The album, conceived by Clive Davis and A&R'd by Pete Ganbarg, was a major global hit, eventually selling more than 30 million copies. It is the most successful album by Santana, hitting the number one spot in ten countries, including the United States. It is also the highest-selling album of original material released by any artist who had already been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame prior to its release and second highest-selling overall behind The Beatles compilation album 1.
Supernatural debuted at number nineteen on the Billboard 200 on July 3, 1999 but topped (after 18 weeks) the chart on October 30, 1999 and stayed there for 12 non-consecutive weeks. It included the hit single "Smooth", which featured Matchbox Twenty singer Rob Thomas on vocals, and was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 weeks. The follow-up single, "Maria Maria" (which featured The Product G&B), was number one on the same chart for 10 weeks. Santana and Rob Thomas won three Grammy Awards for their collaboration on the song "Smooth" while Santana and Everlast won another for the song "Put Your Lights On". Santana also won a Grammy for "Maria Maria". Carlos Santana became the first Hispanic person to win the Record of the Year Grammy Award, while the Album of the Year Grammy Award was bestowed upon Clive Davis.
Among the other guest artists are Eric Clapton, Eagle-Eye Cherry, Lauryn Hill, Dave Matthews, Maná, KC Porter and Cee-Lo Green.
The album is one of the best-selling albums in the world, and has sold over 30 million copies worldwide, with 11.8 million copies sold in the United States alone. It is the best-selling album by a Hispanic artist, peaking at number one in many countries.
According to the Guinness World Records in 2005, it was the band's first album to peak at number one on the Billboard 200 since Santana III in 1971, making it the longest gap between two number one albums, 28 years in total. The album debuted at number 19 on the US Billboard 200 and eventually peaked at number one in October 1999, selling 169,000 copies that week, it would increase its sales even more in the following weeks, selling 183,000 and 199,000 on its first three weeks atop. Its highest sale came in year's final week when it sold 527,000 copies. Its sales would still stay in stratosphere after the Holiday season, selling 583,000 copies after winning nine Grammy Awards in a night, it barely dropped in sales, selling again another monstrous 441,000 copies. Its last of 12 non-consecutive weeks at number one would still see huge sales, 307,000 copies that week, it later was replaced by NSYNC No Strings Attached after selling 2.4 million copies in a week. It also debuted and peaked at number one on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart. However, it was removed from the chart the following week after Billboard determined that the album did not meet the linguistic requirement of having at least 50% of its tracks recorded in Spanish. It was ranked on Billboard's top 200 albums of the decade as the ninth best-selling album of the 2000s.
In Australia, the album debuted at number 48 and would peak at number one on March 6, 2000. In the UK, the album peaked at number one for two weeks starting on April 1, 2000.
The track "El Farol" was criticised by unauthorized use of melody. The song takes it structure of "Papel Principal", a song made by the Portuguese artist Adelaide Ferreira. Although never confirmed, the rumor of a possible judicial action by the Portuguese singer was never surpassed.
