As his latest top 10 single, ‘Filthy,’ proclaims…”haters gon’ say it’s fake, but it’s so real.”
That’s right, jaws dropped at news Justin Timberlake‘s new album – ‘Man of the Woods’ – is set to deliver the lowest first week sales of his nearly two decade long solo career. Preceded by the cuts ‘Filthy,’ ‘Supplies,’ ‘Say Something’ (featuring Chris Stapleton), and its title track, the album is his first to only produce one top 10 single among its first quartet of singles.
Add to this the tunes’ respective poor performances on streaming charts (while faring fairly well on the sales side of the coin), industry analysts have used that information – in conjunction with its reported sales after the first 24 hours of its availability – to predict how many units the project is set to shift by next week’s end.
If their predictions ring true, ‘Man of the Woods’ will go down as the singer’s worst first week sales performance ever. See the info inside:
‘Man of the Woods’
First Week Sales: 300-350,000
Predicted Chart Position: #1
To date, Timberlake’s lowest first week sales are that of his 2002 debut album, ‘Justified,’ which shifted 439,000 its first week of availability. Should the numbers above ring true, ‘Man of the Woods’ would replace his debut set as the lowest premiere numbers of his career. However, the reality is that replacement is highly unlikely.
Before the anti-Timberlake crew begins to rejoice, the preliminary information listed here is based on very early reads and will undoubtedly increase next week as the Grammy winner hits the TV and radio circuit in promotion of the new album. Furthermore, with the Super Bowl just a day away, we won’t be surprised if that figure nearly doubles by the final count on next Friday.
Regardless of what kind of tools the ‘Supplies’ singer has in his box of tricks to increase awareness and interest in the new LP, first day sales are always a true representation of anticipation for a project. And, as the respective nonperformance of each of ‘Man of the Woods’ singles indicated prior to their parent album’s release, music lovers weren’t exactly eager to get their hands on Justin’s latest material (compared to previous projects).