One week after its release, "The Makings of Me" debuted at number-one on the US "Billboard"'s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, and at number eight on the official "Billboard" 200, with moderately successful first week sales of 92,935 copies — about half as much as her previous effort, number-one album "After the Storm" (2003). While it became Monica's first album to reach the top of the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, it also scored her her lowest opening position on the "Billboard" 200 since 1998's "The Boy Is Mine" had also opened at the same peak. The album has sold over 328,000 copies domestically, making it Monica's first album to not receive a certification by the Recording Industry Association of America to date. Outside the States, it opened at number twenty-three on the R&B Top 50 Albums Chart in Canada and at number seventy-five on the Japanese Album Chart.