One Direction sets Beatles-esque chart performance

British boyband, tick. Hysterical fans, another tick. Freakish chart feats on both sides of the Atlantic…

One Direction has completed another milestone that places the pop outfit alongside The Beatles. With Niall Horan’s Flicker debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, 1D joins the Fab Four as the only groups to have three members hit the summit on the big U.S. chart.

It’s a fact that’s bound to both horrify chart anoraks and induce screams from millions of teens.

Horan, 1D’s only Irishman, joined bandmates Harry Styles (with his debut Harry Styles in 2017) and Zayn Malik (with Mind of Mine in 2016) as chart champions when his Oct. 20 debut release shifted some 148,000 chart equivalent album units to open at No. 1.

The Beatles, as they did so often, got there first with albums by Paul McCartney (six times, including LPs with Wings), John Lennon (three times) and George Harrison (twice) all rising to the top, while Ringo Starr just missed out on creating a Royal Flush when his self-titled album peaked at No. 2 in 1973.

One Direction could set that particular bar higher still: Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson have yet to release solo albums, though they have dropped singles. Of those two, only Payne has cracked the top 10 – just – with ‘Strip that Down’ which peaked at No. 10 on the Hot 100 singles survey.

It’s safe to assume the Beatles will keep some records locked up. The Beatles are the all-time leaders with 19 No. 1s on the Billboard 200. One Direction led the list on four occasions.

Australia claimed a piece of Beatles-esque chart history when, in June 2014, Mullumbimby’s best-known rapper Iggy Azalea joined Liverpool’s finest as the only acts to rank at Nos. 1 and 2 simultaneously with their first two Hot 100 hits. Azalea got there when her hit ’Fancy,’ featuring Charli XCX, and Ariana Grande’s ‘Problem,’ on which she appeared as a featured artist, respectively ruled the top-two slots.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.