published by NME was similarly positive, claiming that Willennium is evidence of Smith's dominance of the hip-hop genre at the time, and praising songs such as "I'm Comin, "Freakin' It" and "Da Butta". Carla Mastraccio of The Harvard Crimson praised the album's lyrics and labelled Willennium as an "energetic and artistically diverse album". Steve Jones of USA Today awarded the album three out of four stars, praising its lyrics and featured artists. Writing for the website PopMatters, however, Cynthia Fuchs describes Willennium as "generic", commenting unfavorably on various lyrics, themes and performances. Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club was similarly damning, claiming that Willennium is "more notable for its commercial calculation than its artistic worth", criticising many of the album's lyrical themes and dubbing it "commercially overachieving" and "generic". Hot Press writer Stephen Robinson gave the album an unfavorable rating of four out of twelve. People provided a mixed review of Willennium; the reviewers praised the collaboration with DJ Jazzy Jeff on "Pump Me Up", and noted that Smith "sounds energized and once again in love with hip hop" on the track "So Fresh". However, they described the single "Will 2K" as "utterly awful" and "gimmicky", and claim that Smith "is overwhelmed by the cluttered production" on the record. Entertainment Weekly are similarly hesitant, complaining about elements including the samples and some lyrics, but ultimately praising Willennium as proof that Smith is "a lyrically fluid rapper with deep roots in hip-hop culture and a clearly defined artistic vision". Commercial performance Willennium was a commercial success, the album debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 187,000 copies in its first week. The album remained on the chart for a total of 26 weeks. In December 1999, the album had been certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of over two million copies. By February 2000, the album had sold a total of 4.3 million copies worldwide. In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number 11 on November 27 on the UK Albums Chart, before peaking at number ten the following week and remained on the chart for 11 weeks; it later returned to the chart in March 2000 for another six-week run. The album was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry, indicating sales in the UK of over 300,000 units, In other regions in which the album peaked in