One Direction Score Fastest Selling Album of 2013

'Midnight Memories' also surpasses 'Up All Night' and 'Take Me Home'

Published 2nd Dec 2013

One Direction have scored the fastest selling album of 2013 so far with ‘Midnight Memories’.

!Niall, Harry, Liam, Louis and Zayn’s third album sold a mightily impressive 237,000 copies in seven days to take this week’s chart crown.

That colossal figure overshadows the previous fastest seller, Daft Punk’s ‘Random Access Memories’, which sold 165,000 copies during its first week sale in the UK back in May.

Also the fastest selling album of One Direction’s career to date, the sales tally dwarfs the 139,000 first week total of 2011’s ‘Up All Night’ and the 155,000 achieved by last year’s ‘Take Me Home’.

Martin Talbot, Official Charts Company’s Chief Executive, said: “It’s a fantastic first week for One Direction, whose album is not just the fastest seller of the year - but is also the first artist title to sell more than 200,000 copies in a week since Michael Buble‘s Christmas album in December, 2011.

“The success really does send a signal that the festive season is almost with us - and means 1D are now real contenders to claim the biggest album of the year.”

Gary Barlow’s new album ‘Since I Saw You Last’ entered the charts at no.2 having sold 116,000 sales – that’s 7,000 more than Robbie Williams sold last week to hit number one with ‘Swings Both Ways’.

This week’s Top 10 is as follows:

  1. One Direction ‘Midnight Memories’ 2. Gary Barlow ‘Since I Saw You Last’ 3. Robbie Williams ‘Swings Both Ways’ 4. Olly Murs ‘Right Place Right Time’ 5. Eminem ‘The Marshall Mathers LP 2’ 6. Boyzone ‘BZ 20’ 7. Elvis Presley ‘The Nation’s Favourite Elvis Songs’ 8. Celine Dion ‘Loved Me Back To Life’ 9. Susan Boyle ‘Home For Christmas’ 10. Andre Rieu & Johann Strauss Orchestra ‘Music Of The Night’