One Direction's "Midnight Memories" debuts at No.1 in America this week with 546,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The act makes history as the first group to debut at No. 1with its first three albums. "Midnight Memories" follows two No. 1s for the act in 2012: its debut album, "Up All Night," and sophomore set "Take Me Home."
One Direction's first-week sales have also steadily grown with each successive album.
The act follows the recent successes of Drake, Selena Gomez, Luke Bryan and Vampire Weekend in 2013—all of whose respective albums have debuted with a bigger first week than the one before it.
With the start of "Midnight Memories,” One Direction also becomes only the third pop group to log multiple half-million sales weeks in the Nielsen SoundScan era. Since the company began tracking sales in 1991, only two other pop groups have notched more than one sales week of 500,000: 'N Sync and Backstreet Boys.
'N Sync did it seven times with three different albums, while Backstreet Boys did it nine times with two albums. Other duos/groups and bands have earned numerous 500,000-plus frames, but they were all R&B, rap, country or rock acts. They are: Coldplay, Creed, Dave Matthews Band, Dixie Chicks, Eagles, Guns N' Roses, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Outkast, Rascal Flatts, Santana, the Beatles and Tool.
Last week's No. 1 album, Eminem's "The Marshall Mathers LP 2," is pushed down to No.2, despite a 65% sales gain. It sold 199,000 for the week.
Coming in at No.3 this week is Garth Brooks' "Blame It All on My Roots." selling 164,000 copies in less than four days on sale, as the album was released on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, Nov. 28).
One Direction and Brooks are the only two newarrivals in the top 10 this week.
The Robertsons' "Duck the Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas" is steady at No. 4 with 137,000 and Katy Perry's "PRISM" rises 11-5 with 136,000.
Kelly Clarkson's "Wrapped in Red" rises 9-6 with 131,000.
Lady Gaga's "ARTPOP" moves up one position to No. 7 with 116,000.
Luke Bryan's "Crash My Party" climbs 15-8 with 109,000 and Miley Cyrus' "Bangerz" rises 16-9 with 79,000.
Closing the top 10 is the "Now 48" album, selling 77,000.
