Justin Timberlake's '20/20' Dethrones David Bowie On UK Albums Chart

Justin Timberlake’s three-week reign on the U.K. singles chart with “Mirrors” (RCA/Sony Music Entertainment) may be over, but now he’s the king of the album market, after “The 20/20 Experience” debuted at No. 1 yesterday (Sunday) as the fastest-selling title of the year so far.

British girl group the Saturdays, meanwhile, did the same on the singles chart, scoring their first chart-topping hit with “What About Us” (Polydor/Universal), featuring Sean Paul.

Timberlake’s album sold close to 106,000 copies last week, according to the Official Charts Company, outdoing last week’s record-breaker with 91,000, David Bowie’s “The Next Day,” also on RCA/Sony. It’s also Timberlake’s best-ever U.K. sales week, outstripping the 90,000 first-week sales for “FutureSex/LoveSounds” in 2006.

Bowie slipped to No. 2 with 35,000 new sales, as Timberlake outsold the rest of the top five combined. Emeli Sandé’s “Our Version of Events” (Virgin EMI/Universal) held at No. 3, with the “Les Miserables” cast album (Polydor/Universal) back up 10-4 and Bastille’s “Bad Blood” (Virgin EMI/Universal) down 4-5.

Last week’s runner-up, Bon Jovi’s “What About Now” (Mercury/Universal), fell to No. 9, with Suede’s reunion album “Bloodsports,” on their own eponymous label, in at No. 10. It’s their sixth top ten set and first since “Head Music” topped the chart in 1999. Billy Bragg’s “Tooth & Nail” (Cooking Vinyl) arrived at No. 13 and London trio Daughter’s “If You Leave” (4AD) at No. 16. On the compilation chart, Sony/UMTV’s “Pop Party 11” debuted at No. 1.

The Saturdays made their U.K. chart debut with the No. 8 single “If This Is Love” in the summer of 2008 and had racked-up 11 top ten hits in less than four years, but never topped the bestsellers until “What About Us” sold a year-best 114,000 last week. The OCC puts the quintet’s total record sales at 3.5 million copies.

With Timberlake’s “Mirrors” down to No. 2 despite another strong week with 73,000 new sales, Pink’s “Just Give Me A Reason” (RCA/Sony), featuring Nate Ruess, held at No. 3. Taylor Swift’s “22” (Mercury/Universal) climbed 26-11 and the next highest new entry after the Saturdays was Dublin band Kodaline’s “High Hopes” (B-Unique/RCA/Sony) at No. 16.