Numbers don’t lie, and it’s safe to say that Justin Timberlake‘s long delay from music was well worth the wait! The Pop icon released his third solo album, The 20/20 Experience, on March 19, to early predictions of 500k. As the number continued to raise throughout the week, the final tally is in, and Justin’s comeback album has shifted over 968,000 copies, easily landing him the #1 spot on the Billboard charts.
The highest first week debut for Timberlake as a solo artist, his critically acclaimed sophomore set, Future Sex/Love Sounds, moved 684,000 in it’s first week.
The album immediately becomes the year’s best-seller to date, with the highest sales total since Taylor Swift’s Red moved 1.2 million last fall, and tops Lil Wayne’s 964k for Tha Carter IV in September 2011 as the decades highest debut from a male artist.
Justin has already sold well over 1 million copies worldwide, and should surpass the figure in the US by this week. On Monday he topped the UK charts, selling over 106k.
Sources say Apple’s iTunes store was the top seller of “20/20” for the week, with Target coming in at No. 2. The latter was the only retailer with an exclusive version of the album, it includes two bonus songs unavailable anywhere else, “Dress On” and “Body Count.” Target has been heavily promoting the album via a series of TV commercials, the first of which premiered during CBS’ broadcast of the Grammy Awards on Feb. 10. For its part, iTunes had an exclusive stream of “20/20” that premiered on March 11, a week before the album dropped on March 19.
Online retail source HitsDailyDouble lists the album has moved a higher figure of 980k, which most likely reflects the amount he’s moved in total, including early weekend sales prior to the 19th.
Congrats to JT and RCA!
I feel sorry for anyone who released an album last tuesday. They shouldve known that Justin was going to take over! I’ma watch all his videos all week just to celebrate!
http://smarturl.it/JustinMirrors