# The Breakthrough

The Breakthrough is the seventh studio album by American singer Mary J. Blige. It was released by Geffen Records on December 20, 2005. Initially expected to be released in 2006, it switched release dates with Blige's first greatest hits album Reflections (A Retrospective) (2006) after fruitful collaborations with a host of songwriters and record producers, including 9th Wonder, Rodney Jerkins, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Bryan-Michael Cox, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, Raphael Saadiq, Chucky Thompson, Cool & Dre, Ron Fair, and will.i.am, prompted Blige and her label to shift material from Reflections to The Breakthrough.
The album was released to positive reception from music critics, who considered it a return to form for Blige after 2003's Love & Life. Commercially, it opened to her biggest first week sales in the US yet and became her third album to debut at the top of the Billboard 200. The album reached triple Platinum status in the US and sold more than 3.1 million copies. Internationally, it entered the top ten in Switzerland, and the R&B charts in both Australia and United Kingdom. The Breakthrough received numerous accolades, earning Blige her first Grammy Award for Best R&B Album category at the 49th awards ceremony.
Four singles were released in support of the album. Lead single "Be Without You" became a top three hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 as well as Blige's highest-charting single since 2001's "Family Affair", while international follow-up "One", a duet with Irish rock band U2 on their 1991 song, enjoyed major commercial success throughout Europe, reaching number one in Austria and Norway as well as the top ten on most other charts. From June to September 2006, Blige promoted The Breakthrough in her The Breakthrough Experience Tour, which visited several cities throughout Canada and the United States.

## Release and promotion

Blige embarked on several live performances and appearances to promote the release of The Breakthrough. At the 5th Annual BET Awards (2005), she performed with rapper Game during his performance of "Hate It or Love It" on June 28, 2005. In October 2005, she sung a medley of "You're All I Need to Get By" with Method Man, "I'm Goin' Down", "Real Love", and "Can't Hide from Luv" on BET's 25 Strong: The BET Silver Anniversary Special. In November 2005, Blige was honored with the V Legend Award at the 2005 Vibe Awards. On December 21, 2005, the singer was interviewed and performed on The Tyra Banks Show, singing a rendition of "Can't Hide from Luv." On December 31, 2005, Blige sung a medley of "Family Affair", "Can't Hide from Luv", and "Be Without You" on New Year's Eve with Carson Daly.
On February 8, 2006, Blige performed "One" with U2 at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards. In April 2006, she performed "Be Without You" and "Enough Cryin" on Saturday Night Live. At the 2006 BET Awards, Blige sung a medley of "Be Without You" and "Enough Cryin." From July 14, 2006, to September 10, 2006, Blige embarked on The Breakthrough Experience Tour. Letoya Luckett and Jaheim were opening acts during the tour. On December 4, 2006, Blige performed "Enough Cryin" and "Take Me as I Am" at the 2006 Billboard Music Awards, where she won nine awards. At the 49th Annual Grammy Awards, on February 11, 2007, Blige performed "Be Without You."

## Critical reception

Professional ratings :
| Aggregate scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 76/100 |
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+ |
| The Guardian | |
| The Independent | |
| Los Angeles Times | |
| NME | 8/10 |
| Pitchfork | 8.8/10 |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Spin | B− |
The Breakthrough was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 76, based on 20 reviews. Andy Gill of The Independent deemed it perhaps "her best, the most vivid realisation of her gripping, confessional style." David Browne believed The Breakthrough marked a return for Blige to her dramatic strengths, writing in Entertainment Weekly that the music's "messy sprawl of conflicted emotions feels true to her fierce, prickly personality (not to mention life itself)." In The New York Times, Jon Pareles credited the singer for bringing together "hip-hop realism and soul's higher aspirations, hip-hop's digitized crispness and soul's slow-building testimonies." Stylus Magazine's Thomas Inskeep viewed it as a "return to form" for Blige, calling it her "finest full-length since '99's Mary," while Rolling Stone journalist Barry Walters said that unlike with her previous albums, The Breakthrough's ballads genuinely stand out.
Prefix critic Norman Mayers found that The Breakthrough "zips confidently through its sixteen tracks. The album's first two-thirds is so well paced that the eleventh track seems to come around before you can catch your breath. The musical palette is a blend of contemporary Kanye West–style productions and classic mid-tempo soul." Andy Kellman from AllMusic said each song proved Blige had been given her "best round of productions" since the mid 1990s. Los Angeles Times critic Natalie Nichols credited the producers for "adeptly weaving beats and live instruments, vocals and rapping, melody and rhythm in configurations alternately stark and lush." Steve Jones of USA Today wrote that "Blige balances her trademark edginess with the personal happiness she has found in recent years" and her producers "give her compelling musical backdrops". A 2023 review from Pitchfork's Clover Hope called it "an unofficial marker of a more self-actualized Mary J. Blige" as well as "so self-referential that it almost does function like a greatest-hits record the label wanted".
Jason King was less impressed in The Village Voice, feeling that The Breakthrough had improved on Blige's 2003 album Love & Life but still lacked the creativity of 1999's Mary. Blige's penchant for "hermetic, clinically slick production values doesn't complement her soul-baring aura," King wrote. Spin journalist Tom Breihan felt the production's "awkwardly programmed drums and cluttered synthetic arrangements" generally failed to give her a conducive space for an effective performance and left "the songs' chin-up aphorisms ringing false." Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani was more critical of the lyrics, finding them distastefully sentimental, unsubtle, and "the epitome of formulaic, giving you the feeling that you've heard this all before." John Murphy from musicOMH's found that like Blige's "previous albums, The Breakthrough is overlong and spoilt by too many producers sticking their oar in. One of these days she'll produce a tight, focused album that's worthy of her wonderful voice – The Breakthrough isn't it, but there's enough good moments to keep her legions of fans more than happy." In his lukewarm review for Vibe, Dimitri Ehrlich noted that "even cameos by today’s hottest rappers can’t shake Blige's nostalgic flair."

## Accolades

The Breakthrough and its singles earned Blige numerous awards and nominations. She received eight nominations at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards, the most of any artist for that ceremony. "Be Without You" was nominated for both Record of the Year and Song of the Year categories; it won for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song, while The Breakthrough won in the category of Best R&B Album. Blige was recognized as Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist and won in the Favorite Soul/R&B Album category, among the three awards she was nominated for at the American Music Awards of 2006. Blige won nine prizes at the 2006 Billboard Music Awards, including Top R&B Album, Top R&B Artist, R&B/Hip-Hop Album Artist of the Year and Female R&B/Hip-Hop Artist of the Year. At the BET Awards 2006 she won two awards, including Best Female R&B/Pop Artist and Video of the Year. Blige also won Outstanding Female Artist at the 38th NAACP Image Awards.

### Year-end lists

Year-end lists for The Breakthrough :
| Publication | Accolade | Rank | Ref. |
| Associated Press | The 10 Best Albums of 2006 | 2 | |
| The Village Voice | Pazz & Jop | 122 | |

## Commercial performance

The Breakthrough debuted at number one on both the US Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums in the week of January 7, 2006. Blige's third album to do so, it sold 727,000 copies in its first week of release, becoming the biggest first-week sales for a female R&B solo artist in SoundScan history, the fifth largest first-week sales for a female artist, and the fourth largest debut of 2005. The biggest-selling R&B album of the year, Billboard ranked it first on its 2006 Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums year-end chart. It was also ranked fifth on the magazine's Billboard 200 year-end chart of 2006. The Breakthrough was certified Gold and Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on the January 24, 2006. It eventually reached double Platinum on March 10, 2006 and triple Platinum status on April 10, 2007. By December 2009, the album had sold 3,100,000 copies in the United States.
In the United Kingdom, The Breakthrough debuted at number 48 on the UK Albums Chart and number six on the UK R&B Albums chart in the week of December 24, 2005. It eventually peaked at number 22 in April 2006. On February 3, 2006, the album earned a Gold certification from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shipments in excess of 100,000 units. Elsewhere, The Breakthrough reached number one on the Australian Urban Albums chart and the top ten on the Swiss Albums Chart. It reached Gold status in Australia, Germany, and Japan and was certified Platinum by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) in Switzerland.