Justin Bieber Album Sales: Did ‘Purpose’ Beat One Direction & Taylor Swift?

Justin Bieber’s first-week album sales have just been released, and he has something to celebrate: JB sold more than 640,000 copies of ‘Purpose’! So, where does he rank in comparison to One Direction and other artists’ first week sales?

Congrats are in order! Justin Bieber, 21, dropped his highly anticipated new album Purpose on Nov. 13, meaning his first-week sales have just been released. The Biebs totally crushed it– and his competition, selling almost 200,000 more records than One Direction, who released Made in the A.M. on the exact same day But where does Justin rank in relation to other huge artists such as Taylor Swift? We’ve got the breakdown!

Just as many had assumed would happen, Justin pretty easily surpassed 1D with first week album sales. It isn’t surprising, as Justin has had hit single after hit single (“What Do You Mean?” and “Sorry,” for example), while One Direction’s “Drag Me Down” has had slightly less traction.

Justin has also been promoting his album like crazy, on talk shows, on awards shows, in the freaking streets of New York City, for crying out loud. Still though, Justin’s monster sales did not top his peer, Taylor, whose first-week sales for her most recent record, 1989, which dropped more than a year ago in October, 2014, actually more than doubled Justin’s. In its first week on the shelves (literally and figuratively speaking), 1989 sold an incredible 1.287 million copies. Yes, million.

Okay, so JB couldn’t quite top T-Swift, but another major question looms as record-release season is in full swing: where will he rank in relation to Adele? Adele dropped her highly anticipated new album, 25, on Nov. 20, and she sold 1.9 million copies in just two days. Sorry, but…step aside, Bieber!

What do you think, HollywoodLifers? Are you surprised that Justin topped One D? Did you expect him to top Adele and Taylor?