One Direction [Photo/Agencies]

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The boyband's third studio album 'Midnight Memories' - which spurred hit singles 'Best Song Ever' and 'Story of My Life', both landing at two - has sold 685,000 copies since it's release at the end of November when it charted at number one according to The Official Charts Company.

Liam Payne - who along with band members Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik, co-wrote a number of songs for the album - said he was thrilled by the news and thanked fans for their success.

He said: "This tops an amazing year for us. We're so excited to have the biggest selling album in the UK this year, especially with a record we are all so proud of.

We'd like to thank everyone who has bought the album."

One Direction now take over from Emeli Sande, who scored the biggest selling album last year with her debut 'Our Version of Events', which still remains a top earner in second place this year with an impressive 683,000 copies sold.

Despite their success, no artist has managed to sell one million copies this year, which according to Music Week makes 2013 the first year since the 1980s that there hasn't been a platinum selling album in the UK.