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30.03.12 MusicWeek 19


social media alongside the band’s uniqueness [in being British] were critical in their rollout in America and they completely embraced it.” Griffiths witnessed at first hand the buzz One


Direction were generating even just days after What Makes You Beautiful had debuted at US radio and iTunes when he attended the Big Time Rush tour’s opening date at the Rosemont Theatre in Chicago on February 24. “Big Time Rush had sold out in advance before


we were added to the show so nobody had bought a ticket to see One Direction,” he notes. “Before One Direction came on the 4,000 people were chanting ‘One Direction’ and they were singing What Makes You Beautiful in the interval. When the band came on they sang along with every single song, including a song that is only on the limited-edition deluxe version of the album. We could see then something massive was about to happen.” Given the single is still building, selling another


135,000 downloads last week to take its cumulative US total to nearly half a million, Griffiths concludes: “There is still so much life left in this record. The other ingredient is the band have worked every minute that God has given them. It is great having talent, but you need to have the work ethic as well.” “We knew this band were like no other,” adds


Takhar. “They are the most hard-working band I’ve ever worked with.” The role of Simon Cowell cannot be


underplayed either, having been their mentor on the 2010 season of The X Factor, where they ultimately finished third, and who then signed them to his Syco label. Gatfield says: “You have to give Simon credit for identifying the individuals on the show and coming up with the concept of putting them together as a band.” Accompanying the Billboard 200 chart success


last week were chart-topping debuts as well in Canada and Mexico and these followed earlier number ones achieved in other markets, including Italy and Sweden. Griffiths now hopes having a Billboard 200 chart-topper will have a positive knock-on effect in some markets where progress so far has been slower, such as Germany and Japan, while further promotion will include a first


SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP? HOW OTHER UK BOY BANDS HAVE FARED IN THE US


Five star: This country’s previous best boy- band showing


Source: Nielsen SoundScan


WEEK-BY-WEEK CUMULATIVE US SALES


100k 200k 300k 400k 500k


472,396 337,589 192,122 Wk1


131,865 Wk2


255,203 LEFT Wk3 Wk4 Wk5


Australian tour taking place in April and the band beginning a first US headline tour in May. This will finish on July 1 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after which Griffiths says promotion for this album will stop as efforts will switch to work on the follow-up. This is earmarked for a Q4 release. “We don’t want to forget the UK and European


fans,” he says. “We need to give them new material.” And the arrival of this new material will have an


extra glow around it compared to when their first album landed last autumn. Then One Direction were just the latest bunch of X Factor finalists trying their luck. Now they are US chart-topping heroes, having achieved something no other British band in history has ever managed before.


Going up: Sales progress of the single What Makes You Beautiful


ABOVE On the road: The now-famous five tour Australia in April, the US in May and then it’s back to the UK to record new material in time for quarter four


AS BRITISH BOY BANDS GO no other act previously has come anywhere close to One Direction’s chart- topping achievement on the Billboard 200. First up to try to crack the land that gave the world


New Kids On The Block, Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync were Take That whose third album Nobody Else, with a revised track listing to the one released elsewhere, was issued in the States in August 1995 in a bid to capitalise on their Hot 100 Top 10 hit Back For Good. However, the album never got any higher than 69 and the group never made the Billboard 200 again. Three years later Simon Cowell-signed Five fared


somewhat better with their self-titled first album hitting a then new peak for a UK boy band when it reached No.27 and was certified platinum as it followed on from the success of Top 10 single When The Lights Go Out. The 1999 follow-up Invincible was far less successful, though, peaking at 108. Despite combined scoring 19 UK No.1 singles and


achieving 10 chart-topping albums, UK-signed Boyzone and Westlife’s US chart adventures are disappointing to say the least. Boyzone’s albums action comprises a peak of 167 for Where We Belong in 1999 and no Hot 100 hits, although No Matter What was a Billboard adult contemporary hit and A Different Beat remarkably a Latin chart Top 10 smash, while Westlife’s promising start with a Top 20 position for first single Swear It Again could only deliver a best placing of 129 on the Billboard 200 for its self-titled parent album in 2000.


A GATFIELD OF THEIR OWN ‘FANTASTIC START’ FOR UK CEO AS SONY GETS GLOBAL BOOST


One Direction’s international success has been a big tick in the box for Sony UK chairman and CEO


Nick Gatfield (left) who was initially brought into the major last year in an


A&R role to boost its overseas success with domestic repertoire. Gatfield in his then job of music division


president under predecessor Ged Doherty was charged with, in his own words, of “trying to rebuild Sony into a domestic A&R powerhouse” and then breaking those acts abroad. “One Direction is a fantastic start. It’s a


great statement of intent,” he says. “What I will say is the UK has had tremendous support. The appetite for UK repertoire from the international side from [Sony president


TOP UK PERFORMERS ON BILLBOARD CHART POS ARTIST/ TITLE / US LABEL (POSITION ON LAST WEEK’S CHART)


1 ONE DIRECTION Up All Night Syco/Columbia [1] 2 ADELE 21 XL/Columbia [2] 3 ADELE 19 XL/Columbia [11] 4 COLDPLAY Mylo Xyloto Capitol [33] 5 MUMFORD & SONS Sigh No More GotR/Glassnote [37]


Source: Billboard/Nielsen SoundScan


and CEO of international] Edgar Berger and [Sony global chairman and CEO] Doug Morris is in my experience the best relationship that I’ve had in terms of international co-operation. The major markets meet on a regular basis to discuss new music and there’s an ongoing discussion about opportunities and it was clear One Direction were one of these opportunities.”


BILLBOARD HOT 100 POS ARTIST/ TITLE / US LABEL (POSITION ON LAST WEEK’S CHART)


1 THE WANTED Glad You Came Mercury [3] 2 ADELE Set Fire To The Rain XL/Columbia [4] 3 CALVIN HARRIS Feel So Close Ultra [18]


4 ONE DIRECTION What Makes You Beautiful 5 JESSIE J Domino Lava/Universal Republic [20]


Syco/Columbia [19] Source: Billboard/Nielsen SoundScan/Nielsen BDS Gatfield points to other Sony UK acts


whose international profile is growing, including Olly Murs, Rebecca Ferguson and Calvin Harris who last week joined One Direction in the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart with Feel So Close climbing 22-18. Harris and One Direction


were among a rare five UK acts


simultaneously appearing in the US Top 20 with Global Talent/Island’s The Wanted – whose releases go through Mercury in the States – at three with Glad You Came, Adele’s XL/Columbia-handled Set Fire To The Rain at four and Island/Lava’s Jessie J 20th with Domino. While One Direction grabbed the


headlines, rivals The Wanted reached their own US milestone last week when Glad You Came sold another 174,000 units to break through the 1 million mark in the States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Their self-titled first US album will come out on April 24, the day they are due to perform on NBC’s Today Show, while an appearance on ABC’s The View is scheduled for the following day. Last week they made their debut on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.


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