One Direction make Billboard history, hold off Aguilera, Del Rey
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LOS ANGELES (REUTERS) - British boyband One Direction made Billboard chart history on Wednesday after storming to the top of the 200 album chart with their second album Take Me Home, holding off competition from Christina Aguilera, Soundgarden and Lana Del Rey.
Take Me Home notched the third-biggest opening week sales of the year with 540,000 units sold according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan, placing it behind only Mumford & Son's Babel and Taylor Swift's Red, which had the year's biggest opening with 1.2 million copies sold.
This is also the first time a British band have seen their first two albums debut at the top of the United States (US) Billboard 200 chart. Their first album Up All Night shot to the top of the chart with 176,000 copies in March this year.
The lead single from Take Me Home, Live While We're Young also made Billboard chart history after selling 341,000 copies in its first week, becoming the biggest opening week single sales for a non-US artist.
