Justin Timberlake’s ‘The 20/20 Experience’ leads 2013 album sales

In Saturday’s Calendar section, Times pop music critic Randall Roberts runs down his picks for the best albums of the year so far, a list that includes Chance the Rapper’s “Acid Rap,� Kacey Musgraves’ “Same Trailer Different Park� and “The Next Day� by David Bowie.

But which artists topped sales tallies for the first half of 2013?

Justin Timberlake’s “The 20/20 Experience� is the year’s biggest-selling album to date, with 2 million copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’s “Thrift Shop� takes digital song honors with 5.6 million downloads.

PHOTOS: Justin Timberlake’s career in pictures

Billboard reported the findings in a detailed report that also broke some unhappy news for music retailers: This year is the second in a row in which only one album had sold more than 1 million copies by the six-month mark; in 2012 that album was Adele’s “21,� which had moved 3.7 million copies by this point last year.

The year’s second-biggest seller so far is Bruno Mars’ “Unorthodox Jukebox,� which has sold 985,000 copies -- just a few thousand more than Timberlake’s album moved during its first week in stores. Behind the two pop-soul stars on the album list are the latest from Mumford & Sons, Blake Shelton and Imagine Dragons.

Singles-wise, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are followed by Pink’s “Just Give Me a Reason,� Mars’ “When I Was Your Man,� Rihanna’s “Stay� and Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive.�

Overall, both album and single sales are down as compared with this point in 2012. But perhaps store owners have reason to feel optimistic about the second half of the year: Timberlake’s sequel to “The 20/20 Experience� is due out Sept. 30.

ALSO:

Glitches aside, ‘Magna Carta Holy Grail’ lets Jay-Z rewrite rules

Thanks to film ‘A Band Called Death,’ punk rockers get a new life

New Kids on the Block at Staples Center: Five instant impressions

Twitter: @mikaelwood