One Direction's Album Is the First Released in 2012 to Sell a Million

Columbia RecordsAdele's album 21 is the best-selling album of 2012 so far, but it was released back in 2011.  What about the records that were actually released this year?  The winner of that best-seller title is the debut from One Direction.

Billboard.biz reports that this week, the British boy band's Up All Night reached the one-million mark in sales.  It's the first disc actually released this year to sell a million albums or more.  In addition, the group's DVD, Up All Night: The Live Tour, has been certified three times platinum.

One Direction will have to kick their sales into high gear to match the number of albums that Adele has sold so far this year, however: just in 2012 album, 21 has sold 3.8 million copies.

How does this year compare to last year, when it comes to record sales?  Well, so far, only two albums this year have sold a million copies or more.  By this time last year, there were three: Adele's,  Lady Gaga's Born This Way and Mumford & Sons' Sigh No More.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio