Harry
Styles is starting a new decade the same way he finished the one behind us –
with his new album Fine Line at the
top of the Billboard 200 chart.

During its first week on the chart, Styles’ latest studio effort sold 478,000 equivalent album units in the US. It was the third-biggest week for an album in 2019, right behind Taylor Swift’s Lover and Post Malone’s Hollywood’s Bleeding.

The numbers are down to 89,000 album equivalent units during its second week, but it’s still an impressive achievement, since no other record managed to surpass it.

Styles
didn’t feel the pressure to make “a radio record” with Fine Line, and the experience of recording it was pretty freeing,
because he wasn’t concerned about playing it safe.

“I’m
just trying to go through life being a little less worried about stuff. If you
don’t hit the top of the chart, your life doesn’t change. If that was what I
was aiming at, and then it didn’t happen, then I’d feel so much worse,” Styles said
during an interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music’s Beats 1.