One Direction And Justin Bieber Battle For No. 1 Spot On Billboard Charts
One Direction and Justin Bieber not only released their latest albums on the same day, but the boy band and pop singer are both vying for the No. 1 spot next month on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
Billboard reports that Justin Bieber’s Purpose album and One Direction’s Made in the A.M. album, both released on November 13, are in a battle for the top spot for the December 5 Billboard 200 albums chart. Forecasters currently predict that it’s a bit too soon to tell who will take the lead, but they are giving a slight edge to Bieber. However, they are quick to point out that this could change at any time.
Despite releasing albums on the same day and battling for the top spot on the Billboard charts, it seems that there is only friendly competition between the “Baby” singer and the superstar boy band. Us Weekly reports that Bieber, who slammed One Direction last month by saying they chose the same release date as him to increase their popularity, states that it was all just friendly competition.
“Everyone should support everyone. I think that this should be friendly competition. I think it’s fun to joke around. But I really genuinely support everyone that’s making music and every young artist that’s doing what they love and getting success from that. I think that everyone should support that, regardless if you enjoy their music or not.”
Niall Horan of One Direction revealed that artists’ albums just happen to have the same release dates sometimes and that there’s no underlying meaning and no hard feelings against Bieber.
“It’s happened to us before. We’ve released albums on the same day as Rihanna and stuff like that, but it just happens to be – on the internet – made into a big deal that it’s Bieber.”
Both Bieber and One Direction have had massive success so far in the charts. Made in the A.M. is One Direction’s fifth studio album, which follows four previous albums that debuted on the charts at No. 1.
Purpose is Bieber’s fourth studio album, but the singer has eight albums in total, including remixes and acoustic albums. Five of his previous albums rose to the No. 1 spot, making him the only artist to have five No. 1 albums before the age of 19.
Bieber’s first single from his Purpose album, “What Do You Mean?” skyrocketed to the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. Meanwhile, One Direction’s first single off of the Made in the A.M. album, “Drag Me Down,” hit the No. 1 spot in 82 different countries on its first day of release.
While the race to the No. 1 album spot is still in the air, Beliebers and Directioners (the affectionate nicknames given to fans) are doing their best to get their favorite singer or singing group into the top spot. Recently, Directioners took heat for what many considered insensitive tweets after the Paris terror attacks. While the world mourns the loss of 129 lives, Directioners continued on their trek to get their boys to the top.
don't cry because Paris got attacked, smile because Made In The AM exists ??
— #Logang4Life (@sassyIouisx) November 14, 2015
tomorrow no one will be talking about this any more. we can't get this day back. so promote #MadeInTheAM
— #Logang4Life (@sassyIouisx) November 14, 2015
Other Twitter users weren’t too thrilled about some of the Directioner’s comments, and made inappropriate comments of their own.
Although the official date for the Billboard 200 albums chart is December 6, you can get a peek at One Direction’s and Bieber’s ranking on November 22 when the Top 10 in the charts are revealed.
[Photos by Stephen Lovekin / Getty Images & Neilson Barnard / Getty Images]
