Boy band One Direction have scored the UK's fastest-selling album for two years, with fans buying 237,000 copies of Midnight Memories in its first week.
Midnight Memories, the boy band's third album, gone straight to the top of this week's UK albums chart. It has sold more copies in a single week than any artist album since Michael Buble's Christmas in 2011, reported BBC online.
Gary Barlow has a new entry at number two, knocking his Take That bandmate Robbie Williams down to third place.
Since I Saw You Last, Barlow's first full solo album for 14 years, had sales of 116,000 in its first week whereas Williams had 109,000.
"The success really does send a signal that the festive season is almost with us - and means 1D are now real contenders to claim the biggest album of the year," said Official Charts Company chief executive Martin Talbot.
