N'Sync broke up like 2002 (And even then, the boyband thing peaked in 2000) and Timberlake took off right away, trying to shed any of his boyband past. Unfortunately JC didn't shed in time and was just seen as old news by the time his debut came out. Combine that with the lack of high-profile collabs on the album (It's definitely what helped Justin's album) and you don't have much of a chance in the music world (I think the Janet/Justin Superbowl incident that happened around the same time effected his promotion too). The album probably did better in Europe but American companies don't consider that success anymore (IE/ Kelis)