Image Credit: Nick Rau
When an album reaches the top of the Billboard 200 in its first week, there’s only One Direction it can go.
After making history as the first artists to have their debut album bow at No.1, the British boy band One Direction ceded the top spot this week to the star-packed Hunger Games soundtrack.
Dubbed as a “companion” to the Jennifer Lawrence-led cinematic juggernaut (most of the songs don’t actually appear in the film), the album sold a whopping 175,000 copies, becoming the first theatrical soundtrack to debut atop the chart since Michael Jackson’s This Is It back in 2009.
Of course, the Hunger Games soundtrack was certainly bolstered by its enviable roster of artists, which includes Taylor Swift, the Arcade Fire, and Maroon 5 — just to name a few. The movie itself grossed $155 million in its first weekend.
So how steeply did One Direction’s Up All Night fall? The album clocked in at No. 4 with 55,000 units moved (a 69 percent drop from last week’s 175,000) — bested by, yep, Adele’s 21 (No. 2, with 130,000) and the Shins’ Port of Morrow (which debuted at No. 3, with 75,000).
