As a member of the ultra-famous boy band One Direction, Harry Styles was already used to releasing commercially successful albums. However, solo success is rarely ever assured once a popular musical group splits up. Nonetheless, Styles maintained his universal appeal as a solo act and has so far released three commercially acclaimed LPs. His sophomore album, Fine Line, released in 2019, became a global smash hit and has remained the best-selling album of his solo career.
Regarding critical reception, his third album, Harry’s House, takes the crown. However, in terms of sales, there’s still quite a ways to go before Fine Line is trumped. Embracing a more mature, sexy pop-rock style, Fine Line showcased his musical evolution perfectly. The album also arrived when he started to be taken seriously as a fashion star on the rise. As a result, of all his albums, Harry Styles brewed up significant buzz before his second LP dropped.
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Harry’s Sales
With Fine Line, Styles became a certified record-breaker. The album became the biggest debut from a British male artist since the emergence of the Nielsen Soundscan era. It sold a mouthwatering 478,000 units in its first week, of which 393,000 were pure sales. As a result, Fine Line debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart, making Harry Styles the first British male artist to debut at No. 1 with his first two albums. Naturally, with such a strong debut, the album sold millions of copies overall.
In the United States, Fine Line has been certified 3x Platinum for sales of over three million units. In the UK, it has achieved a 2x Platinum, selling over 600,000 copies. Regarding numbers, Brazil and Canada boast over 320,000 units sold, resulting in a 2x Diamond certification in the former and a 4x Platinum certification in the latter. Right behind is Mexico, where Fine Line has been certified Diamond for selling over 300,000 units. In Australia, the LP achieved a 3x Platinum, with over 210,000 copies sold. Notably, Singapore is the only Asian country to have certifications for Fine Line, as the album went Platinum there with over 10,000 sales.
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Pop Rock At Its Finest
Styles’ eponymous debut album had begun to shed off his boy band persona. However, it was Fine Line that signified an even more musically confident artist. Harry Styles also re-enlisted Tyler Johnson, Jeff Bhasker, and Kid Harpoon to work on his sophomore LP, which is why his first two albums have a similar feel. Nonetheless, the growth was evident.
The singles released were also successful. However, it was the funk-pop track “Watermelon Sugar” that propelled Styles to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. Overall, Fine Line was a sultry project filled with memoir-esque tracks about joy, tears, and sex. It was also the project that made Styles a musical force to be reckoned with. Perfectly balancing his newfound fashionista persona with his eclectic music style, the former One Direction member had become a fully-fledged pop star.
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