SoundScanner: Justin Timberlake Narrowly Misses Going Platinum, While P!nk Tops Macklemore
Movie star and SNL frequenter Justin Timberlake sold a lot of albums (who knew?), while P!nk finally got herself another #1 song (with some help from Nate Ruess of fun.). Here’s a look at this week’s Nielsen SoundScan sales figures:
SEEING 20/20, BUT NOT QUITE 1 MILLION: Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience enjoyed a boffo debut, landing at No. 1 with a gargantuan 968,000 first week sales. That’s up considerably from the 684,000 copies 2006’s FutureSex/LoveSounds sold its first week, and more than doubles the 439,000 debut of 2002’s Justified. Further, every song on 20/20 impacted this week’s Digital Songs chart, including "Suit & Tie" (No. 10, 101,000), "Pusher Love Girl" (No. 45, 45,000), "That Girl" (No. 96, 19,000), "Let the Groove Get In" (No. 105, 17,000), "Don’t Hold the Wall" (No. 125, 14,000), "Strawberry Bubblegum" (No. 138, 14,000), "Tunnel Vision" (No. 141, 13,000), "Blue Ocean Floor" (No. 155, 12,000) and "Spaceship Coupe" (No. 186, 10,000). (Sales figures for "Mirrors" were not available.) Even "Sexyback" makes an appearance, at No. 154 (12,000). But perhaps more notoriously, by narrowly missing the 1 million sales marker, The 20/20 Experience joins Kanye West’s 2007 album Graduation (which debuted with 957,000 sales) and Lil Wayne’s 2011 effort Tha Carter IV (which sold 964,000 copies its first week) in the exclusive Close But No Cigar Club.
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P!NK TOPS 'SHOP': P!nk’s "Just Give Me a Reason," her duet with fun.’s Nate Ruess, tops this week’s Digital Songs chart, knocking Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ "Thrift Shop" out of its 10-week perch at No. 1. Don’t feel too bad for "Thrift Shop," though: The song falls to No. 2 but crosses the 5-million sales marker this week, making "Grandpa Style" bigger than "Gangnam Style" (Psy’s single has sold 4.4 million copies to date). The Pink single rockets up the chart this week from No. 5, and its 241,000 sales bring its 7-week total to 791,000.
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BON JOVI, DAVID BOWIE FALL: Last week, veteran rockers Bon Jovi and David Bowie were battling it out for No. 1 – the New Jersey stalwarts ended up edging out the Thin White Duke – but this week both see their albums take 71 percent sales hits. Bon Jovi’s What About Now slips to No. 7 on 29,000 sales, while Bowie’s The Next Day tumbles to No. 11 on 25,000 sales. Bon Jovi will support their new album on the road this spring and summer, Bowie won’t.
LES MIZ GOES OR*: Thanks to the movie’s DVD release March 22, the Les Miserables soundtrack – which was rereleased last week with a CD of bonus songs – crosses the gold sales plateau this week, so it now matches the color of Anne Hathaway’s Oscar. The soundtrack lands No. 8 this week with 28,000 sales, bringing its total to 526,000, which represents a whole lot of people who don’t seem to mind Russell Crowe’s singing. (*"Or" is French for gold, so don’t say #SoundScanner never taught you anything!")
SPRING BREAK FOREVER: On the Digital Songs chart, Skrillex’s "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" reappears down at No. 152. Hmm, what happened with "Scary Monsters" last week that could have given it a sales bump? Did someone perform it on American Idol? Did Skrillex make a cameo on How I Met Your Mother? Ah, that’s right, the song soundtracks the opening of Spring Breakers, and enough people came home from the movie and downloaded the song for it to make a dent in the charts. (Sadly, Britney Spears’ "Everytime," also used expertly in the film, does not chart this week.) Meanwhile, the dubstep kingpin’s Bangarang EP is knocking on the door of hitting gold; with 497,000 copies sold to-date, it might cross the marker next week. Stay tuned!
[Photos: Getty Images]