One Direction moves half a million at No. 1 on the Billboard 200

One Direction

One Direction earns the title of the third biggest sales frame for a debut this year as the new “Take Me Home” takes home 540,000 sales for No. 1 on The Billboard 200. That puts the British boy band at No. 1 this week, and behind only Taylor Swift and Mumford & Sons in regards to bigger starts.

One Direction’s first album, “Up All Night,” bowed in March with 176,000.

Taylor Swift’s “Red” is pushed down No. 1 to No. 2 with 145,000, a sales decline of 26%.

“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2” soundtrack debuts at No. 3 with 93,000. The previous “Part 1” only made it to No. 4, but with 105,000.

The Weeknd’s mixtape compilation “Trilogy” enters the chart at No. 4 with 86,000. The major label release of the singer’s "House of Balloons," "Thursday" and "Echoes of Silence" were enhanced with new bonus songs.
 
Soundgarden’s “King Animal” debuts at No. 5 with 83,000. It’s the rock group’s first studio album since 1996’s “Down on the Upside,” which peaked at No. 2.

Rod Stewart's "Merry Christmas, Baby” falls No. 3 to No. 6 (80,000, +8%).

Christina Aguilera’s "Lotus" bows with 73,000. Her 2010 set "Bionic" had a No. 3 debut with 111,000.
 
The "Now 44" compilation descends No. 2 to No. 8  (70,000, -29%).

Green Day's "¡Dos!" debuts at No. 9 with 69,000, quite the span compared to the first part of the trilogy, “¡Uno!”, which had a No. 2 start with 139,000 back in October.

Lana Del Rey's "Paradise" lands at No. 10 with 67,000. It’s an eight-song album arriving on the heels of her full-length “Born to Die” from February, which made it to No. 2 with 77,000 in its first week.

Album sales are up 24% compared to last week and down 4% compared to the same week last year. Sales for the year are down 4% so far.

Katie Hasty
Managing Editor

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After five years as a columnist and editor at Billboard, Katie Hasty joined HitFix in 2009 for music and film reporting out of New York. The Midwest native has worked as a writer, music promoter and in A&R since 1999 and performs with her band Numbers And Letters.