Jive RecordsOn Saturday, “it’s gonna be” 20 years since the release of one of the biggest pop albums ever: *NSYNC’s No Strings Attached.  But its success came as a surprise to Lance, Joey, JC, Chris and Justin, who were terrified that their career wouldn’t survive.

No Strings Attached was *NSYNC’s first release after a nasty legal battle with their management company, run by the notoriously shady Lou Pearlman.  Lance Bass tells ABC Audio, “It was such an uncertain time and we didn’t know what was gonna happen. But it also was incredible, because we felt freedom for the first time to really do what we wanted to do…we felt like we were in charge finally of our own destiny.”

No Strings Attached ended up selling a million copies in a single day, and more than 2.4 million copies in a week — a sales record that stood until 2015, when Adele broke it with 25.

“[W]e didn’t expect that at all,” Lance says. “And then to find out that it sold two and a half [million] the first week, it’s just a testament to our fans out there.”

“As a pop album, I think it definitely stands the test of time,” Lance says, even though he admits he hasn’t listened to the whole thing in 20 years.  “I think nostalgia plays a huge part in why the music still stands up…But also, I think that those songs were just really great pop songs.”

Lance says the album’s now being appreciated by a whole new generation.

“I get tagged all the time on social media of four-year-olds singing the ‘Bye Bye’ song,” he laughs. “And sometimes that’s the kid’s first words…’Bye Bye Bye,’ which I think is really, really cute.”

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