Call it deja vu. Call it the Justin Timberlake factor. Either way, it’s going to add up to another number one for the former ‘N Sync player rather than a first for a promising new artist.
Earlier this year, the release of Justin Timberlake’s “The 20/20 Experience Part One” engulfed “Same Trailer Different Park,” the buzzworthy debut from media darling Kacey Musgraves, in the sales race. Musgraves’ respectable 42,000 made for an impressive bow and a number one debut on the Country Albums chart, but when compared to the whopping 968,000 moved by Timberlake’s album, it seemed miniscule.
This week, critical favorite Lorde faces the same challenge. In the best case scenario (eg assuming the album can even outpace Drake’s holdover “Nothing Was the Same”), her eagerly-anticipated full-length debut “Pure Heroine” will settle for second behind Justin Timberlake’s “The 20/20 Experience Part Two.”
Lorde’s album should definitely sell more than Musgraves’ album did in its first frame, and part two of Timberlake’s collection is unlikely to sell as well as the first, but the end result will still be the same: a convincing win for JT.
Both albums officially dropped on Monday, and as of press time, the Timberlake and Lorde releases claim the number one and two spots on iTunes, respectively.
Drake’s holdover claims number three ahead of fellow top five sellers “The 20/20 Experience – The Combined Experience” and HAIM’s buzzworthy “Days are Gone.”
Kings of Leon’s “Mechanical Bull” opens its second week in sixth position, leading All Time Low’s “Don’t Panic: It’s Longer Now,” the clean version of Timberlake’s new album, Tyler Farr’s new “Redneck Crazy” and Jack Johnson’s holdover “From Here to Now to You.”