Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	59/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The A.V. Club	B–
Entertainment Weekly	B–
The Independent
Los Angeles Times
The Observer
Rolling Stone
Slant Magazine
Spin	6/10
Sputnikmusic	2/5
USA Today

Midnight Memories is the third studio album by British-Irish boy band One Direction, released on 25 November 2013 by Columbia Records, Syco Music and Sony Music. The album was described as having a "slightly rockier tone" than their previous efforts. It has become the fastest-selling album in Amazon UK's history, breaking the record set by One Direction's previous release, Take Me Home (2012). The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, making One Direction the first group in history to debut at number one in the US with their first three albums. The album was preceded by the release of the singles "Best Song Ever" and "Story of My Life".

Upon the album's release, Midnight Memories received mixed reviews from music critics. Many critics praised the lyrical depth and musical composition on the album, as well as the group's level of involvement in the production process. However, others argued that the material was less memorable than their previous work and felt the themes were not as mature as expected. Despite being released five weeks before the year's end, Midnight Memories nevertheless became the best-selling album of 2013 as listed by the IFPI, with sales of four million copies.

One Direction began working on their third studio album whilst embarking on their second international tour, the Take Me Home Tour. The album was announced simultaneously with the news of the band's third world tour, the Where We Are Tour, which subsequently led fans to wrongly assume that the album title would be named Where We Are. Member Louis Tomlinson proclaimed that the album would have a "rockier" sound to it than the band's previous releases. The official title of the album was announced on 6 September 2013, starting with Zayn Malik tweeting a teaser video of Harry Styles spelling out the word "Mid" out of a pile of alphabet cards on the floor, followed by a full video posted on the band's Instagram account later on, revealing the title, Midnight Memories.

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Wikipedia