MINNEAPOLIS, MN - FEBRUARY 04: Recording artist Justin Timberlake performs onstage during the Pepsi ... [+]
Justin Timberlake’s latest era of his solo musical career is not going very well. The singer doled out two tracks from his latest project, Everything I Thought It Was, before the album dropped in full, but neither of them became big hits. Now, the full-length has started to appear on charts all around the world, and it’s proving to be something of a disappointment for him.
Everything I Thought It Was is new to the Australian albums chart this week. The set launches at No. 23 on the ranking of the most-consumed full-lengths in the country. Debuting outside of the top 20 is not impressive for Timberlake. In fact, it makes Everything I Thought It Was the worst-performing title of his career–by a wide margin.
Before this week, Timberlake’s debut solo album Justified ranked as the lowest-charting of his time on his own, in Australia, at least. That set, which proved he had the goods to become a star in his own right and not just with NSYNC (who are featured on his latest full-length, by the way) peaked at No. 9.
Everything I Thought It Was is now Timberlake’s first album to miss out on hitting the top 10 in Australia. It could, conceivably, gain traction thanks to future singles and climb the chart in the coming months, but that doesn’t seem likely. The vast majority of projects hit their peak when they debut, due to how people consume music nowadays.
Timberlake doesn’t even score the top debut on the Australian albums chart this week. Homegrown favorite Peter Garrett, who has worked as a politician and a musician, sees his new solo album The True North launch at No. 17. Coming in behind the former NSYNC singer is Deeper Well, the latest from Kacey Musgraves. That set opens at No. 26.
Everything I Thought It Was doesn’t fare any better in New Zealand, either. Timberlake’s sixth full-length is new at No. 25. In that country, the project marks the singer’s first to fail to crack the top five.
The global chart week begins on Fridays, when the vast majority of musicians release their new singles and albums. They then have until the following Thursday at midnight in which to sell and stream their latest drops, in the hopes that they’ll perform well enough to appear on charts everywhere. Australia and New Zealand are among the first two nations to publish their charts every week, and those rankings can be an early indicator of how a full-length or song is set to perform on rankings everywhere.
