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One Direction, who topped the Billboard 200 album chart twice this year with their debut, "Up All Night" in March and their sophomore album "Take Me Home" in November, were named Billboard's top new artist/group, rounding off a stellar year of U.S. success for the band. (REUTERS)
This just in: One Direction has now becomes the first act in seven years – since 2005 – to have two newly-released albums sell more than a million copies in one calendar year. This is big, guys, so sit up and take notice.
One Direction has clearly taken the world of pop by storm in 2012, by having two #1 albums, a host of awards including three Video Music Awards and being named MTV’s Best Artist of 2012.
Nielsen SoundScan data shows that ‘Take Me Home,’ One Direction’s latest album, sold another 127,000 copies for the week ended December 16, bringing its 2012 total to 1.04 million in the US.
One Direction released ‘Up All Night’ on March 13, and has already sold 1.51 million copies so far.
While that makes two million-selling babies in a year, another big point to be noted is that ‘Take Me Home’ achieved the million-copy-milestone in just over one month. It released on November 13, 2012.
The last artist to achieve two million-copy albums in a year was, yes, Kenny Chesney. In 2005, Chesney sold 1.08 million of his January-released ‘Be As You Are: Songs From an Old Blue Chair’ and then went on to sell 1.82 million copies of the November-released ‘The Road and the Radio.’
Right now, as you read this, ‘Up All Night’ and ‘Take Me Home’ are the Nos. 3 and 8 best-selling albums of 2012. Adele's ‘21’ leads with 4.30 million while Taylor Swift’s ‘Red’ is in second place with 2.59 million.
The other big news – well, rumour (but when did that stop anyone from reporting it?) – of the week is that Selena Gomez is set to date One Direction’s Niall Horan, the only eligible member of the band.
Niall Horan, the Irish singer, is said to be Selena Gomez’s next target following her alleged split from Justin Bieber, US Weekly ‘reported’.
The weekly said that the Disney star’s latest crush was brought on by the fact that her friend Taylor Swift is dating Niall’s bandmate, Harry Styles.
“Selena has said that she wants to start dating someone else to see if there is something better out there,” a source told Hollywood Life recently.
“Wouldn’t be surprised if Selena had a double-date with Taylor and any of the single One Direction kids if she doesn't get back with Justin.”
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