British boy band One Direction makes U.S. history
Posted March 21, 2012 8:48 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Step aside Beatles and Spice Girls. British X-Factor band One Direction made history on Wednesday as their debut album Up All Night entered the U.S. Billboard 200 chart at No. 1 with over 176,000 copies sold.
This makes them the first British group ever to debut at No. 1 in the U.S. with their first album release. Not even The Beatles or The Spice Girls were able to accomplish this.
Up All Night went straight to No.1 on the digital chart within minutes of its official release last Tuesday March13th.
Around the world, One Direction fans have used online platforms such as Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook creating a global phenomenon and inspiring a generation of 1D-mania. Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik have accumulated over 204 million YouTube views, 12 million followers on Twitter and over 3.6 million followers on Facebook. The music video for What Makes You Beautiful has already garnered over 72 million views.
One Direction’s rise to fame started in 2010 after appearing on The X Factor U.K.
Up All Night entered the charts at No.1 in 12 countries and has been certified triple-platinum in Ireland, double platinum in the U.K. & Australia, and platinum in New Zealand. In six months they have sold more than 4.2 million records worldwide. Their BRIT Award winning debut single What Makes You Beautiful entered the charts at No. 1 in both the U.K. and Ireland. In the U.S., What Makes You Beautiful sold more than 131,000 copies in its first week, debuting at number 12 on the Billboard Digital Songs chart. Their number 28 debut on the Billboard Hot 100 marked the highest debut from a British Group since the Spice Girls in 1998.
Harry Styles said: “We simply cannot believe that we are No.1 in America. It’s beyond a dream come true for us. We want to thank each and every one of our fans in the U.S. who bought our album and we would also like to thank the American public for being so supportive of us.”
Niall Horan added: “We just found out that we are No.1 in America and as you can imagine, we are over the moon. When we got put together as a group, we couldn’t imagine ourselves coming to America, let alone releasing our album here, so for us to be sitting at the top of the U.S. album charts is unbelievable. We are so grateful to everyone who has supported us in the U.S.”
The X Factor group, who were formed and mentored by music mogul Simon Cowell on the U.K. version of the hit TV show in 2010, were signed to Cowell’s label Syco Music in 2011 in partnership with Columbia Records in the U.S.
Simon Cowell commented “I couldn’t be happier for One Direction, it is an incredible achievement. They deserve it. They have the best fans in the world”
Last week in New York, over 10,000 fans turned out for the band’s first live TV performance on NBC’s Today Show in Rockefeller Plaza and record numbers of fans have turned out to see them at album signings in the U.S.
One Direction will perform their hit single What Makes You Beautiful on the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards March 31st, and will appear in an episode of iCarly iGo One Direction set to premiere April 7th on Nickelodeon. The band will also be the musical guests on Saturday Night Live April 7th with guest host Sofia Vergara.
Their 2013 U.K./Ireland arena tour sold out immediately with more dates needing to be added. An estimated 300,000 tickets were sold in the first day. One Direction’s tour of Australia & New Zealand sold out in just three minutes.
The group members hail from the U.K., save for Horan, who is from Ireland. All five, ages 18 to 20, auditioned for the U.K. X Factor in 2010 as solo artists. However, at the suggestion of Simon Cowell they joined forces as a group, quickly becoming one of the competitions most popular acts of all time, finishing in the final three and garnering a gigantic fan-base along the way.
Another U.K. boyband hot on the heels of One Direction for U.S. success is The Wanted. Billboard reports that their single Glad You Came sold 188,000 downloads throughout the week, taking the song past the Gold sales status of selling 300,000 copies overall. The Wanted are currently recording new material for their debut album Watch out!
