Justin Timberlake Had 2013’s Best-Selling Album, But The Year’s Sales Underwhelm

At the midyear point, Justin Timberlake’s “20/20 Experience” was 2013’s best-selling album. Now that the year has concluded, Timberlake maintains that honor, having sold nearly 2.5 million copies. That’s an impressive figure for Timberlake but a depressing one for the music industry as a whole, as Nielsen SoundScan hasn’t seen a No. 1 album sell that few copies in its 22-year history. (For a comparison, Adele’s “21” was the top seller in 2012 with 4.41 million copies sold and again in 2011 with 5.82 million.)

Justin Timberlake Had 2013’s Best-Selling Album, But The Year’s Sales Underwhelm