British boy band One Direction make Billboard chart history as their debut “Up All Night” bows at No. 1 on the 200 chart. That makes them the first U.K. group to start at the summit with a first album. The set moved 176,000 copies.
Their number beats Adele”s best-selling 2011 album “21,” which sits tight at No. 2 with 148,000, a sales decrease over the previous week by 24%.
Guns N” Roses” “Greatest Hits,” oddly, makes a big chart bounce from No. 31 to No. 3 with 85,000 copies (618%). Why? The compilation was price for $.25 – that”s right, a quarter – on AmazonMP3 and Google Play for one day last week.
Bruce Springsteen”s “Wrecking Ball” falls No. 1 to No. 4 (57,000, -71%).
“Passion: White Flag,” a compilation of Christian acts and songs recorded live at the Passion conference in January, start at No. 5 with 48,000.
Whitney Houston”s “The Greatest Hits” stays at No. 6 (45,000, -35%), Drake”s “Take Care” holds at No. 7 (36,000, -38%) and the “Now 41” comp falls No. 3 to No. 8 (29,000, -81%). Recent “Saturday Night Live” addition Gotye”s “Making Mirrors” jumps No. 16 to No. 9 (24,000, +14%) and fun.”s “Some Nights” climbs No. 13 to No. 10 (22,000, -2%).
Album sales are down 10% compared to last week and down 1% compared to the same week last year. Sales are up 2% for the year so far.