One Direction make US chart history with Four

The group are the first to see their first four albums debut at number one

One Direction have achieved global stardom since coming third on The X Factor (Getty Images)

One Direction have made history state-side by becoming the first group to see their first four albums shoot straight to number one on the Billboard 200 chart.

The boyband sold 387,000 copies of Four in its first week of sale, coming second only to Taylor Swift’s 1989 for the largest debut of the year so far, Nielsen SoundScan reports.

Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne were put together by Simon Cowell on 2010’s The X Factor and have gone on to achieve global stardom.

Their latest record sees them surpass their own last year, when they became the first band to have three albums debut at the top spot with bestseller Midnight Memories.

One Direction’s success with Four marks the biggest week for a group in 2014 but falls short of Midnight Memories, which sold more than 500,000 copies last December.

Britney Spears has also seen her first four albums debut at US number one, while DMX and Beyoncé’s first five records went straight to the top.

Groups The Monkees and The Kingston Trio achieved number ones with their first four albums too, albeit not immediately.

One Direction have a way to go to rival Swift’s album sales, however - the “Shake It Out” singer shifted a massive 1.287 million copies of 1989 in its first week of release earlier this month to score the fastest-selling album in 12 years.

Swift enjoyed even more chart success last week when she became the first female to succeed herself at the top of the US singles chart.