Justified (album)

Justified is the debut studio album by Justin Timberlake. Released after the break up of the group *NSYNC, the album signaled Timberlake's desire to craft a more mature image than that of "boy band member". The album features guest performances by Timbaland, Clipse, Bubba Sparxxx and Janet Jackson. The final song, "Never Again", featured Brian McKnight on nearly all of the instruments. Justified was honored with two Grammys at the 2004 Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

The album was fronted by "Like I Love You", a hit single that proved Timberlake's solo sales could rival his former band's success. It was produced by the famous hip-hop production duo The Neptunes, and was accompanied by a music video that showed Timberlake's veneration for pop icon Michael Jackson.

The album peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200, selling 450,000 copies and was eventually certified 3x Platinum by the RIAA.

The album debuted at #6 on UK Albums Chart selling 38,842 copies, however 11 weeks later the album peaked at #1 and stayed there for 7 weeks on the album chart and was eventually certified 6x Platinum.

In 2003, a fifth single was released titled "I'm Lovin' It". The song, partly a leftover song from the Justified sessions, did not appear on the album, which proved extremely lucrative when it was sold to the McDonald's Corporation for use in a massive TV and radio advertising campaign of the same name. Justified was not re-released to include the song.

Note: The Neptunes are officially credited as "Williams and Hugo" in the album's liner notes.