ONE DIRECTION IS UP!

Syco/Columbia five-piece boy band One Direction is causing the kind of mania that hasn’t been seen since the heyday of groups like NSYNC and Backstreet Boys.

The band, which caused a mini-riot for their recent performance on The Today Show, debuts at #1, giving Team Stringer/Barnett their 12th consecutive week at #1, selling a total of 177k. Give a nod to VEVO's "Lift" program for at least part of that success. Noters note that Kid Kelly's Sirius XM Hits 1 was the first station to play it, starting last September.

Labelmate Adele’s 21 remains at #2, selling another 156k, bringing her total up to a very impressive 8.2 million in the U.S.

Geffen’s Guns N’ Roses, fresh from their three-day whirlwind L.A. club tour, moves #28-3, +572%, with their Greatest Hits collection, thanks to a 25-cent sale at Google Music and Amazon.

Last week’s chart-topper, Columbia’s Bruce Springsteen, is now #4, followed by RCA’s Whitney Houston Greatest Hits at #5.

Capitol/EMI’s Now 41 (#6), YM/CM/Universal Republic’s Drake (#7), Fairfax/Universal Republic’s Gotye (#8), Capitol Nashville/EMI’s Lady Antebellum (#9) and Fueled by Ramen’s fun. (#10) round out the Top 10.

Other new chart entries include Six Steps’ Passion (#13), Equal Vision’s Say Anything (#26), Universal Republic’s Miike Snow (#28), Strange Music’s Tech N9ne (#30), Metal Blade’s Cannibal Corpse (#36) and Big Machine’s Brantley Gilbert (#45).

Returning to the Top 50 are Columbia’s Tony Bennett (#35), Universal Republic’s Florence + the Machine (#46) and Startime/Columbia’s Foster the People (#50).

Biggest gainers of the week are Gotye (#12-8. +12%), Def Jam/IDJ’s Young Jeezy (#26-22, +8%) and RCA’s Whitney Houston I Look to You (#22-15, +6%).

Hitting this week are Universal Republic’s The Hunger Games soundtrack, featuring tracks by Taylor Swift/The Civil Wars, Arcade Fire, the Decemberists, Miranda Lambert, Kid Cudi and Maroon 5, which could contend for #1, Columbia’s The Shins, Concord’s Esperanza Spaulding and SRC/Universal Republic’s Melanie Fiona. Next week, look for Madonna’s new Interscope album MDNA to drop on Monday, March 26.