November 13, 2015 was an important day in the music industry: both Justin Bieber and One Direction released new albums. Both albums held much significance, Purpose being Justin’s comeback album, and Made in the A.M. being One Direction’s first album released without Zayn (internal sobbing). I know what you’re thinking, how is it possible that two big artists released new music on the same day, and more importantly how did they stack up against one another?! Let’s look at the facts:
The Albums
Purpose (Justin Bieber)
Justin released 18 songs on Purpose, the most popular being his fun dance number “Sorry.” He collaborated on five songs with artists including Halsey, Big Sean, Travis Scott, Nas, Skrillex, and Diplo.
Made in the A.M. (One Direction)
One Direction released 17 songs, with “Perfect” being the most popular song. This is the first album with just Harry, Louis, Niall, and Liam.
Sales
Purpose sold roughly 522,000 copies within the first week.
Made in the A.M. sold roughly 402,000 copies within the first week.
Promotion
Justin has done some of the biggest promotion seen in awhile. Multiple times a day there were posts about Purpose on Instagram, most commonly a countdown written on a piece of paper held by a celebrity. Some of the celebrities included Ben Stiller, Mark Wahlberg, Kendall Jenner, Mariah Carey, and countless others. The Bieb’s comback was highly anticipated for weeks, so this campaign definitely worked.
One Direction promoted Made in the A.M. over Twitter and Instagram a few times a day, but not to the extent that Justin did. One Direction took a less “in your face” approach with their promotion.
While both artists are great, it looks like Justin really won Friday the 13th this year. In the meantime I will go back to playing Purpose on repeat, while my roommate continues to play Made in the A.M. on repeat. Looks like both artists aren’t leaving anytime soon!