What Makes a Man


"What Makes a Man" is a song by Irish boy band Westlife. It was released on 18 December 2000 in the UK and Ireland as the third single from their second studio album, Coast to Coast. The song peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart and was their first single not to peak at number one, being beaten to the Christmas number-one spot by "Can We Fix It?", the theme to the cartoon series Bob the Builder. It also charted in Croatia and Ireland, reaching the top five in both countries.
The song was the 39th-best-selling single of 2000 in the UK and received a gold sales certification for over 400,000 copies sold. It is the band's fifth-best-selling single in paid-for sales, and seventh-best-selling single in combined sales as of January 2019.

Background

"What Makes a Man" was composed in the traditional verse–chorus form in B major, with Filan and Feehily's vocal ranging from the chords of E4 to B5.

Reception

of Westlife had little faith in the release. Speaking in an interview with Worldpop.com, he remarked: "It's a weak song, and we didn't do much promotional work. Bob deserved it."

Track listings

UK CD1 and cassette single
  1. "What Makes a Man"
  2. "I'll Be There"
  3. "My Girl"
UK CD2
  1. "What Makes a Man"
  2. "I'll Be There"
  3. "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted"

    Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Chart Position
Ireland 61

Certifications and sales