Timberlake Wins Album Sales Race, Lorde’s “Pure Heroine” Debuts Well

When you’re Justin Timberlake, not even a massive slip can knock you off the top spot.

Despite selling significantly less units than its predecessor, Timberlake’s “The 20/20 Experience Part 2” cruised to a dominant victory in the weekly album sales race. According to Billboard, “20/20” sold roughly 350K copies for a convincing first place finish.

Its margin of victory over the number two album–roughly 200K copies–makes the fact that Part 2’s opening week tally trailed that of Part 1 by more than 600K readily digestible.

Filling that number two position is Drake’s “Nothing was the Same,” which moved approximately 148K. Given the front-loaded nature of marquee hip-hop albums, its massive week-over-week decline, while jarring on paper, was not unexpected.

Teen alt-pop sensation Lorde claimed the number three spot with her debut LP “Pure Heroine.” Fueled by industry recognition and the international success of its smash single “Royals,” which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 last week, “Heroine” moved 129K.

Luke Bryan’s holdover smash “Crash My Party” claimed fourth place on the strength of 32,000 units, while Tyler Farr’s “Redneck Crazy” landed in fifth with 29,000 sales.

Brian Cantor

Brian Cantor is the editor-in-chief for Headline Planet. He has been a leading reporter in the music, movie, television and sporting spaces since 2002. Brian's reporting has been cited by major websites like BuzzFeed, Billboard, the New Yorker and The Fader -- and shared by celebrities like Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj. Contact Brian at brian.cantor[at]headlineplanet.com.

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