Justin Timberlake’s New Album Marks One Of The Lowest Debuts Of His Career

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Justin Timberlake dropped his highly-anticipated album Everything I Thought It Was earlier this month. The set got off to a slow start, and it never managed to recover. The title debuts inside the top 10 on the Billboard 200 this week, but it gives the pop singer one of the lowest-ranking starts of his career.

Everything I Thought It Was debuts at No. 4 on this week’s Billboard 200. It starts inside the top five with 67,000 equivalent units shifted. That’s a very, very small sum for a man who is still regarded as one of the top pop superstars in the world.

As it launches in fourth place, Everything I Thought It Was gives Timberlake the second-lowest-charting title of his career on the Billboard 200, looking only at regular albums. The set is only beaten for this undesirable prize by NSYNC’s sole holiday collection, Home for Christmas. That project only rose as high as No. 7 a quarter-century ago.

All of NSYNC’s non-holiday albums were massively successful, and it’s their string of wins that set Timberlake up for the historic career he enjoyed on his own. Their debut self-titled release, which made them household names, stalled at No. 2. Their follow-ups, No Strings Attached and Celebrity, both hit No. 1.

When considering only his solo albums, Everything I Thought It Was easily stands out as his lowest-charting. Four of his releases on his own have opened at No. 1. Only one, his debut solo set Justified, missed that mark. That project peaked in the runner-up rung instead.

This week, Everything I Thought It Was doesn’t even score the top debut on the Billboard 200. That honor goes to Kacey Musgraves, whose Deeper Well launches at No. 2 with the largest opening figure of her career–97,000 equivalent units. Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine earns a second frame at No. 1 with just over 100,000 equivalent units. Morgan Wallen’s year-old One Thing at a Time is comfortable at No. 3.