Justin Timberlake almost reaches the 1m mark in sales for the week

The #1 debut debut of the singer's third effort not only smashed the competition with sales of 968,000, it nearly equaled the combined first-week figures of both of his previous solo discs. Though Experience fell just short of hitting the one million mark, according to figures provided by Nielsen SoundScan, it ranks as the year's best-seller to date. It also easily blew past the first-week figures for 2002's Justified, which entered the charts at #2 with 439,000, as well as 2006's FutureSex/LoveSounds, which hit #1 with 684,000. JT can now claim the 19th biggest debut since SoundScan began tracking sales data in 1991, falling well shy of the all-time record set by his former band, 'NSYNC, whose No Strings Attached moved an untouchable 2.42 million in April 2000. He did, however, break into the top three all-time biggest weeks for a solo male (non-rapping) singer, coming in behind Usher's Confessions (1.10 million) and Garth Brooks' Double Live (1.09 million). According to his label, he also set a few other records, including: fastest-selling album in iTunes history worldwide (89 countries) and the best-selling male artist at Target since 2002 and one of the top three at the retailer — which is carrying a special, bargain-priced edition of the album — in the past decade. The only other notable debut in the top 10 was country newcomer Kacey Musgraves, who was well behind at #2 with Same Trailer, Different Park (43,000). It's too early to tell how JT will hold up next week, but it's likely he'll have to take a backseat to Lil Wayne's I Am Not A Human Being II, which will debut on the charts alongside the latest from Blake Shelton, the Strokes, Alan Jackson, One Republic and will.i.am2.

Billboard 200 charts: 1) Justin Timberlake, The 20/20 Experience (968,000) 2) Kacey Musgraves, Same Trailer, Different Park (43,000) 3) Bruno Mars, Unorthodox Jukebox (41,000) 4) Luke Bryan, Spring Break ... Here to Party (38,000) 5) Pink, The Truth About Love (36,000) 6) Imagine Dragons, Night Visions (29,000) 7) Bon Jovi, What About Now (29,000) 8) Original Soundtrack, "Les Miserables" (28,000) 9) Mumford & Sons, Babel (27,000) 10) Rihanna, Unapologetic (26,000)