Yep, they have no. 1 in the bag for sure. Though I did kind of expect bigger sales in UK - I mean, could it really be that they won't match 1st week sales of Little Mix 111K? It remains to be seen I guess. It is just that, a person would assume that a boyband that constantly is hyped as the biggest boyband ever would have a bit bigger sales than this, precisely because they released it without warning. It will be a tad embarrassing if they won't even match Little Mix, let alone beat them.

Yes I know that they haven't released a video and all but the fact that they have a surprise factor should have achieved bigger sales, AND they are even performing that song live on the tour. So I don't know, I'm sure devoted 1D fans will as always find some excuse, but from my point of view, this looks slightly disappointing.

Like I keep saying, they aren't as big as the media portrays them they are - all the media jumped on the bragging wagon to say they topped 90 countries on iTunes but now its Wednesday and they are no. 1 in 20 countries.

I will never say they aren't huge because I'm not blind or stupid, they achieved some impressive things - but I do think media loves to exaggerate their success sometimes when it comes to 1D.

I never understood the media's love for 1D, does Simon pay them or something?

Also Calvin Harris's song is no1 on iTunes now, but I assume it's too late for him to catch up?

Of course it's too late for him to catch up! He was only #3 on yesterday's midweeks, even behind Little Mix. He will probably get to #2 by tomorrow, but his lead on itunes over Drag Me Down isn't nearly big enough to catch up. DMD has sold twice as many copies as him as of yesterday...

And by the way, forget about the media being paid by Simon Cowell!! Just understand how the media works today: They publish things that gets them clicks online or readers of their newspapers. It's the public (maybe not YOU, but MANY others...) that love One Direction, hence the media write about them. It's just business, certainly not some kind of conspiracy

I think you're being a little bit unfair towards One Direction here Of course they are the biggest boyband right now, globally even more so than in the UK. But Little Mix are quite big themselves in the UK right now, their song was highly anticipated (has been played on radios up and down the country for weeks), they did LOADS of promo and were around for the release. One Direction on the other hand were busy touring in the US, had no time to build up any excitement for the release and have so far only had 9 plays on BBC Radio 1, so I'd say many people haven't even heard DMD. It's not like the large majority of the public are constantly on the internet just as we are So it's very likely they don't even know the song is out. After all, it's going to be their first #1 in 2.5 years! So that should count for something
In the US, on the other hand, they are on course to have their highest first week sales of any single they've released. Even bigger than Live While We're Young, which was released in September 2012, on the supposed height of the popularity in the US and in a time when single sales were WAY higher than today in general. So you see what difference promo makes (performed the song on tour in the US, on TV shows, did TV interviews etc.).

I don't see why surprise dropping a song when you are not even in the country to promote it should be an advantage.
And it's August, the weather is nicer, people go on holidays and are focused on other things IMO... Or maybe it's only in my country?
Basically, I have always thought that it was going to work against them.

From what I understand, people complain about the British release system (a long promo before the song is actually available to purchase), but it boosts the sales compared to the "on air / on sale" release strategy, so that's why it's most commonly used there.

Edit: I wonder about the advantage of the strategy 1D went for tbh... Maybe it's cheaper than organizing a worldwide promo tour (they'll have to do that for the album at some point anyway)? Maybe they decided that they might as well drop the single when they were in one of their biggest market to be able to promote it there at the very least?

Nah, I don't buy the whole "people didn't hear the song". The media made sure everyone knew that song is out, the hype was created around it. And even if they didn't hear it, they could have easily check it out on Spotify. On the top of that, more buzz is also around because this is the first single without Zayn.

All I am finding strange is if they can sell out Croke Park and Wembly stadiums, why don't these fans support these guys more? I mean, don't they want them to have huge success? But I guess it really does still stand that their success in UK is not that huge, they are way more popular in the US and the rest of the world.

By the way, the whole point of surprise release is the very fact there is no promo, thats how it is done, you do that later. Saying its disadvantage has some truth in it, it is definitely a risk but it is great indicator how much people are excited for your music. 1D managed to pull it off because they are popular, only big acts can achieve that. However, there is no point blaming the lack of promo because thats not really a surprise then.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see how well will the single hold on in the upcoming weeks - they do have way having massive sales in the US in the 1st week and then plummet down the charts.

On the side note and completely off topic, I'm still not used to the whole streaming being counted in the charts, I have mixed feelings about it.

I have to disagree here! You and I (and some other people here) are quite aware of One Direction and follow showbiz and music news regularly (why else are we on digitalspy?!), but there ar really a lot of people that aren't bothered reading those pages in the newspapers and/or going to entertainment websites. Their way of getting to know music is still radio, believe it or not!

I have to say I feel One Direction are the biggest boyband of all time. They can't help record sales but their chart positions show their global reach.
Backstreet Boys were huge but in the UK even during their prime had a few albums chart outside the top ten. 'Backstreet Boys' and 'Black & Blue' and would often only achieve Gold/1x Platinum.
One Direction have been a top 3 act and definitely top 10 albums wise in every country from the first record. They are now on their fifth which shows signs it will do the same. All their 4 albums have gone to #1 in America also which BSB never achieved.

I think this is a cert for their 5th UK #1 as they had a credit on the charity single JLS likewise. In America it is top 5 debut but with a music video could have been #1.

I am not sure where you get your statistics from to say that they're way more popular in the U.S and rest of the world than the UK? It simply isn't true. The UK and U.S. are their two biggest markets for Music Sales, Merchandise and Concert Tickets. Sales in other countries come nowhere near the scale of the U.S and UK. They are performing six nights here in London next month. They didn't do that in any other country.

In fact if you take in the fact the UK has a fifth of the U.S. Population they sell more albums here based on percentage of the population than they do in the USA.

Andi, it isn't correct to say they're more popular worldwide than in the UK. The UK is their second biggest market.

Hard to see it that way when their last album sold around 500K so far despite media attention and promo they have at their disposal. Only 1 album has reached 1 million mark and only their debut single was truly massive, not even Comic Relief single was that massive and its for charity.

According to Haven, they sold around altogether 4.5 million singles (album tracks and streams include) and around 7 million albums - so lets say its around 12 million copies sold of everything. If the total tally is 50 million, then they must be bigger in US and elsewhere to count the rest of 38 million sales.

It does look like they are more popular elsewhere than in their homeland.

You're correct in that respect. I probably meant they're not as clearly the undisputed #1 (English speaking) boyband in the UK than they are in the rest of the world. The competition in the UK is a lot tougher; other boybands manage to equal One Direction's single (not album!!!) sales from time to time. This doesn't happen in other countries, as far as I know That's what I meant

And I think zeze88 keeps stressing the point that the media hype doesn't match the record sales in the UK. That's hard for me to judge, as I don't live in the UK and even though I follow UK media, I usually only read them for politics or One Direction/X Factor stuff

What people are missing is that this IS the sales climate so yes 1D only have one album that has sold 1 million in the UK but if JLS, Take That, Blue, Busted etc were in TODAY's sales at peak popularity they also would have an album that was 1 million sold etc etc. People who say they only have sold 1 million are missing the point.

Sales aren't an argument you can't compare now and a stronger past market. One Direction have sold as well as they possibly can do for a boyband out today.

Ok fine, although you simply don't know - like I said, it is difficult to compare between such a huge time span. You say BSB for example weren't big UK - ok, but what if social media was present then, or Youtube and iTunes - fans would have probably also spread the word, if anything, it would have been a lot easier for them to have worldwide attention and success. There are just so many different factors and aspects and to say 1D achieved something BSB or any older boyband didn't it is pretty pointless.

But I repeat this little thing, it still stands that 1D they sold 12 million copies in the UK so the rest of 38 million has to come from the rest of the world. That is why it looks like they are bigger elsewhere than in their homeland.

Zeze, a huge percentage of their fan base are internet savvy kids who don't have much money so of course will download illegally and share around . I have even seen links to DMD. Westlife didn't have any of this problem back in the 80's. IMO their sales don't match the hype for this very reason

I agree with you, bands (and generally singers) have it easier today, they don't have to fly around the world to every country in Europe to promote etc. Also 1D had just come off the back of X Factor, which gives you instant platform into the industry with promotion and publicity.

Besides, no British boyband will be ever as good as Westlife IMO, what with their 14 #1 singles 7, #1 albums, plus worldwide success bar the USA and 45 million record sales. 1D doesnt even touch the sides

exactly, that is what I mean. Older boybands like BSB and Westlife started from the very bottom singing infront of 200 people before making it, there was no X factor which is watched by millions. You had to promote your ass off. So really, there is no comparison.

I think nobody is disputing the fact that One Direction had to spend less time to get name recognition. But that wasn't the point of our discussion Once they were famous, the "workload" boybands have to do is maybe about the same today and 20 years ago, it's just spent differently...

@GracieL: You're right about the number of UK #1 singles and albums, One Direction will never surpass Westlife! But in terms of worldwide sales, you're not correct, they are already way past 45 million! Latest official figures from their management is 50 million, but it's been like that for a while, so the actual numbers are even higher.

Are they actually officially certified sales figures or are they Columbia Records/Syco spin figures?

To be honest, they immediately got recognition. I was watching the X factor when they were on and it was pretty clear Simon put all his energy on the boys, he didn't care that much for the rest of his groups. X factor was just a great promo for them, every week singing on TV, having X Factor tour, those video diaries that fans went crazy for etc. And then they had right 1 single and the rest is history. There was no time at all, they immediately shot to stardom.

It was even a lot easier to crack US. Before it was very very tough to do it, you had to go to every lousy radio station and TV show and hope that they will like you. Nowadays it is easier, 1D aren't the only ones who made it, we have Adele, Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran. But it was especially though for a boyband because they already had their golden boys, Nsync and BSB. In fact, Westlife were so unfortunate that DJ's flat out said they don't want them there because they were fed up with boybands, even though they loved the song World Of Our Own but immediately ignored it when they found out who were they. 1D had a perfect timing, no doubt about it, because enough time has passed.

And no wonder 1D has already passed Westlife's worldwide sales - like I said, I bet half of the sales come from US market that Westlife never managed to get. And also, after 5th album everything went down the hill for them with that stupid Simon's idea to do 2 cover albums, 1 original album that half of the songs were covers and when they finally managed to stood up to Simon to do 2 great original albums with only 2 covers, they released only 1 single per album - and yes, even that one lead single was a bloody cover What About Now, the very last song recorded for the album. It is actually painful to see how much he now encourages 1D to write songs and no covers, when he never encouraged Westlife to write - he actually was not at all pleased when they wrote 8 songs for the 3rd album.

They could have bigger sales than 46 million if only they had more promo and a management that didn't turn them in something the public started to hate and gave them a "cover band" title which simply isn't true.

All in all, I think it is right to say 1D are the biggest boyband of their time but to compare them to BSB or Westlife is just unfair.

Well, if you think they need to spin figures, you go and believe it Of course the certified sales are lower!
Their singles in the US have been certified 11 x platinum and 3 x gold --> 13.5 million certified sales.
But we don't know, for example, how many copies above the 4 million certified sales WMYB has sold. Might me anything between 4.000.001 (very unlikely) and 4.999.999...
That's why I think the numbers from the record label/management are more accurate

Record labels have always spun record sales. It's not a criticism of the boys or saying that they need to spin figures. Look at some of the biggest selling albums of all time, Thriller adds 20 million to its certified sales, AC/DC's Back In Black jumps from 25 million certified sales to 50 million claimed sales. Dark Side Of The Moon jumps from 22 million to 45 million.

Yes, but as I said, that doesn't mean the numbers are spun. A platinum album in the US could have sold exactly 1 million copies or 1 copy short of 2 million, hence the difference.

Plus, it used to be the case that record labels had to ask for certifications, nowadays they are automatically registered. This might also contribute to these differences with the older albums you mentioned.

It's official: YES, they got their 4th (or 5th, officially) #1 with sales of over 76.000. Congrats!

Here you go a complete list from Haven if anyone is interested:

1 One Direction 76,015 Sales: 55.678 Streams: 20,337

Again, I think it is disappointing but lets just agree to disagree shall we. I mean, imagine if there weren't streams like before... But anyway, kudos for 4th no. 1.

Can anyone explain to me how does streaming work though? How many listens/views is equivalent to be counted as a copy? I know its slightly OT but I don't feel like opening new topic just for this and I'm really interested...