One Direction is a British-Irish boy band consisting of Harry Styles,Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, and Zayn Malik. They competed on the seventh season of The X Factor in the UK and finished in third place. Despite losing, the group was signed to Syco Music.

One Direction's first single, "What Makes You Beautiful" was released on September 11, 2011 and debuted in the UK Singles Chart at number one on September 18, 2011. It became the third fastest selling single of 2011 selling 153,965 copies. Their second single, "Gotta Be You," was released on November 11, 2011, and peaked at number three.

The X Factor (2010-11)

Originally, each member auditioned as a solo artist for the seventh season of The X Factor UK (This was actually Liam's second time auditioning). They each made it through to bootcamp, but were eliminated prior to judges' houses. However, the judges decided that some of the contestants were too talented, and they couldn't just let them walk away. They called back ten contestants. The boys called back were Niall, Zayn, Liam, Harry, and Louis. The five boys and five girls were told that they were being given a second chance. If they agreed, they would now be a part of a group act (one boy band and one girl group). Both groups agreed, and were put through to judges' house.

Following bootcamp, all five members of the boy band spent two weeks living at Harry's home in Chesire in order to get to know each other and bond together.^[1] While brainstorming group names, Harry came up with One Direction.

They made it to the finale, but finished in third place behind Rebecca Fergusonin second place, and Matt Cardle in first.

Up All Night (2011-12)

Since being signed to Syco Music, the band has released their debut album,Up All Night, which includes the singles: "What Makes You Beautiful", "One Thing", "Gotta Be You", and "More Than This".

Take Me Home (2012-13)

In late 2012, One Direction released their second album Take Me Home, which includes the singles "Live While We're Young", "Little Things" and "Kiss You".

Midnight Memories (2013)

In November 2013, One Direction released their third studio album Midnight Memories, which includes the singles "Best Song Ever", "Story of My Life", "Midnight Memories" and "You & I".

Four (2014)

One Direction's fourth studio album is due to be released on November 17, 2014. The album release was announced on September 8 along with a free download of the promotional single from the album, Fireproof for 24 hours only.On September 29, 2014, the lead single Steal My Girl was released.