Justin Timberlakeâs latest album is No. 1 on the Billboard chart for a third week, beating new albums by the Band Perry and the rapper Tyler, the Creator.
Mr. Timberlakeâs album âThe 20/20 Experienceâ (RCA), his first new release in almost seven years, arrived in stores on a wave of marketing and promotion, and is still selling strong, or at least more strongly than anything else. Last week it sold 139,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, down 56 percent from the week before.
Total sales for the album stand at 1.4 million, and Billboard said it is the first album by a male artist to spend its first three weeks at No. 1 since Eminemâs âRecoveryâ in the summer of 2010. (The last album by anybody to spend its first three weeks on top, however, was Taylor Swiftâs âRed,â in November.)
The second biggest album this week is âPioneerâ (Republic Nashville), the second release by the Band Perry, which opened with 129,000 copies sold. That is a better showing than had been predicted for the band, and was perhaps helped by the groupâs appearance on Sunday at the Academy of Country Music Awards, which was broadcast by CBS and drew 15.4 million viewers, the showâs best ratings in 15 years.
Tyler, the Creator, the leader of the hip-hop collective Odd Future, reached No. 3 this week with his new release, âWolfâ (Odd Future/Sony), which sold 89,000 copies. The country singer Blake Shelton fell one spot to No. 4 with 82,000 sales of âBased on a True Story â¦â (Warner Brothers Nashville), and Lil Wayneâs âI Am Not a Human Being IIâ fell three spots to No. 5 with 68,000.
Also on the chart this week, New Kids on the Block â" yes, New Kids on the Block â" open at No. 6 with 51,000 sales of â10â³ (The Block). It is the third album that the âkidsâ â" now in their 40s â" have released since reuniting in 2008, including âThe Blockâ that year and âNKOTBSB,â a compilation of mostly old material by the New Kids and another aging boy band, the Backstreet Boys.