (25 October 2009). "Cheryl Cole: '3 Words'". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 2 November 2009. Retrieved 26 October 2009.
  8. Ewing, Tom (22 October 2009). "Cheryl Cole: 3 Words". The Guardian. UK. Archived from the original on 24 October 2009. Retrieved 23 October 2009.
  9. Gill, Andy (23 October 2009). "Album: Cheryl Cole, 3 Words (Fascination)". The Independent (UK). https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-cheryl-cole-3-words-fascination-1807210.html. Retrieved 23 October 2009. 
  10. "Cheryl Cole – 3 Words | album reviews". musicOMH. Archived from the original on 27 October 2009. Retrieved 30 October 2009.
  11. Paphides, Pete (24 October 2009). "Cheryl Cole: 3 Words". The Times. UK: News Corporation. Retrieved 24 October 2009.
  12. Oitmann, Pierre (19 February 2010). "Cheryl Cole – 3 Words". Nu.nl (in Nederlands). Retrieved 3 August 2010.
  13. "3 Words- The B-Sides EP". Store.universal-music.co.uk. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
  14. Levine, Nick (1 November 2009). "Cheryl Cole scores UK chart double". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 4 November 2009. Retrieved 16 November 2009.
  15. "Album chart for 14/11/2009". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 November 2009.
  16. 16.0 16.1 "Certified Awards Search". British Phonographic Industry. Archived from the original on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 23 December 2009.
  17. "Boyzone keep UK album number one with 'Brother'". 28 March 2010. Archived from the original on 8 April 2010. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
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  19. "Austriancharts.at – Cheryl Cole – 3 Words" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  20. "Ultratop.be – Cheryl Cole – 3 Words" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  21. "Ultratop.be – Cheryl Cole – 3 Words" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  22. "Dutchcharts.nl – Cheryl Cole – 3 Words" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
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  24. "Offiziellecharts.de – Cheryl Cole – 3 Words" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  25. Hung, Steffen. "Greek International Albums Chart. Retrieved 2010-03-11". Greekcharts.com. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
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  28. "Norwegiancharts.com – Cheryl Cole – 3 Words". Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  29. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  30. "Gaon Chart". Gaon. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
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  32. "Swedishcharts.com – Cheryl Cole – 3 Words". Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  33. "Swisscharts.com – Cheryl Cole – 3 Words". Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  34. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  35. 35.0 35.1 "End Of Year Charts: 2010" (PDF). UKChartsPlus. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  36. "Irish album certifications – Cheryl Cole – 3 Words". Irish Recorded Music Association.
  37. "British album certifications – Cheryl Cole – 3 Words". British Phonographic Industry. Enter 3 Words in the field Search. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Click Go
  38. "IFPI Platinum Europe Awards – 2010". International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
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  41. "music: 3 Words (2009)". hmv.com. Archived from the original on 18 September 2012. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
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