One Direction Debut At #1, Make Album Chart History

Robbie Daw | March 21, 2012 10:07 am

The UK pop invasion continues this week as spaghetti-loving boy band One Direction, who performed on the Today Show last week, capture the #1 position on Billboard‘s Top 200 with their first LP Up All Night. The set sold 176,000 copies, and the lads now have the distinction of being the first UK group to debut atop the US album chart with their first LP. Likewise, the band’s breakthrough US hit “What Makes You Beautiful” has posted a 63% increase in sales from last week. That’s certainly plenty to write home about, and, hey — why not use one of these to do so, guys? Elsewhere, Adele’s 21 (148,000) is held at bay in the runner-up spot on the chart for a second week, after having racked up a (non-consecutive) 23-week run in the peak position. If the album eventually makes it to the top for another week, Adele will have tied the 24-week stints of both Prince’s Purple Rain soundtrack and the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.

The only other new entry within the Top 10 is that of the live album recorded by various Christian artists and over 40,000 college students at the Passion 2012 conference in Atlanta this past January. The LP enters at #5 based on first-week sales of 48,000.

The Top 10 Of Billboard’s Top 200 Chart

1. One Direction, Up All Night *new* *1 week* 2. Adele, 21 3. Guns N’ Roses, Greatest Hits 4. Bruce Springsteen, Wrecking Ball 5. Various, The Passion: White Flag *new* 6. Whitney Houston, Whitney – The Greatest Hits 7. Drake, Take Care 8. Various, Now 41 9. Gotye, Making Mirrors 10. fun., Some Nights