Come Away with Me is the debut album by American recording artist Norah Jones, released on February 26, 2002, by Blue Note Records. Recording sessions took place at Sorcerer Sound Studio in New York City and Allaire Studios in Shokan, New York.
Come Away with Me peaked at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart and received Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album. It was later certified Diamond by the RIAA on February 15, 2005, for shipments of over ten million copies in the United States, and has sold over 27 million copies worldwide as of 2016, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time, the best-selling debut album by a female artist of all time, and the second best-selling album of the 21st century.
Composition
Come Away with Me is an acoustic pop and blues pop album that features Jones supported by Kevin Breit, Bill Frisell, Adam Levy, Adam Rogers, and Tony Scherr on guitar; Sam Yahel on organ; Jenny Scheinman on violin; Rob Burger on accordion; and Brian Blade, Dan Rieser, and Kenny Wollesen on drums —all jazz musicians with a leaning to Americana. The recording of Come Away with Me started on September 20, 2000 and ended in December 2001. Jones wrote the title song. Guitarist Jesse Harris wrote "Don't Know Why". The album includes Jones' versions of "The Nearness of You" by Hoagy Carmichael and "Cold, Cold Heart" by Hank Williams, the former deliberately chosen to be the closing track to the album by producer Arif Mardin.
Come Away with Me incorporates blues, jazz, folk, soul, and country. Bobby Dodd of All About Jazz writes that although the album features jazz standards, jazz purists and academics "may deny [Jones] jazz credibility for her folk infusion".
Commercial performance Come Away with Me debuted at number 139 on the US Billboard 200 upon its release in February 2002 selling 10,000 copies in its first week. Despite being released at a time when music piracy was high and album sales were declining, the album was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in August that same year. The album eventually climbed to the top of the Billboard 200 in January 2003, almost a year after it was released selling 108,000 copies that week. By the time of the Grammy Awards the following month, Come Away with Me had already sold 3 million copies in the country. Jones' success at the award show resulted in the album moving another 600,000 copies the week immediately following the awards. CDs of the album was sold at Starbucks stores and at a retail price of $9.99, lower than most albums at the time. In total, the album appeared on the Billboard 200 for 165 weeks and sold 11.1 million copies in the US as of March 2016. The album was certified Diamond by the RIAA in February 2005 for selling over ten million copies in the US. It was also the eleventh best-selling album of the Nielsen SoundScan era as of 2016.
As of October 2016, the album had sold more than 27 million copies worldwide. Polyphonic HMI's "Hit Song Science" software claimed to have predicted the album's success months before its release, contradicting skeptical executives.Studio 360 commentary . October 1, 2004. Accessed on: March 19, 2009. In Germany, the album debuted at No. 37. It remained on the German Albums Chart for 141 weeks and reached No. 2 in its 37th week on that chart, where it stayed for four weeks. Come Away with Me sold 750,000 copies, reaching 5× gold, becoming her most successful album in Germany and one of the longest charting albums on the German Albums Chart.
Critical reception
Come Away with Me received acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 82 out of 100, which indicates "universal acclaim" based on 9 reviews.
The album received 3.5 out of 4 stars from both the Chicago Sun-Times and the Los Angeles Times reviews. AllMusic's David R. Adler wrote that "while the mood of this record stagnates after a few songs, it does give a strong indication of Jones' alluring talents." Robert Christgau of The Village Voice cited it as "the most unjazz album [Blue Note] has ever released" and criticized that "Jones's voice dominates the record."
The A.V. Club gave it a favorable review and called the album "A showcase for Jones' remarkable voice, the disc captures a singer whose rare instinct for interpretation always serves the song, rather than working against it." E! Online gave it an A and stated: "Gorgeous and intimate, the 14 songs on her debut disc ache with romantic maturity and a smart, slow-jam sexiness that belies the fact that, at 22, Jones is hardly older than Britney Spears."
Kludge included it on their list of best albums of 2002. Mark Beaumont, writing for NME in 2016, included it on his list of eight of the all-time best-selling albums in the UK that have no redeeming features whatsoever, dubbing it "soporific, simplistic jazz wallpaper muzak".
20th anniversary edition In April 2022, a remastered expanded edition of Come Away with Me was released, with demos from the promo-only First Sessions EP, and including 22 previously unreleased demos, outtakes, and alternative versions.
Track listing
Personnel Norah Jones – vocals, piano (except tracks 2, 4, 8), Wurlitzer electric piano (track 4) Sam Yahel – Hammond B-3 organ (6, 7, 11) Rob Burger – pump organ (8), accordion (10) Jesse Harris – acoustic guitar (1, 5, 6, 9, 11–13), electric guitar (1) Adam Levy – electric guitar (3, 5, 6, 9, 11, 12), acoustic guitar (8, 10) Kevin Breit – acoustic guitar (2, 4), National guitar (2), electric guitar (4, 13) Adam Rogers – guitar (7) Tony Scherr – slide guitar and acoustic guitar (8) Bill Frisell – electric guitar (13) Jenny Scheinman – violin (9, 11) Lee Alexander – bass (exc. 14) Brian Blade – drums (2, 4, 6, 8–10, 12), percussion (2, 9) Dan Rieser – drums (1, 5, 7, 11) Kenny Wollesen – drums (13)
Technical personnel Producers: Arif Mardin, Norah Jones and Jay Newland (2, 4, 13, 2.4/17, original tracks of 1, 7), Craig Street (orig. tracks of 2, 4, 13, 2.1, 2.3/15) Engineers: Jay Newland, S. Husky Höskulds (orig. tracks of 2, 4, 13, 2.1, 2.3/15) Assistant engineers: Dick Kondas, Mark Birkey (1, 7), Brandon Mason (orig. tracks of 2, 4, 13) Mixing: Jay Newland, Arif Mardin (exc. 2, 4, 13) Mixing assistant: Todd Parker (2, 4, 13) Mastering: Ted Jensen
Charts
Weekly charts Chart (2002–2005)Peakposition Argentinian Albums (CAPIF) 1Australian Jazz & Blues Albums (ARIA) 1European Albums (Music & Media) 1Greek Albums (IFPI Greece) 1 Japanese Albums (Oricon) 10 Portuguese Albums (AFP) 1 Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE) 6 Singaporean Albums (RIAS) 5 Chart (2013)Peakposition Chart (2014)Peakposition Chart (2016)PeakpositionCzech Albums (ČNS IFPI) 47
Year-end charts +Year-end chart performance for Come Away with MeChart (2002)PositionAustralian Albums (ARIA) 39Australian Jazz & Blues Albums (ARIA) 2Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 86Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) 97Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan) 17Canadian Jazz Albums (Nielsen SoundScan) 2Danish Albums (Hitlisten) 15Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) 13European Albums (Music & Media) 12French Albums (SNEP) 20German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) 83Irish Albums (IRMA) 15 Italian Albums (FIMI) 33New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) 1Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) 17Swedish Albums & Compilations (Sverigetopplistan) 23 UK Albums (OCC) 11 US Billboard 200 30 US Top Jazz Albums (Billboard) 10 Worldwide Albums (IFPI) 11 Chart (2003)PositionArgentine Albums (CAPIF) 19Australian Albums (ARIA) 2Australian Jazz & Blues Albums (ARIA) 1Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) 9Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 3Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) 2Danish Albums (Hitlisten) 4Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) 2European Albums (Music & Media) 1French Albums (SNEP) 2German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) 6Irish Albums (IRMA) 1Italian Albums (FIMI) 49Japanese Albums (Oricon) 74New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) 2Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) 3Swedish Albums & Compilations (Sverigetopplistan)7Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) 4UK Albums (OCC) 5US Billboard 200 2US Contemporary Jazz Albums (Billboard) 1Worldwide Albums (IFPI) 1 Chart (2004)PositionAustralian Albums (ARIA) 41Australian Jazz & Blues Albums (ARIA) 3Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) 10Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 7Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) 32Danish Albums (Hitlisten) 24Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) 34European Top 100 Albums (Billboard) 6French Albums (SNEP) 16German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) 16Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) 28Swedish Albums & Compilations (Sverigetopplistan) 36Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) 18UK Albums (OCC) 52 US Billboard 200 36US Contemporary Jazz Albums (Billboard) 1Worldwide Albums (IFPI) 30 Chart (2005)PositionAustralian Jazz & Blues Albums (ARIA) 6Belgian Midprice Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 8Belgian Midprice Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) 17French Albums (SNEP) 140US Catalog Albums (Billboard)Positions on US year-end charts 2005:
Catalog Albums: Digit page 120 on the PDF archive. Contemporary Jazz Albums: Digit page 118 on the PDF archive. 8US Contemporary Jazz Albums (Billboard) 3 Chart (2006)PositionAustralian Jazz & Blues Albums (ARIA) 3Belgian Midprice Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 3Belgian Midprice Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) 6 US Catalog Albums (Billboard) 12 Chart (2007)PositionAustralian Jazz & Blues Albums (ARIA) 5Belgian Midprice Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 9Belgian Midprice Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) 19 US Catalog Albums (Billboard) 13 Chart (2008)PositionAustralian Jazz & Blues Albums (ARIA) 9Belgian Midprice Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 20Belgian Midprice Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) 29 Chart (2009)PositionAustralian Jazz & Blues Albums (ARIA) 8 Chart (2010)PositionAustralian Jazz & Blues Albums (ARIA) 5 South Korean International Albums (Circle) 44 Chart (2011)Position South Korean International Albums (Circle) 75
Chart (2012)Position South Korean International Albums (Circle)59 Chart (2013)Position South Korean International Albums (Circle)96 Chart (2015)Position South Korean International Albums (Circle)94 Chart (2016)Position South Korean International Albums (Circle)87
Chart (2019)PositionAustralian Jazz & Blues Albums (ARIA) 4 Chart (2020)PositionAustralian Jazz & Blues Albums (ARIA)2US Contemporary Jazz Albums (Billboard)1 Chart (2021)PositionAustralian Jazz & Blues Albums (ARIA)1US Contemporary Jazz Albums (Billboard)1 Chart (2022)PositionAustralian Jazz & Blues Albums (ARIA)1US Contemporary Jazz Albums (Billboard)1 Chart (2023)PositionAustralian Jazz & Blues Albums (ARIA)1US Contemporary Jazz Albums (Billboard)1 Chart (2024)PositionAustralian Jazz & Blues Albums (ARIA)2 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 173US Contemporary Jazz Albums (Billboard)1 Chart (2025)PositionAustralian Jazz & Blues Albums (ARIA)5US Contemporary Jazz Albums (Billboard)1
Decade-end charts Chart (2000–09)PositionAustralian Albums (ARIA) 4UK Albums (OCC) 14US Billboard 200 Digit page 166 on the PDF archive. 4US Top Jazz Albums (Billboard)1
Certifications and sales
Awards and honors Grammy Awards YearWinnerCategory2003Come Away with MeAlbum of the YearBest Engineered Album, Non-ClassicalBest Pop Vocal Album
Japan Gold Disc Awards YearWinnerCategory 2003Come Away with MeInternational Jazz Album of the Year
Rolling Stone ranked Come Away with Me at number 54 on its list of the 100 Best Albums of the Decade. Rhapsody ranked the album at 16 on its list of 100 Best Albums of the Decade, while Spinner listed the album at the 42nd Best Album of the 2000s.
See also List of best-selling albums List of best-selling albums by women List of best-selling albums in the United States List of best-selling albums in Australia List of best-selling albums in New Zealand List of best-selling albums in the United Kingdom
References
External links Come Away with Me at Discogs