One Direction | Success story of the world’s most popular boy band

One direction is a British-Irish boy band formed on 23 July 2010. One Direction was formed on the popular show The X Factor. The members of the band consist of Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, and Louis Tomlinson. Popularly known by their short name 1D, the band has released many hits during their career like What Makes You Beautiful and Best Song Ever.

Formation of One Direction

Before becoming a band, the 1D guys auditioned for The X Factor individually. All of them failed in the Bootcamp stage of the competition but instead of getting eliminated by the judges, they were put together in a group. They named the band One Direction.

After getting put together as a band, the guys gained instant popularity. Simon Cowell, a judge on the show said that it took him 10 minutes to put the guys together. 

One Direction came in the third position by the end of the reality show. Even though they did not win, 1D gained more popularity than any other contestant on the show. They were loved and appreciated by the audience.

Career

One Direction’s debut album Up All Night came out in September 2011. What Makes You Beautiful became the first single from the album, and it instantly reached number one on the UK singles chart. 

Live While We’re Young came out in September 2012 as the lead single from the band’s sophomore album, Take Me Home. It was an international hit and became number one in more than 35 countries. On reaching the Billboard 200, One Direction became the first band ever to have two albums on the chart at the same time.

Midnight Memories, One Direction’s third studio album came out in 2013. Best Song Ever came out as the lead single from the album, it is still their highest-charting single to date. It broke the Vevo record which was previously held by Live While We’re Young. 

In the honour of band’s successful career, One Direction: This Is Us a 3D documentary and concert film was released on 30 August 2013. The documentary did a business of $60 million worldwide, it became the fourth highest-grossing concert movie.

On 12 July 2014, 1D announced One Direction: Where We Are-The Concert Film. On 8 September 2014, the band announced their upcoming album Four set to release on 17 November 2014. They also released their autobiography called Who We Are on 25 September 2014. Upon the release of Four, it became an instant hit with the songs like Steal My Girl and Night Changes.

Zayn Malik’s Departure and Made In The AM

On 25 March 2015, Zayn Malik announced that he will no longer be part of One Direction. After an inspiring and successful career of five years, the news came as a shock to the fans. One Direction made their first appearance as a four-piece on The Late Late Show with James Cordon.

Drag Me Down came out as the lead single from One Direction’s first album after Zayn’s departure called Made in the AM. 

The album came out on 13 November 2015. It topped the charts of both US and the UK and became the fifth highest-selling album of 2015 in the US.

Hiatus

As if the news of Zayn’s departure wasn’t enough heartbreaking for the fans, One Direction announced that they will be going on a hiatus to focus on their individual careers. The hiatus was supposed to last 18 months but it has been 5 years since the break started. Although, the 1D members have promised on various occasions that they will soon reunite.

By May 2017, all the members released their solo singles and started working on other projects.

Awards and Honours

As of 2020, One Direction have been able to sell 70 million records worldwide, and is rightly referred to as the best-selling boy bands of all time. According to Forbes, they had earned an estimated 75 million in 2013 which had made them become the second highest earning celebrity under 30. The Boy Band has also received several awards for their exceptional music. They received 7 Brit Awards, 7 American Music Awards, 6 Billboard Music Awards, 5 Billboard Touring and also 4 MTV Video Music Awards. They have the record of the most awarded Teen Choice Awards with 28 wins and 31 nominations. In 2014, Billboard had given the band the title of “Artist of the year”.

Recent Update:

In 2022, One Direction’s Harry Styles attended the Spout Podcast. During the podcast, he was asked if there will ever be a reunion of the iconic boy band group and Harry was positive about the idea. But, he also declared that it’s not entirely up to him to make it work since several people are involved who need to work on the reunion. Harry feels that all of them have spent a really good time together and their bond is special.

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