On the Charts: Justin Timberlake Rides Super Bowl to Number One
Justin Timberlake went from the Super Bowl halftime show to the top of the Billboard 200 as the singer’s new album Man of the Woods opened at Number One with the best-selling week of 2018 so far.
Man of the Woods opened with 293,000 total copies, including 242,000 traditional copies, in its first week on shelves, a period highlighted by Timberlake’s hits-filled, Prince-honoring halftime spectacle at Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis.
The album also marked Timberlake’s fourth consecutive Number One album, following both parts of 2013’s The 20/20 Experience and 2006’s FutureSex/LoveSounds; the singer’s debut LP Justified peaked at Number Two in 2002, Billboard reports.
While Timberlake and Man of the Woods experienced a sales dip reflective of the music industry’s struggles – by comparison, the first installment of The 20/20 Experience opened with 968,000 copies just five years ago – the album did enjoy the second-best opening week in terms of vinyl sales for a male solo artist since Nielsen Music started tracking that data in 1991. Billboard notes that only Jack White’s Lazaretto sold more opening week vinyl copies than the 15,000 records of Man of the Woods, a number bolstered by a Target exclusive that offered the LP on translucent orange vinyl.
Other than Timberlake, only one more new release – the Now 65 compilation at Number 10 – made the Top 10 on this week’s Billboard 200. Last week’s Number One, Migos’ Culture II, dropped one spot to Number Two and 88,000 total copies, followed by the Greatest Showman soundtrack (Number Three), Ed Sheeran’s Divide (Four), Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic (Five) and Post Malone’s Stoney (Six).
Kendrick Lamar’s Damn., Camila Cabello’s Camila and Lil Uzi Vert’s Luv Is Rage 2 filled at the Top 10 at Numbers Seven through Nine respectively.
Next week, Man of the Woods faces a trio of soundtracks – Fifty Shades Freed, Greatest Showman and the Kendrick Lamar-curated Black Panther – in the battle for Number One.