It only took former One Direction singer ZAYN just one release to nab his first solo No. 1 album on the Billboard 200. According to the publication, Mind of Mine sold 157,000 equivalent album units to replace Gwen Stefani's atop the charts in the U.S. Of that figure, 112,000 copies were made up of pure, old fashioned, album sales.
It's actually a history-making achievement for Zayn as he becomes the first U.K. solo artist to debut at No. 1 with their first album. Even more than that, the singer is the first male U.K. artist to reach No. 1 with their first album in almost 30 years since George Michael dominated the charts with his post-Wham release Faith in 1988. For the record, Michael's Faith debuted at No. 41 and hit No. 1 in its ninth week. And, in a fit of irony, he's also the first U.K. act, either solo or as a group, to debut on the top of the charts since One Direction did it with Up All Night in 2012.
Rounding out the rest of the chart this week was the More Issues Than Vogue by R&B singer K. Michelle at No. 2, Rihanna's eighth album ANTI came in at No. 3, Purpose by Justin Bieber rose a spot to take the No. 4 position, and Adele'smonster record 25 rounded out the bottom of the top-5.
