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One Direction makes history with No. 1 debut

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Sorry Adele, but a group of sweet-faced British young’uns have kept you from the No. 1 spot.

Breakout boy band One Direction made history as its Stateside debut “Up All Night” bowed at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart after it sold more than 176,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. This makes it the first British group to take the top spot in the U.S. with its debut release.

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The disc, which was released across the pond in November, immediately hit No. 1 on the digital chart within minutes of its release last week. “Up All Night” is only the second disc of 2012 to unseat the chart-topping run by One Direction’s Columbia Records labelmate, Adele, following Bruce Springsteen’s “Wrecking Ball.” Adele’s behemoth “21” remains at No. 2 after pushing an additional 156,000 copies.

One Direction has been breaking hard and fast on U.S. soil, garnering plenty of ink courtesy of Columbia’s aggressive publicity campaign. The quintet of 17-to-20-year-olds was pieced together by reality competition magnate Simon Cowell and Nicole Scherzinger after they auditioned as solo singers on the British edition of “X Factor” in 2010. The group placed third.

Their single “What Makes You Beautiful” recently made history when it opened at No. 28, earning the highest first-week position by a British act entering the Hot 100 since the Verve’s “Bitter Sweet Symphony” in 1998.

One Direction recently wrapped an opening slot for Big Time Rush and are set to perform at the upcoming Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards and on “Saturday Night Live” on April 7.

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-- Gerrick D. Kennedy

twitter.com/gerrickkennedy

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