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All 25 Justin Timberlake Singles Ranked

We’ve ranked all 25 of Justin Timberlake’s singles from worst to best.

Rock Your Body: Justin Timberlake’s Singles Ranked
Photo: RCA Records
Editor’s Note: This entry was originally published on January 14, 2018.

By the time the teen-pop bubble burst in 2001, Justin Timberlake had shrewdly positioned himself as the de-facto frontman of NSYNC, parlaying the short-lived boy band’s success into a lucrative career as a solo artist and producer, and even managing to convince the likes of David Fincher and Joel and Ethan Coen to cast him in their films. The singer’s foray into Hollywood resulted in years-long gaps between studio albums, but that hasn’t stopped him from racking up the hits. Last week saw the release of the soundtrack to Trolls World Tour, which was executive-produced by Timberlake and features the singles “The Other Side” and “Don’t Slack,” with SZA and Anderson Paak, respectively. To celebrate the release of his 25th single, we’ve ranked all of Timberlake’s hits—not including tracks on which he’s credited as a guest, like Timbaland’s “Give It to Me” and Madonna’s “4 Minutes”—from worst to best. Sal Cinquemani


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25. “I’m Lovin’ It”

McDonald’s reportedly paid Timberlake $6 million to sing the jingle for what would become the fast-food chain’s longest running advertising campaign. The story behind the ad’s conception is long and twisty, but it began in Unterhaching, Germany, where an ad agency came up with the slogan “Ich Liebe Es,” which as a hook would have made the single’s existence only slightly more tolerable. Cinquemani


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24. “Drink You Away”

A special edit of “Drink You Away” was serviced to country radio programmers in late 2015, setting the stage for Timberlake’s impending bearded woodsman persona. The Memphis soul-infused track is driven by strained, cliché metaphors. “Bottom of the bottle,” indeed. Cinquemani


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23. “Supplies”

The second single from Timberlake’s Man of the Woods did little to assuage confusion over the discrepancy between the album’s musical content and the Americana imagery touted in the project’s promotional materials. The track, co-produced by the Neptunes, pairs a plodding trap beat with sitar flourishes, staccato interjections from Pharrell Williams, and lyrics that liken romantic commitment to surviving the apocalypse. Cinquemani


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22. “TKO”

The one saving grace of this unsuccessful attempt to recreate the magnificent bad faith of “Cry Me a River” is, at least for those of us who are “Mirrors” skeptics, imagining it to be the inevitable outcome for the 2013 hit’s protagonist. Like Björk once sang, how extremely lazy to think she could replace the missing elements in him. Henderson

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21. “Not a Bad Thing”

The least ambitious track on either installment of The 20/20 Experience, “Not a Bad Thing” isn’t a bad thing, per se, but its guitar-driven blue-eyed sorta-soul represents the watering down of the formula established by the previous year’s “Mirrors.” The track sounds more like an NSYNC castaway than a representative of Timberlake’s most challenging album to date. Cinquemani


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20. “Can’t Stop the Feeling!”

“Can’t Stop the Feeling!” is so innocuous, so unremarkable, so ingratiating that we didn’t even bother to write about it until the equally irritating music video dropped. So, naturally, the Max Martin-helmed soundtrack ditty debuted at #1, snagged an Oscar nomination, and became both the best-selling single of 2016 and the biggest hit of Timberlake’s career. Cinquemani


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19. “Don’t Slack”

Juxtaposing Anderson Paak’s scratchy, lived-in vocals with JT’s smooth falsetto, the second single from the Trolls World Tour soundtrack nods to ’60s-style soul and funk in a brief but explosive burst of pop energy that makes a convincing case for seizing the day. Cinquemani


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18. “Summer Love”

That .gif-endowing monster of a music video aside, “Summer Love” sees both Justin and Timbaland running on fumes, promising more than a season’s worth of good sex but, sonically speaking, barely selling the listener on so much as a one-nighter. Henderson

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17. “SoulMate”

Billed as a standalone “summer single” in support of Timberlake’s 2018 Man of the Woods Tour, “SoulMate” is a slice of understated, if not innocuous, pop-soul propelled by percolating, Latin-inflected percussion and the singer’s signature come-ons. Cinquemani


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16. “What Goes Around…Comes Around”

It’s not until the final two minutes of “What Goes Around…Comes Around,” a quasi-sequel to “Cry Me a River,” that the song captures the operatic essence of its predecessor. Until that point “What Goes Around…” is content to ride its measured Middle Eastern rhythm and hypnotic hook straight onto adult-contemporary radio playlists. Timbaland for the masses. Cinquemani


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15. “Filthy”

The moment “Filthy” dropped, it seemed a huge bait and switch from Timberlake’s forthcoming Man of the Woods’s trailer, which promised an album-length version of Beyoncé’s “Daddy Lessons.” Here he was, not brandishing a harmonica, but once again getting his robotic freak on (in the music video, literally). A few listens, though, and it’s clearly more Prince than Michael Jackson. Henderson


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14. “The Other Side”

The lead single from the Trolls World Tour soundtrack reprises the feel-good sentiment of 2016’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” without veering into schmaltz. Featuring R&B singer SZA, the track simmers with cautious optimism—a fitting low-key anthem for these nerve-wracking times. Cinquemani

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13. “Say Something”

Featuring country star Chris Stapleton, the best single from Timberlake’s fifth album is a post-genre mash-up of hip-hop, gospel, blues, and country that forges a middle ground between the two artists’ comfort zones, offering a glimpse of what Man of the Woods could have been. Cinquemani


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12. “Rock Your Body”

Pretend he never snatched that patch of naugahyde on February 1, 2004 to the halftime-show accompaniment of this song. Pretend that he didn’t get off scot-free in the ensuing cultural firestorm whereas his female counterpart—coincidentally the sister of the King of Pop he’s forever been dancing in the shadows of—has never quite been given an all-clear, much less the national apology she’s owed. Pretend that “Rock Your Body” was simply a late-innings smash hit. In that context, it’s aggressively just okay. Henderson


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11. “Mirrors”

From its stacked vocal layers to its multi-handclapped beat and orchestral swells, every element of this prog-pop power ballad is exaggerated to superlative effect. The eight-minute album version of “Mirrors” features a pared-down finale composed of an entirely different composition that serves as both a continuation and reflection of the main track. “Baby, you’re the inspiration of this precious song,” Justin sings atop a chorus of distorted Timberlakes chanting, “You are, you are/The love of my life.” Cinquemani


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10. “Take Back the Night”

Should Timberlake have titled his kickoff single for the second installment of his diptych album that? No, 20/20 hindsight on The 20/20 Experience would hold that there’s no call for aligning a highly hedonistic and breathtakingly note-perfect Rod Temperton simulacrum with the same moniker as an anti-rape social justice movement. And it’s a decision that’s aging worse with each passing year. That said, the only time he’s come closer to channeling prime MJ was when he robbed the crypt and resuscitated that demo for “Love Never Felt So Good” to dazzling dance-floor effect. Henderson

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9. “Tunnel Vision”

The third single from The 20/20 Experience didn’t even crack the Billboard Hot 100, which isn’t surprising given that it’s less of a pop song than an otherworldly soundscape courtesy of producer Timbaland. Despite its squeaky vocal loops and clattering percussion, “Tunnel Vision” manages to achieve a sonic weightlessness thanks in part to its syncopated rhythm and spacey synth arpeggios. Cinquemani


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8. “LoveStoned/I Think She Knows”

Many of the interludes on 2006’s FutureSex/LoveSounds play more like codas to extended, multipart suites in the tradition of the 12” disco single—none more so than “LoveStoned/I Think She Knows,” the latter of which transforms the slick, string-laden beatbox-disco of the former into a spacey, prog-rock-inspired post-coital comedown. Cinquemani


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7. “Suit & Tie”

True to its title, “Suit & Tie” sounds like just about the most goddamned expensive single money could buy: a fake-out chopped-n’-screwed intro followed by cascading Cab Calloway horn riffs and crazy Caribbean xylophone runs recorded as though from inside the lamp of Aladdin’s genie. The longer it goes on, the more frequently the entire enterprise grinds to a half-speed halt, much in the same way that you try (in vain) to pace oneself when you’ve reached that truly magical point of drunkenness. Henderson


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6. “Until” the End of Time”

The Linn drums had to come into play sooner or later, and Timberlake gives them the respect they’re entitled to. “Until the End of Time” gave both JT and Beyoncé the opportunity to play dress-up with the Minneapolis sound without cheapening the effort, in part because, unlike any number of Prince protégé efforts, this is a love ballad that prizes the harmonization of its participants. Sexual tension is fantastic and frequently crucial, but it ain’t everything. Henderson

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5. “SexyBack”

The initial response to Timberlake’s latest single, “Filthy,” was not unlike that of 2006’s “SexyBack,” which, in my review of FutureSex/LoveSounds, I called “the best worst lead single ever.” Despite those affected (and effected) vocals, a deliberately flat beat, and Timbaland’s corny hype-man routine, the track seduces you with the batshit-cheeky lure of a novelty hit. And novel it was: It’s hard to imagine Timberlake’s (or Timbaland’s) catalogue without it. Cinquemani


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4. “Like I Love You”

The acoustic guitar loops and snap-crackle-pop percussion of “Like I Love You” picked up where NSYNC’s swan song, “Girlfriend,” left off, making it the obvious choice for Timberlake’s first official solo release. Though the single’s follow-up, “Cry Me a River,” would cement both the viability of Justin’s post-boy-band career and his own signature sound, everything about the rollout of “Like I Love You”—to say nothing of that Jacko-esque falsetto—seemed to be positioning JT as the rightful successor to MJ. Cinquemani


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3. “Señorita”

Of all of Justified’s singles, this one has the most settled-into gait, a swagger that’s in no rush to justify its affinity for leisure. And though at least one aimed higher—and is accordingly ranked higher here—and others were, in the moment, more immediately embraced, none more accurately pinpointed exactly the sort of pop-R&B messiah Justin would forevermore aspire to be. Prince once sang, “I’m not a woman, I’m not a man.” Here’s an acolyte who’ll be either, whatever you need. Henderson


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2. “My love”

After getting more or less Louisette Bertholle’d from Missy Elliott’s The Cookbook, producer Timbaland set his sights on little JT’s continuing dog-and-pony show. “SexyBack” was the mutant novelty hit, wherein Tim’s King Kong beats all but crushed Justin’s Faye Wray vocals. But the butter and the meat came together in salaciously un-kosher fashion with the dead-sexy “My Love,” a tip-top, hot-blooded vehicle for Timberlake’s true calling as the 21st century’s skanky Ben Vereen. Listen closely. You can hear everyone’s mouth watering. Henderson

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1. “Cry Me a River”

Years before a giggling piggy helped land Timberlake his second #1 single with “My Love,” a sniveling, snot-nosed ogre made a similar cameo on the singer’s hit “Cry Me a River.” That eccentric vocal embellishment, dreamt up in Timbaland’s lab, was just one element—along with Justin’s beatboxing, countertenor yelps, and “Dirty Diana”-style screams—that helped make the Britney kiss-off a smash and Justin the new Prince of Pop. “Cry Me a River” might be the closest a pop song has gotten to capturing the melodrama and opulence of opera since, well, maybe ever. Cinquemani

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