MWsporty: Take Me Home (One Direction album)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take_Me_Home

Take Me Home is the second studio album by English-Irish boy band One Direction, released globally in November 2012 by Sony Music Entertainment. After extensive promotional appearances and touring in North America and Oceania in support of their debut album, One Direction began recording the album in May 2012. As a follow-up to One Direction's internationally successful debut album Up All Night (2011), several writers and producers were enlisted, including Carl Falk, Rami Yacoub, Savan Kotecha, Ed Sheeran, Jake Gosling, and Tom Fletcher.
The record topped the charts in more than thirty-five countries, sold over one million copies in its first week worldwide, and was the fourth best-selling album of 2012 globally, selling 4.4 million units. 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 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, 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 fourth 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 lead single, "Live While We're Young", released on 28 September 2012, peaked inside the top ten in almost every country it charted and recorded the highest one-week opening sales figure for a song by a non-American artist. Subsequent singles, "Little Things" and "Kiss You", were less successful, although the former topped the UK Singles Chart. Staged in support of the record, One Direction performed the album's songs on several television programs. The album's accompanying seven-month concert tour commenced in February 2013.

Promotion

One Direction performing in Glasgow during the album's accompanying concert tour, February 2013

Take Me Home has yielded three singles, including two US singles. The lead single "Live While We're Young" was released by Syco Records on 28 September 2012. The song rocketed to worldwide success, peaking at number one in Ireland and New Zealand and the top ten in almost every country it charted.^[51]^[52]^[53] In the United States, "Live While We're Young" debuted at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, sold 341,000 downloads in its first week, and bowed at number one on the Digital Songs chart. Its debut marks the highest bow by a British group and the second-highest debut among all UK acts, outpaced only by Elton John's number one arrival with "Candle in the Wind 1997". Its opening sales denote the biggest opening sales figure for a single by a non-US artist and the third ever for a download by a group, surpassed by the arrivals of Maroon 5's 2012 single "Payphone" (493,000) and The Black Eyed Peas' 2009 single "Boom Boom Pow" (465,000).^[54]^[55] "Little Things" was released in the UK and Ireland as the second single.^[56]^[57] The track debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart on 18 November 2012, becoming One Direction's fifth top ten appearance and second number-one hit in the United Kingdom.^[29] "Kiss You" was chosen as the second US single of Take Me Home, released digitally on 17 November 2012, according to MTV News.^[58]
The group and the album's lead single were featured in a Pepsi television commercial for the United States, which premiered on the Fox Broadcasting Company network on 10 October 2012.^[59] Columbia Records allowed the record to stream in full on iTunes in the week leading up to its 13 November 2012 release.^[60] In addition, One Direction promoted the album in a series of live appearances from October toward December, notably on television programs The X Factor USA,^[61] The X Factor UK,^[62] The Today Show, which drew a record crowd of 15.000 people to the Rockefeller Center,^[63] and the BBC's Children in Need 2012 telethon.^[64] Additional live appearances include at the Royal Variety Performance, in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II,^[65] the Bambi Awards,^[66] and a headlining sold-out show at New York City's Madison Square Garden.^[67] The album's accompanying concert tour, the Take Me Home Tour, commenced at London's O2 Arena on 23 February 2013.^[68]^[69] The concert tour consists of over 100 shows in Australasia, Europe, and North America, and is set to visit arenas and stadiums from February through October 2013. Announced by member Liam Payne at the 2012 BRIT Awards in early 2012, the original concert tour was billed as the UK & Ireland Arena Tour.^[70]^[71] In mid-2012, the concert tour expanded with legs in North America and Australasia following the band's international breakthrough.^[72]^[73] In the UK and Ireland, ticket sales reached 300,000 within a day of release, which included a six-date sell out at the O2 Arena in London.^[74] In Australian and New Zealand markets, tickets grossed US$15.7 million, with all 190,000 tickets being sold for eighteen shows to be held in Australia and New Zealand.^[75]