Midnight Memories
Midnight Memories is the third studio album by English-Irish boy band One Direction, released on 25 November 2013 by Columbia Records, Syco Music and Sony Music. It was described as having a "slightly rockier tone" than their previous efforts.[1] The album became the fastest-selling album in Amazon UK history, breaking the record set by their previous release, Take Me Home (2012).[2] It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, making One Direction the first group in history to debut at number one in the US with their first three albums.[3] Despite being released five weeks before the year's end, Midnight Memories nevertheless became the best-selling album of 2013 as listed by the IFPI, with sales of four million copies.[4][5] The album was supported by four singles: "Best Song Ever", "Story of My Life", the album's title track "Midnight Memories", and "You & I".
This article is about the album. For its title track, see Midnight Memories (song).Midnight Memories
25 November 2013
December 2012–September 2013
47:41
- Julian Bunetta
- Carl Falk
- Tom Fletcher
- Teddy Geiger
- Danny Jones
- Jacknife Lee
- Dougie Poynter
- Robert John "Mutt" Lange
- Matt Rad
- John Ryan
- Jamie Scott
- Toby Smith
- Ryan Tedder
Upon the album's release, Midnight Memories received mixed reviews from music critics. Many critics praised the lyrical depth and musical composition on the album, as well as the group's level of involvement in the production process. However, others argued that the material was less memorable than their previous work and felt the themes were not as mature as expected.[6] To promote the album, One Direction embarked on their Where We Are Tour in 2014, with this being their third world tour and their first stadium concert tour.
Background and development[edit]
One Direction began working on their third studio album whilst embarking on their second world tour, the Take Me Home Tour. The album was announced simultaneously with the news of the band's third world tour, the Where We Are Tour, which subsequently led fans to wrongly assume that the album would be named "Where We Are".[7] Member Louis Tomlinson proclaimed that the album would have a "rockier" sound to it than the band's previous releases.[1] The official title of the album was announced on 6 September 2013, starting with Zayn Malik tweeting a teaser video of Harry Styles spelling out the word "Mid" out of a pile of alphabet cards on the floor, followed by a full video posted on the band's Instagram account later on, revealing the title, Midnight Memories.[8][9]
The album artwork was released early exclusively by The Sun via a tweet which was then confirmed to be the official artwork through the band's official Twitter account, though the early access was only available for those who held a membership of the newspaper's online version.[10] On 11 October, the band presented the album's final track list through the "#MidnightMemoriesTrackQuiz" hashtag on Twitter by giving out a mixture of hints and blank spaces to be filled alongside the final result.[11] The full track list for the deluxe edition was later shown on iTunes.[12] The album later leaked one week prior to its release.[13]
Commercial performance[edit]
The album debuted at number one on the Irish Albums Chart and number two on the Dutch Albums Chart. On 29 November 2013, it was announced that it had become the fastest-selling album of 2013 in the UK, with 187,660 copies sold in four days.[43] It was revealed on 1 December 2013, that the album had sold in excess of 237,000 copies in its first week in the UK, beating Gary Barlow's Since I Saw You Last, and becoming the fastest selling album in the UK since Michael Bublé's Christmas in December 2011, as well as outperforming One Direction's two previous albums Up All Night (2011) and Take Me Home (2012).[44] It became the best-selling album of 2013 in the UK with 685,000 copies sold for the year.[45]
In the United States, Midnight Memories debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 546,000 copies sold in its first week.[46] This made One Direction the first group in Billboard 200 history to debut at No. 1 with its first three albums, and the first to reach No. 1 with its first three albums since 1967. The album sold 1,096,000 copies in five weeks in the United States, making it the twelfth best-selling album of 2013 in the United States.[47] As of August 2015, it has sold over 1.51 million copies in the U.S.[48]
Midnight Memories also debuted at numbers one and two on the ARIA Albums Chart and the New Zealand Albums Chart, and was certified Platinum and Gold, respectively, in its first week. The album went on to sell over 60,000 copies in Mexico after only three days, being certified Platinum.[49]
Despite being released towards the year's end, Midnight Memories nevertheless became the best-selling album of 2013 worldwide according to the IFPI, with sales of over four million copies in only 5 weeks.[4]
The track listing was announced via the band's Twitter account on 11 October 2013.[50] Where the bonus tracks appear as additional tracks in international territories, the British release finds them on a separate four-track bonus disc.[51] Unlike any other release of the album, the Japanese version includes "One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks)", as well as two further bonus tracks.
Notes
Credits taken from Midnight Memories's liner notes.[53]