On the Charts: Harry Styles Breaks Record With Number One Debut
Harry Styles established a new record for best-selling first week by a British male artist’s debut album on the Billboard 200 as the One Direction singer sold 230,000 total copies of his self-titled solo LP to cruise to Number One.
Harry Styles toppled the previous record of 166,000 copies held by Sam Smith’s In the Lonely Hour, Billboard reports. Styles is also only the second British male artist to debut at Number One with their first LP, joining his former band mate Zayn Malik, who accomplished the feat with Mind of Mine in April 2016.
As Billboard notes, One Direction now joins an exclusive club of groups that have yielded Number One albums for multiple members who went solo, with Styles and Malik joining the Beatles’ John Lennon, George Harrison and Paul McCartney as well as Destiny’s Child Beyonce and LeToya Luckett.
Besides Harry Styles, three more new releases debuted inside the Top 10, with Zac Brown Band‘s Welcome Home finishing Number Two with 146,000 total copies. Paramore‘s After Laughter ended the week at Number Six and 67,000 total copies, a significant drop from the Number One debut and 106,000 copies sold for 2013’s Paramore in that album’s first week.
Machine Gun Kelly’s Bloom, at Number Eight, was the final newcomer to crack the Top 10.
Elsewhere, Kendrick Lamar’s Damn. held at Number Three, where it was followed by Chris Stapleton’s From A Room: Volume 1 at Number Four and Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2: Awesome Mix Vol. 2 at Number Five.
Drake’s More Life at Number Seven, Ed Sheeran’s Divide at Number Nine and Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic at Number 10 rounded out the Top 10.