One Direction

Not to be confused with One-way.

One Direction
One Direction performing in Sydney on their Up All Night Tour, 2012. From left to right: Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, and Zayn Malik
One Direction performing in Sydney on their Up All Night Tour, 2012. From left to right: Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, and Zayn Malik
Background information
Also known as1D
OriginLondon, England
Genres
DiscographyOne Direction discography
Years active2010–2016[a]
Labels
Past members
Websiteonedirectionmusic.com

One Direction, often shortened to 1D, were an English-Irish pop boy band formed in London in 2010. The group consisted of Niall Horan, Zayn Malik (until his departure in 2015), Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson. They became one of the best-selling boy groups of all time before going on an indefinite hiatus in 2016.

The group signed with Simon Cowell's record label Syco Records after forming and placing third in the seventh series of the British televised singing competition The X Factor in 2010. Propelled to global success by social media,[1][2][3] One Direction's five albums, Up All Night (2011), Take Me Home (2012), Midnight Memories (2013), Four (2014) and Made in the A.M. (2015), topped charts in several countries and generated hit singles including "What Makes You Beautiful", "Live While We're Young", "Best Song Ever", "Story of My Life" and "Drag Me Down". Midnight Memories was the best-selling album worldwide of 2013.[4] With the release of Four, One Direction became the first band to have their first four albums debut at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart.[5]

Considered teen idols, One Direction were often subject to fan hysteria.[6][7] They embarked on four world tours, two of which were all-stadium. The band's Where We Are Tour, in support of Midnight Memories, was the highest-grossing concert tour in 2014, the highest-grossing tour by a vocal group in history and the 15th highest-grossing concert tour of all time, grossing $290.2 million.[8] The band went on indefinite hiatus in January 2016, allowing all members to pursue other projects.[9][10]

As of 2020, the band had sold a total of 70 million records worldwide,[11] making them one of the best-selling boy bands of all time.[12] The band have won nearly 200 awards, including seven Brit Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, six Billboard Music Awards, seven American Music Awards (including Artist of the Year in 2014 and 2015) and 28 Teen Choice Awards. In 2013, they earned an estimated $75 million, becoming the second-highest-earning celebrity under 30 according to Forbes.[13] As the world's best-selling artist of 2013, the group was named the Global Recording Artist of the Year by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.[14] In 2014, Billboard named the band "Artist of the Year".[15][16] Forbes ranked them as the fourth highest-earning celebrities in the world in 2015[17] and subsequently in second in 2016.[18]


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  1. ^ Smith, Caspar (15 March 2012). ""One Direction: the fab five take America"". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  2. ^ "One Direction make American pop history". The Telegraph. 21 March 2012. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  3. ^ Tiffany, Kaitlyn (13 December 2016). "How One Direction stayed the world's biggest band even after it stopped existing". The Verge. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  4. ^ "One Direction top 2013 global album chart". BBC News. 1 August 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  5. ^ Caulfield, Keith (26 November 2014). "One Direction's 'Four' Makes Historic No. 1 Debut on Billboard 200 Chart". Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Idols was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hysteria was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Allen, Bob (10 October 2014). "One Direction's Where We Are Tour Attended by 3.4 Million Fans". Billboard. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  9. ^ Simpson, George (4 May 2017). "One Direction REUNION: Niall Horan opens up on WHEN iconic boyband will get back together".
  10. ^ Melas, Chloe. "Niall Horan: One Direction reunion is 'definitely' happening".
  11. ^ "One Direction: Ten years of 1D, but is a reunion on the way?". CBBC Newsround. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  12. ^ "One Direction Band's Louis Tomlinson Arrested In Airport Tussle". Agence France-Presse. 9 March 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  13. ^ "One Direction". Forbes.com.
  14. ^ Sherwin, Adam (30 January 2014). "One Direction named top Global Recording Artist in new award". The Independent. London. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
  15. ^ Caulfield, Keith (13 January 2015). "Billboard's Artists of the Year: 1981–2014". No. 23 June 2015. Billboard.
  16. ^ "The Year in Pop 2014: One Direction, 'Frozen,' & Pharrell Dominate". Billboard. Retrieved 8 January 2015
  17. ^ Greenburg, Zack O'Malley (29 June 2015). "Celebrity 100: The World's Highest-Paid Superstars Of 2015". Forbes. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
  18. ^ Greenburg, Zack O'Malley. "Celebrity 100: The World's Highest-Paid Superstars of 2016". Forbes. Retrieved 6 April 2017.