One Direction are top of the charts with their new album, Take Me Home, and single Little Things. The boyband's second LP has become the second-fastest-selling record of 2012 in the UK, behind Mumford and Sons' Babel.
Although Babel has now dropped to No 14, the Mumfords retain the title of 2012's fastest-selling act. Both bands are also hugely successful in the US – Babel debuted at No 1 and Take Me Home is expected to top this week's Billboard chart.
Elsewhere in the UK album charts, Rod Stewart's Merry Christmas Baby came in at No 2. The Rolling Stones compilation GRRR!, released for their 50th anniversary, entered at No 3. The Stones have now had at least one hit LP in every decade since the 60s.
Earlier this week, Mick Jagger compared One Direction's success to the mania that once surrounded his own group. "I watched a concert of [theirs] on the TV the other night, you know just to check [it] out," he told CNN . "It was a very funny moment, because it was very similar to the things we've been through … They were floating above the audience, and they looked really distinctly uncomfortable."
One Direction have sold more than 3m copies of their debut album, Up All Night, released in November 2011.
