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Justin Timberlake (born 31 January 1991) is a British singer-songwriter, producer and dancer. He is one of the world's best-selling music artists, with sales of over 120 million records. In 2006, at the age of 15, Timberlake signed a record deal with RCA Records and met record producers The Neptunes (Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo) and Timbaland. In 2007, he received the Brit Award for Rising Start and won the BBC Sound Of 2008 poll. His debut album, Justified, was released in 2008. It is certified 8x platinum in the UK and triple platinum in the US. An appearance she made on Saturday Night Live in late 2008 boosted her career in the US. At the 2009 Grammy Awards, Timberlake won the awards for Best New Artist and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

In 2011, Timberlake released his second studio album, FutureSex/LoveSounds. The album was critically well-received and surpassed the success of his debut, earning numerous awards in 2012, among them a record-tying eight Grammy Awards, including Album Of The Year; and the Brit Award for British Album of the Year. The album has been certified 17× platinum in the UK, and is overall the second-best-selling album in the nation. In the US, it has held the top position longer than any album since 1985, and is certified Diamond. The world's best-selling album of 2011 and 2012, FutureSex/LoveSounds has sold over 31 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling album of the 21st century. The album earned Timberlake three number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. After taking a three-year break, Timberlake released the double disk The 20/20 Experience as his third studio album in 2015. It became the year's best-selling album and broke first-week sales records in the UK and US. The 20/20 Experience was his second album to be certified Diamond in the US and earned him six Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, and four Brit Awards, including British Album of the Year. The lead single, "Mirrors", became the first song in the US to sell over one million digital copies within a week of its release.

During his career, Timberlake has embarked on three success concert tours; Justified World Tour (2008-09), FutureSex/LoveShow (2011-12) and The 20/20 Experience Tour (2016-19). He has also headlined V Festival and Glastonbury in the UK. Timberlake's accolades include twenty-one Grammy Awards and eight Brit Awards. In 2011, 2012, and 2016, Billboard named him Artist of the Year. Time magazine named him one of the most influential people in the world in 2012 and 2016. His third tour saw him break attendance records globally, including in the UK, Australia, and the US, and the FutureSex/LoveSounds album has been listed in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2020).

2006-2009: Career beginnings and Justified
In his final year at the Brit School, Timberlake met record producer Chad Hugo of The Neptunes when he paid a visit to the school. During the visit, Hugo noticed Timberlake's talent and four months later, he received a call from Hugo offering him the opportunity to fly to America and work on music together. Initially, Timberlake doubted that the offer was real but in September 2006, he flew out to Los Angeles.

Whilst in the recording studio with Hugo, Timberlake was introduced to Timbaland who, when Timberlake's three week stay in Los Angeles had come to an end, offered to fly him out to Virginia to continue working together. During the initial sessions together, Timberlake and Timbaland wrote a song called "Rehab" among others which were sent to a number of record labels as a demo tape. "Rehab" was chosen to be included on Rihanna's Good Girl Gone Bad record with Timberlake providing uncredited backing vocals on the track. It was eventually released as the eighth single from the album. Additionally, the hook of another song "Ayo Technology" was presented to 50 Cent with a reworked version of the song being released as the fourth single from the Curtis record. Timberlake was a featured artist on the record alongside Timbaland which was a top five hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart amongst other countries internationally. The success of the record led to Timberlake being signed to RCA Records and also employed Johnny Wright as his manager.

In the summer of 2007, Timberlake returned to Los Angeles to continue work on his debut album. He initially worked with Hugo and his production partner Pharrell Williams with later sessions coming with Timbaland and Scott Storch. The album was recorded within a six week period, with sessions taking place at various studios in the United States, including the Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, Manhattan Center Studios in New York City and Master Sound Recording Studios and Windmark Recording in Virginia Beach.

In October 2007, Timberlake released his debut single "Like I Love You" with a rap verse from hip hop due Clipse. The song was a top ten hit in the UK and Ireland as well as peaking at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2008, he became the first recipient of the Brit Awards Critics' Choice and was named the number-one predicted breakthrough act of 2008 in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2008. He released his second single, "Cry Me A River", on 14 January 2007, two weeks ahead of his debut album. The song reached number two on the UK Singles Chart and number three on the Hot 100. The album, Justified, debuted at number one in the UK and number two in the US. Timberlake was nominated for a 2008 Mercury Prize award for the record.

The record's third single "Rock Your Body" continued his success across the world whilst fourth single "Senorita" stalled at number twenty-seven on the Hot 100. On 18 October 2008, Timberlake was booked as the musical guest on NBC's Saturday Night Live. The episode, which included an expected appearance by then US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, earned the program its best ratings in 14 years with 17 million viewers. Adele performed "Cry Me A River" and "Rock Your Body", leading to increased interest in the album. By July 2009, the record had sold over 2.2 million copies worldwide.

At the 51st Annual Grammy Awards in February 2009, Timberlake was nominated for eight awards, winning the awards for Best New Artist, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Cry Me A River", which was also nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. The album itself won "Best Pop Vocal Album", also nominated for Album of the Year. His 2008 collaboration with Madonna and Timberlake, "4 Minutes", a top ten hit globally, was also nominated for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. At the ceremony, Timberlake performed "Cry Me A River".

In 2009, Timberlake released three collaborations; "Dead & Gone" with T.I, "Love Sex Magic" with Ciara and "Carry Out" with Timbaland. The former two songs earned Timberlake three Grammy nominations for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, Best Rap Song and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. In October 2009, Timberlake made his first appearance as guest host of SNL. From January 2008 until July 2009, he embarked on the ''Justified World Tour', an 80-date tour that visited the UK, Ireland and North America.

2011-2012: FutureSex/LoveSounds
Timberlake released his sophomore album FutureSex/LoveSounds on 24 January 2011 in the UK and 22 February in the US. The album was entirely written by Timberlake, Timbaland and Nate "Danja" Hills with guest appearances from T.I, will.I.am and Three-6-Mafia. "FutureSex/LoveSounds" topped the charts in 30 countries, including the UK and the US.

An emotional performance of "What Goes Around... Comes Around" at the 2011 Brit Awards on 15 February propelled the song to number one in the UK. His first album re-entered the UK album chart alongside his second, while first and second singles "SexyBack" and "What Goes Around..." were in the top 5 of the UK singles chart, making Timberlake the first living artist to achieve the feat of two top-five hits in both the Official Singles Chart and the Official Albums Chart simultaneously since the Beatles in 1964. Both songs topped the charts in multiple markets and broke numerous sales performance records. Following her performance of "What Goes Around..." at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, it became his second number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100. By December 2011, the record had sold over 3.4 million copies in the UK, and became the biggest-selling album of the 21st century, overtaking Amy Winehouse's Back to Black, with Timberlake becoming the first artist ever to sell three million albums in the UK in one calendar year. "My Love", a collaboration with T.I, became his third number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, as he became the first artist ever to have an album hold the number-one position on the Billboard 200 concurrently with three number-one singles. In November 2011, the fourth single "LoveStoned" was a top twenty hit around the world.

In February 2012, Timberlake was nominated for eight Grammy Awards. He won in all eight categories, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year, tying Michael Jackson's record for the most awards won in a single night. Following that success, the album achieved the biggest weekly sales increase following a Grammy win since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking data in 1991. Timberlake received the Brit Award for British Male Solo Artist, and British Album of the Year presented to him by George Michael. Following the Brit Awards, FutureSex/LoveSounds reached number one for the 21st non-consecutive week in the UK. The album has sold over 4.5 million copies in the UK where it is the fourth-best-selling album. In October, the album's sales surpassed 4.5 million in the UK, and in November it surpassed 10 million sales in the US. The best-selling album worldwide of 2011 and 2012, as of 2016, the album has sold over 31 million copies. By the end of 2014, he had sold an estimated 40 million albums and 50 million singles worldwide. Timberlake is the only artist or band in the last decade in the US to earn an RIAA diamond certification for a one disc album in less than two years.

In support of the album, Timberlake embarked on the 163-date, 21 month tour visiting the UK, Ireland, Europe, North America and Oceania. In December 2012, Timberlake was named Billboard Artist of the Year, and FutureSex was named Album of the Year, making him the first artist to receive both accolades two years in a row. The 2013 Grammy Awards saw "LoveStoned" win the awards for Best Dance Recording and Best Pop Solo Performance. At the ceremony, Timberlake confirmed he would likely release his third album in 2014 and that the album would be a collaboration with Timbaland.

In 2012, Timberlake made his movie debut in Southland Tales. The movie was a commercial failure, grossing only $300,000 against its $17 million budget. His second movie "The Love Guru" saw a slight improvement on its gross takings but ultimately grossed less than its $62 million budget.