Justin Timberlake
Photo: Jive

You've got to hand it to Justin Timberlake.

Who else could have told the entire world that "sexy" had indeed vanished and that he can restore it? Probably no one. And evidently, JT was onto something, because some 684,000 copies of the former 'NSYNC star's sophomore solo outing, FutureSex/LoveSounds, were purchased across the nation last week.

Of course, during his stint with 'NSYNC, Timberlake reached Billboard's apex twice before; 2001's Celebrity opened at #1 with 1.9 million in sales, and 2000's No Strings Attached took the #1 spot thanks to 2.4 million first-week scans (still the biggest-ever tally). But FutureSex/LoveSounds marks Justin's first #1 debut as a solo performer — his first LP, 2002's Justified, bowed at #2, selling more than 439,000 in its first week.

Plus, FutureSex/LoveSounds racked up some of the year's biggest sales numbers, outperforming previous #1 Beyoncé's B'Day (which drops to #3) by more than 143,000 copies and Tool's 10,000 Days by 120,000 units. Still, the year's best first-week performance belongs to Rascal Flatts' Me & My Gang, which generated about 722,000 scans during week one.

FutureSex sold more than twice as many copies as John Mayer's Continuum, which debuts at #2 with close to 300,000 units sold; Mayer's 2003's effort, Heavier Things, was a #1 debut with sales of 316,500, while 2001's Room for Squares failed to chart its first week out.

Timberlake and Mayer's albums are just two of the 30 new releases on the chart, 14 of which broke the top 50. Face the Promise, a fresh collection of Bob Seger tunes, opens at #4 with 151,000 in sales, followed by Bob Dylan's Modern Times, which sold more than 93,000 copies. Lionel Richie's Coming Home debuts at #6 with 75,000 scans, while Hinder's Extreme Behavior climbs three to #7.

Danity Kane's self-titled debut slides four to #8 with 62,000 in sales, while the new one from the Mars Volta, Amputechture, bows at #9 (Volta's 2005 LP, Frances the Mute, sold 123,000 copies its first week to open at #4). Rounding out the top 10 is Nickelback's All the Right Reasons with 56,000 units sold.

Of the rest of the newcomers, one of the best performers ended up being the second soundtrack to the television series "Grey's Anatomy." This latest volume features tracks from the Fray, Gomez and Snow Patrol, and it racked up more than 46,000 sales to claim the #14 slot. Papa Roach's The Paramour Sessions bows at #16 with close to 37,000 scans, outselling the Barenaked Ladies' Barenaked Ladies Are Me — which occupies the #17 spot — by just seven copies. The latest from Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society, Shot to Hell, claims the #21 position with 32,000 units scanned, while Mastodon's epic Blood Mountain debuts at #32 with 24,000 copies sold.

Daz's So So Gangsta debuts at #35, selling around 23,000, and Norma Jean's Redeemer trails just three spots back. TV on the Radio's Return to Cookie Mountain claims the #41 slot with just under 21,000 in sales, and Yo La Tengo's I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass comes in at #66 with 14,500. Citizen Cope's back in the top 200 at #69 with Every Waking Moment. Meanwhile, N.O.R.E.'s N.O.R.E. y la Familia ... Ya Tú Sabe pops up at #82 with 11,700 in sales.

The Plain White T's' Every Second Counts opens at #89 with 11,000 scans, followed at #95 by the Black Keys' Magic Potion, which garnered 10,600 in first-week sales. Shawn Colvin's These Four Walls takes the chart's #109 position, selling close to 9,500 copies, and the Rapture's Pieces of the People We Love opens at #113 with 9,200 in sales. R.E.M. appear on the chart not once but twice this week: The two-disc collector's edition of the band's And I Feel Fine: The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987 comes in at #116 with 8,700 sold, while the single-disc version opens at #148 with 6,800 scans.

Peter Frampton's Fingerprints surfaces at #129 with sales reported at 8,000, and Heavens' Patent Pending takes the #146 slot with 6,800 units sold. Everclear's Welcome to the Drama Club lands at #169 with 5,400 in sales, followed by Carbon Leaf's Love Loss Hope Repeat at #170 with 5,300 scans.

For more on Justin Timberlake and Beyoncé, check out the features "Justin's Future Shock" and "Be All You Can, B."

• In Focus: Justin Timberlake

• Justin Timberlake
• John Mayer
• The Mars Volta
• Bob Seger
• Lionel Richie

George Harrison
Photo: Radical Media, Inc.

Beatles guitarist George Harrison, Prince and ZZ Top will be among next year's seven new arrivals to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The 2004 class also includes Jackson Browne, the Dells, Bob Seger and Traffic, the hall announced Thursday (November 20). The artists will be formally inducted at a March 15 ceremony at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

Harrison was the first Beatle to go solo, releasing Wonderwall Music in 1968, the score to a film by the same name, but on All Things Must Pass, originally released as a triple album in 1970, "the quiet Beatle" made his true voice heard. The album, featuring the classics "My Sweet Lord" and the title track, is considered among the greatest ever recorded.

The all-star two-day concert he organized the following year, the Concert for Bangladesh, raised money to help the famished Third World country. In the eight albums that followed, Harrison proved himself an accomplished musician, with guitar technique far more advanced than his work with the Beatles, and impassioned songwriter.

Harrison died of cancer in November 2001 (see "Former Beatle George Harrison Dead At 58"). His last album, Brainwashed, was released posthumously the following year. The guitarist becomes the third Beatle to enter into the hall, following John Lennon in 1992 and Paul McCartney in 1999. The group was inducted in 1988.

Prince was one of the more eccentric performers of the 1980s and '90s, having changed his name to a symbol translated verbally as "The Artist Formerly Known As Prince." Quirks aside, his body of work is among the most revered in music, blurring the genres of funk, R&B, rock and soul. Two years after his 1978 debut, For You, the Minneapolis resident's Dirty Mind was a harbinger of the overtly sexy sounds to come, including the 1983 classic 1999 and his masterpiece soundtrack to the 1984 film "Purple Rain," loosely based on his life, and in which he also starred.

Through the 1990s, his popularity diminished but his prolificacy did not. Prince released 10 LPs during that decade, including the triple-album Crystal Ball. Prince's influence, both musically and stylistically, can most recently be seen in the Andre 3000 half of Outkast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.

No band says big Texas guitar rock like ZZ Top. Guitarist Billy Gibbons, bassist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard — the lone member without the chin hair that became the group's trademark — have released 15 albums in their 33-year career, including this year's Mescalero. Their '70s material, such as 1973's "La Grange," 1975's "Tush" and 1979's "Cheap Sunglasses" are staples of classic-rock radio.

ZZ Top peaked in popularity in the 1980s, with music videos that exemplified their love of hot rods and hot bods. Clips for "Gimme All Your Lovin'," "Sharp Dressed Man" and "Legs," all from 1983's Eliminator, featured a dejected main character whose social life was greatly enhanced with the help of three fairy hotties that magically appeared in a souped-up roadster.

Jackson Browne is the epitome of the sensitive California bohemian singer/songwriter. His deeply personal songs, especially from 1974's Late for a Sky, put him in the same class as Joni Mitchell and James Taylor. He co-wrote the Eagles' "Take It Easy" and made his mainstream breakthrough with 1972's "Doctor My Eyes." He got his rock on with later hits "Running on Empty" (1977) and "Somebody's Baby" (1982), which was ingrained in the pop culture canon thanks to "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."

Bob Seger's 1978 hit "Old Time Rock and Roll" best sums up the style of his Silver Bullet Band. Seger's piano-based boogie is exemplified on songs like "Night Moves," "Katmandu," "Rock & Roll Never Forgets" and "Hollywood Nights."

Before Steve Winwood's solo career in the 1980s and after his 1960s stint with the Spencer Davis Group, he formed Traffic with guitarist Dave Mason, horn player Chris Wood and drummer Jim Capaldi. The group's biggest hits include "Dear Mr. Fantasy," from their 1967 debut, Mr. Fantasy.

The Dells have been recording and performing in every decade since the vocal quintet formed in 1953. Even more remarkable, they haven't changed their lineup since 1960.

Artists are eligible for induction 25 years after releasing their first record, and they are selected by criteria such as their influence and their contributions to rock and roll's continued development.

John Mellencamp, Black Sabbath, the Sex Pistols, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Gram Parsons, the Stooges and Patti Smith were also eligible this year but did not receive enough votes (see "George Harrison, Prince, John Mellencamp Among 2004 Rock Hall Nominees").

• George Harrison
• Prince
• ZZ Top
• Traffic
• The Dells