In May, he was the Eurovision interval act no one expected. Now, almost six months later, Justin Timberlake is celebrating yet another major career milestone as “Can’t Stop The Feeling” officially becomes his most successful single ever – in the UK at least.
Justin Timberlake “Can’t Stop The Feeling” at Eurovision 2016
The news comes on the tenth anniversary of Justin’s first British number one “Sexyback”. To mark the occasion, The Official UK Charts Company compiled a list of his bestselling tracks.
Spanning a period of 14 years, the list includes some of JT’s most famous songs. “Cry Me A River” and “Mirrors” sit alongside collaborations with Madonna and Jay Z.
But with combined sales of over one million, “Can’t Stop The Feeling” sits pretty at the top.
The single, which received its live world premiere during this year’s grand final in Stockholm, went on to soundtrack the summer months, despite stalling at number two in the weekly charts.
And it’s not just the Brits who are crazy for the former N’SYNC frontman’s infectious earworm. As of June, Timberlake had taken the song to the top of the charts in 18 countries.
Of course it would be naïve to attribute the song’s success solely to Eurovision. In fact, even if Eurofans would be loath to admit it, the track’s chart domination is all the more amazing because of the Eurovision connection.
After all, songs related to the contest rarely do well in the UK, and those that do usually lack longevity.
The “Can’t Stop The Feeling” juggernaut does raise an interesting issue though. And we’re not talking about American participation or Worldvision – we’ll leave such talk to the scaremongers.
Rather, has Justin set a benchmark? Could we see a scenario where Eurovision becomes the it place for global superstars to flog their summer wares?
Such an outcome wouldn’t be surpristing, especially since Justin has had nothing but good things to say about the contest, whether that be on Australian radio, Graham Norton’s couch or Belgian press junkets.
So, should we expect to see another superstar drop by in Kyiv? And would that be good or bad?
Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Official Top 20 biggest Justin Timberlake songs in the UK
- Can’t Stop The Feeling
- Mirrors
- Sexyback
- 4 Minutes (with Madonna)
- Cry Me A River
- Holy Grail (with Jay Z)
- Ayo Technology (with 50 Cent & Timbaland)
- What Goes Around Comes Around
- Dead And Gone (with T.I.)
- Suit & Tie (with Jay Z)
- Love Sex Magic (with Ciara)
- Like I Love You
- Rock Your Body
- Give It To Me (with Timbaland & Nelly Furtado)
- My Love (with T.I.)
- Signs (with Snoop Dogg & Charlie Wilson)
- Carry Out (with Timbaland)
- Rehab (with Rihanna)
- Senorita
- Not A Bad Thing
It’s not really a million “seller” because Spotify streams now count as “sales” in the UK chart, so the figures are basically meaningless. It’s totally inaccurate to compare figures from 2006 to 2016.
I watched the swedish verision of trolls and the swedish verision of “CAN’T STOP THE FEELING” is so hilarious, “COULDN’T STOP LAUGHING”
So overrated…
At first I didn’t expected this whole “global star to be the interval act” thing to happen, but now I discovered that Timberlake’s first live performance of “Can’t Stop the Feeling” actually helped. 🙂
I think it’s safe to say that he has moved on from Eurovision a few months after the contest…
I don’t think it’s 100% down to his Eurovision performance, although it may have helped, I think it’s simply because that style of music is just in now, with acts like Pharrell, Bruno Mars, Macklemore, Fleur East etc having success with similar sounding songs.
Also, the movie that it comes from was only released so that would have given the song a second life.
I don’t think ESC is that influential….yet 🙂