Niall Horan's 'Flicker' debuts at No 1 on Billboards; are One Direction ex-members better off as soloists?

Ex One Direction member Niall Horan went solo post the band's break up and now he has topped the Billboard 200 chart with his solo album, Flicker.

The album was released via Capitol Records on October 20 and sold 152,000 equivalent album units in its first week, with 128,000 of those in traditional album sales.

Also read: One Direction to reunite in aid of Grenfell Tower fire victims in London?

Niall, 24, follows ex band mates Harry Styles, 23, and Zayn Malik, 24, who both had individually notched number 1 albums, making One Direction match up to The Beatles' record of most solo members from a group to notch No 1 albums

Hary Styles' self titled debut album that released earlier this year and Zayn's 2016 debut album, Mind of Mine were both Billboard number ones. The rest of One Direction's members, Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne have also been releasing solo singles.

The Beatles on the other hand had spun out multiple number ones from ex band members George Harrison, John Lennon and Paul McCartney. It was a collective total of eleven number ones from the iconic band that ruled the 60's.

One Direction as a band, has bagged four Billboard 200 number 1s in their six years of togetherness, which really makes one wonder: no matter the fame, awards and popularity, are the ex band members really better off as solo artists?

While Niall's album Flicker was introduced by a series of hit singles This Town and Slow Hands, both of them went on to peak Billboard's Hot 100 at number 20 and number 11, respectively. Slow hands also reached number one on the Pop Songs airplay chart and number 2 in the all-genre Radio songs chart.

The Billboard chart topping trend for One Direction ex-bandmates was started by Zayn Malik who is the only member to have scored both a number one album and a song in the US charts. Both his debut album Mind of Mine and debut solo song, Pillowtalk topped their respective charts.

While Pillowtalk got certified as triple platinum, Zayn's collaboration with Taylor Swift on I Don't Wanna Live Forever earned a double platinum. His personal album went on to be a gold, with at least 500,000 units.

As for Harry Styles, who followed Zayn in the full length album department, had his album rule the Billboard 200 for a week. Its hit single Sign of the Times lasted on the Hot 100 at number four and went gold for shipping half a million copies.

While the remaining members, Louis Tomlinson, 24, and Liam Payne, 24, are both yet to release albums or sets, their singles have topped Billboard charts too. Liam Payne's Strip That down made it to number one along with Louis Tomlinson's more recent release, Back To You.

It's been over a year since the band broke up and while fans and followers couldn't be happier for their respective faves doing wonderfully, bagging awards and selling out arenas, certain fans still want their good old 1D days back. 

Here's a blast from the past to refresh the memories.