Justin Bieber has notched up the biggest opening week sales of the year, shifting 374,000 copies of his latest album 'Believe' in its first week of sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The record will comfortably secure the 18-year-old his fourth No.1 album on the Billboard 200, following 2009's 'My World', 2011's 'Never Say Never: The Remixes' and his holiday record 'Under the Mistletoe'.
His success with 'Believe' relegated Bieber's mentor Usher into second spot, with his new album 'Looking 4 Myself'. The teen sensation's latest record has now outsold Madonna's 'Mdna' which debuted with 359,000 despite suffering an almighty drop in sales the following week. Though 'Believe' has secured the top spot, he was unable to land the honor of topping the best sales week for an album, which is still held by Adele who sold 730,000 copies of '21' following his six Grammy Award wins in February. It's already been a hugely successful year for Bieber, who embarked on a worldwide tour and nearly caused officials in Norway to call a state of national emergency, such was the excitement for his appearance in Oslo. However, a television special about the singer 'All Around the World' aired over two nights on NBC last week and did worse than expected, pulling in less than 3.5 million viewers each night.
Bieber's latest record represents a more mature musical direction for the Canadian singer. Guests on the album include Drake, Ludacris, Nicki Minaj and BIG SEAN.