Justin Timberlake's fifth studio album Man Of The Woods has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, Billboard reports. The album moves 293,000 equivalent album units in its first week, with 242,000 of that number made in traditional sales. It is the highest selling sales week for an album in 2018, and the highest sales week since Taylor Swift's Reputation sold 1.24 million units in December.
This is JT's fourth album to top the charts. His solo debut, Justified, is the only one of his albums not to reach the top spot. The album debuted at No. 2 with 439,000 sold in 2002.
In 2013, Justin Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience scored the highest sales week of the year with 968,000. At the time, this was the largest sales week by a male artist since Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III in 2008. 20/20 makes for the 19th-largest sales for an album within a one week period since SoundScan began tracking data in 1991. It remains the highest sales week of his career.
Man Of The Woods sold 15,000 copies on vinyl, making it the biggest-selling week on vinyl since LCD Soundsystem's American Dream in 2017.
Timberlake headlined the Super Bowl Half Time show last Sunday. After it was reported that he may be performing with a Prince hologram at the event, a backlash began on social media. Before the show, it was confirmed through Prince collaborator Sheila E. that a hologram would not be used. Instead, Timberlake performed with a projection of the late singer. His Halftime Show received a mixed reaction from viewers and critics.