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.