People Still Buy Music: A whole lot of people are ponying up for Justin Timberlake's new record
Justin Timberlake is probably going to sell a lot of copies of his new record, The 20/20 Experience. According to Billboard, music industry sources are estimating the album will sell somewhere between 750,000 and 800,000 copies in its first week. For comparison, Timberlake’s last record, FutureSex/LoveSounds, was released to a much sunnier economic climate in 2006, and only sold 684,000 copies its first week in stores.
While iTunes is leading the way in terms of actual sales, Target is coming in a close second thanks to its deluxe version of the CD, which contains two bonus songs: “Dress On” and “Body Count.” These figures are especially impressive considering—unlike a lot of other artists, including Lady Gaga—Timberlake didn't drop the cost of a download of his record to $5 on Amazon.
The last record to sell more than 750,000 copies its first week out was Taylor Swift’s Red, which moved a cool 1.2 million the week of Nov. 10, 2012.