Niall Horan Becomes Third One Direction Member With Number One Album

Niall Horan became the third member of One Direction to score a Number One album in America as the singer’s solo debut Flicker debuted atop the Billboard 200.

Flicker sold 152,000 total copies in its first week of release – a number assisted in part by a deal that coupled physical albums with concert ticket purchases – to allow Horan to join Harry Styles and ex-band mate Zayn Malik as One Direction singers with solo Number Ones.

One Direction match only the Beatles as non-supergroup bands that have produced three chart-topping solo members, as the Fab Four’s John Lennon, George Harrison and Paul McCartney all landed at Number One with solo LPs, Billboard reports. Ringo Starr peaked at Number Two with Ringo in 1973, while One Direction’s Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson have yet to release solo albums.

“My mind is completely blown. An album that I wrote has gone to #1 in the United States and I cannot thank you guys enough for supporting it,” Horan wrote in a statement after Flicker‘s big week.

“It’s been a crazy couple of years for me between writing, recording and promoting this record. Today it really feels like all the hard work has paid off.”