"This Is the Night", released on June 10 2003 on the RCA label, was American Idol contestant Clay Aiken's debut CD single.
It was released simultaneously with "Flying Without Wings" by rival contestant Ruben Studdard, and immediately reached number one in the Billboard Hot 100, restricting "Flying Without Wings" to the number-two position.
The double A-side single was RIAA certified platinum on July 15, 2003. Debuting at #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Hot 100 Single Sales Chart, it was the fastest-selling single since Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997" and the best-selling single of 2003. It was the first CD single to go platinum since 2002, when Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance" sold a million copies after being released for over a year. The single also topped the charts in New Zealand where it was certified platinum, and went six times platinum in Canada.
"This Is the Night" was included as a bonus track on Aiken's Measure of a Man CD (October 2003), while on some international versions the bonus track was "Bridge Over Troubled Water".
