Justin Bieber's new Purpose album is shooting right to the top of the charts and is beating One Direction's Made in the A.M. for most number of Spotify streams in one week. The two biggest acts in male-based pop have been going head to head on both the charts and number of streams since it was announced that both of their albums were being released so closely together.
According to Billboard, Bieber topped both the global and U.S. records for streaming during the first week of an album release and reached 205 million global streams with 77 million streams in the U.S. alone. By comparison, Made in the A.M. had 106 million global streams. It remains to be seen who will best who in terms of album sales overall.
Leading up to the release of both albums, International Business Times reported that the head buyer of Newbury Comics Carl Mello predicted that Bieber would win in terms of album sales, "One Direction has a bigger recent fan base," Mello said, "But Bieber has an actual huge hit single from the album, so he has a comeback momentum going for him. Also, Bieber appears to be pulling off the George Michael and Justin Timberlake gambit."
Mello further said, "Artists who appealed to teen fans are crossing over to a slightly more discerning fan base. Bieber is pulling a new fan base, but the question is how much new will he get and how much old fans he will pull along."
This is not the first time that Bieber has beat out One Direction for streams. This past September, the Biebs set global and U.S. records with "What Do You Mean" and reached 21 million streams. By comparison, One Direction's single, "Drag Me Down," reached 20 million streams in the initial week of release, so Bieber topped his competition by a record 1 million.
