It is very early in the game, but as of press time, it appears One Direction’s “Midnight Memories” will open to a stronger sales total than predecessor “Take Me Home.”
According to Hits, the latest from the world’s most popular boy band is tracking for a debut tally in the 550-600,000 range. “Take Me Home” moved 540,000 in its inaugural US frame last November.
While the growth is not as impressive as some expected given the group’s escalating profile, it is certainly welcome in a climate that allowed recent Lady Gaga and Katy Perry albums to open with sales of less than 300,000 copies each.
Worth noting is the high margin of error for forecasts at this point. Deriving album sales projections is never an exact science, and it becomes even more difficult in a complicated week like this one. In addition to welcoming most new releases on Monday (as opposed to the traditional Tuesday), this week also houses the Black Friday shopping rush.
Accounting for the impact of Black Friday on album sales is no cake walk.
What can be said with certainty, however, is that One Direction will debut atop next week’s Billboard 200 album sales chart.
