One Direction enjoys highest Billboard Hot 100 debut ever by a U.K. group

Grace Stanisci

Arriving on Billboard's Hot 100 chart at No. 3, One Direction's new single "Live While We're Young" (from their upcoming album "Take Me Home") has surpassed debuts by other U.K. artists like The Beatles and the Spice Girls.

According to Billboard, the boy band's tune was able to sell 341,000 downloads in its initial week of release, putting them ahead of the Spice Girls' "Say You'll Be There" (which debuted at No. 5 in 1997) and The Beatles' "Let It Be" (which entered the chart at No. 6 in 1970).

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In addition, Billboard points out that it is the second-highest debut by a U.K. act overall, coming in behind Elton John's tribute single to the late Princess Diana, "Candle In The Wind 1997/Something About The Way You Look Tonight," which entered the chart at No. 1 in 1997.

However, the song has come under some criticism for featuring an opening similar to The Clash's 1982 hit "Should I Stay Or Should I Go," which 1D member Harry Styles admitted wasn't an accident. "It's kind of on purpose though, it's a great riff," Styles said.

Band member Louis Tomlinson also spoke on the subject, saying, "I assume it must be quite difficult to do a unique riff now because there have been so many songs -- surely there's only so many riffs you can pull out?"

See also: One Direction suffers backlash for covering 'Wonderwall'

Similar to The Clash or not, "Live While We're Young" is a huge success, and even though the music video for the track had to be released early due to a leak, it still stomped all over Justin Bieber's 8 million "Boyfriend" VEVO view record: "Live While We're Young" earned 8.24 million views in its first 24 hour period.

At press time, the tune also sits at No. 52 on Billboard's Radio Songs chart, No. 21 on the Pop Songs chart and at No. 1 on the Digital Songs chart.

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