Take Me Home (One Direction album)
Take Me Home is the second studio album by British-Irish boy band One Direction, released on 9 November 2012 by Syco Music and Columbia Records. As a follow-up to One Direction's internationally successful debut album Up All Night (2011), Take Me Home was written in groups and has an average of just under five songwriters per track. Largely recorded and composed in Sweden during 2012, Savan Kotecha, Rami Yacoub and Carl Falk, who composed One Direction's hits, "What Makes You Beautiful" and "One Thing", spent six months in Stockholm developing songs for the album, and were able to shape melodies around the members' tones.
Take Me Home
9 November 2012
May–August 2012
- Kinglet Studios (Stockholm)
- Chalice Studios (Los Angeles)
- MixStar Studios (Virginia Beach, Virginia)
- Sticky Studios (Surrey, England)
42:19
- Julian Bunetta
- Cirkut
- Dr. Luke
- Carl Falk
- Kristoffer Fogelmark
- Jake Gosling
- Steve Robson
- Shellback
- Rami Yacoub
The album's songs are characterised by metronomic pop, vocal harmonies, hand claps, prominent electric guitar riffs, bright synthesizers, a homogeneous sound and message, and rotations of lead vocals. The members' voices are presented individually on the record, and its lyricism speaks of falling in love, unrequited love, commitment, jealousy and self-empowerment. Take Me Home garnered mostly positive reviews from music critics. There was praise for its quality of production, while criticism hinged on its generic, rushed nature.
Globally, the album topped the charts in more than 35 countries. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), Take Me Home was the fourth-global-best-selling album of 2012, selling 4.4 million units.[1] The album's number-one debut on the US Billboard 200 chart made One Direction the first group to bow atop the Billboard 200 with their first two albums since American girl group Danity Kane entered with Welcome to the Dollhouse in 2008 and their self-titled debut in 2006. One Direction also became the second act in 2012 to achieve two number-one albums within a 12-month period, and the first boy band in US chart history to land two number-one albums in a calendar year. Their debut album and Take Me Home were the third and fifth-best-selling albums of 2012 in the United States, respectively, making the band the first act to place two albums in the year-end top five in the Nielsen SoundScan era.
The album's lead single, "Live While We're Young", released on 28 September 2012, peaked inside the top ten in almost every country it charted in and recorded the highest one-week opening sales figure for a song by a non-U.S. artist. The subsequent singles, "Little Things" and "Kiss You", were less successful, although the former topped the UK Singles Chart. To promote the album, One Direction performed the album's songs on several televised programmes and a headlining sold-out concert at the Madison Square Garden. Furthermore, One Direction embarked on their second worldwide concert tour entitled the Take Me Home Tour in 2013.
Packaging[edit]
The album cover artwork, revealed on 30 August 2012, features the group surrounding a traditional British K6 red telephone box, a familiar sight on the streets of the UK.[14][15]
Commercial performance[edit]
Globally, Take Me Home topped the charts in more than 35 countries, and was the fourth-best-selling album of 2012, selling 4.4 million units.[67][68] In the United Kingdom, the album sold over 94,000 copies in its first two days of sale.[69] It debuted atop the UK Albums Chart with first-week sales of 155,000 copies, becoming their first album to top the chart and the second fastest selling album of 2012.[31] The album and its second single, "Little Things", both debuted simultaneously at number one in the UK on 18 November 2012, making One Direction the youngest act in British chart history to achieve the feat.[70] The album became the fifth-best-selling album of 2012 in the UK, having sold 616,000 copies by the end of 2012.[71] It was certified quadruple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in 2022, denoting sales of 1,200,000 equivalent units.[72] As of February 2016, the album has sold 1,000,924 copies in the UK.[73]
In Ireland, Take Me Home became the fastest-selling album of 2012,[74] lodged six consecutive weeks atop the Irish Albums Chart, and was certified triple platinum by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA).[75][76] In Italy, the collection became their second Italian chart-topper, and Italy's seventh-best-selling album of 2012.[77][78] It has been certified double platinum by the Federation of the Italian Music Industry (FIMI), indicating sales of 60,000 copies.[79] In the Netherlands, the album debuted at number one on 17 November 2012, and shipped 25,000 copies in its first day of release.[80][81] It was certified platinum by 18 December 2012, denoting shipments of 50,000 copies in the region.[81] After a month of its release, it was certified platinum in Poland for shipments of 30,000 copies,[82] while it became the seventh-best-selling album of 2012 in Denmark, having sold 28,875 copies by year end in that country.[83] In Sweden, the album was the ninth-best-selling album of 2012, and has been certified platinum by the Swedish Recording Industry Association (GLF), signifying shipments of 40,000 units.[84]
The album debuted at number one on the Australian ARIA Chart dated 25 November 2012, a position it held for a second week.[85] It was certified platinum in Australia in its first week by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) and has since been certified double platinum for a shipment of 140,000 copies.[86]
The record became the band's second number-one album in the United States in the week of 18 November 2012, and recorded the biggest first-week sales tally for an album by a boy band since N'Sync's Celebrity (2001), and the third-largest debut sales week of 2012, behind Taylor Swift's Red and Babel by Mumford & Sons, with 540,000 copies sold.[87][88] One Direction became the first group to bow atop the Billboard 200 with their first two albums since American girl group Danity Kane entered with Welcome to the Dollhouse in 2008 and their self-titled debut in 2006, the second act in 2012 to achieve two number-one albums within a 12-month period alongside Justin Bieber, and the first boy band in US chart history to land two number-one albums in a calendar year.[87][88] The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on 5 December 2012, denoting shipments of one million copies.[89] It became their second album in 2012 to top the one-million mark in US sales in the week of 16 December 2012, making them the first act to achieve the feat in a calendar year since 2009, and the first group or duo to achieve the feat since Rascal Flatts in 2007.[90] Their debut album and Take Me Home were the third- and fifth-best-selling albums of 2012 in the United States, respectively, making the band the first act to place two albums in the year-end top five in the Nielsen SoundScan era.[91] On 29 March 2015, it surpassed the 2 million threshold becoming their second album (after Up All Night) to sell over 2 million copies in the U.S. As of August 2015, the album has sold 2.02 million copies in the U.S.[92]
Notes