One Direction – The Making Of An Legendary British Boyband
It’s been quite the year for British Boyband One Direction. Quickly becoming one of the most sought after groups in British history, One Direction have went from nobodies, to solo X Factor Stars, to a global phenomenon in little over a year. Wow!
One Direction are a British and also Irish boy band, which consists of members Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson. The boy band are signed to Simon Cowell’s record label which is now synonomous with The X Factor, Syco Records. They were formed and placed third in the seventh series of The British X Factor, with Rebecca Ferguson and Matt Cardle placing ahead of them. In North American the are signed to another Sony Records imprint, Columbia Records.
In Spetember 2011 One Direction released their debut single, “What Makes You Beautiful“. It peaked at number one in the UK and then also charted in the top ten in several international territories. Their debut album, Up All Night, followed quickly in November 2011, and debuted at number two in the UK Albums Chart. It sold over 138,631 copies and was the fastest selling debut album in the UK Albums Chart in 2011. More recently Up All Night, on 21 March 2012, debuted at the number one spot on the U.S. Billboard 200, selling and incredible 176,000 copies in its first week. This made One Direction the first UK group in history to debut at number one with their first album. An incredible result for a band that contains members who are still in their teens! One Direction have also already won a BRIT Award, “What Makes You Beautiful” won the Best British Single award at the 2012 Awards.
One Direction formed on The X Factor after all five members applied as solo acts for the The X Factor. However they failed to qualify for the “Boys” category. Guest judge and PussyCat Dolls member Nicole Scherzinger, suggested the five were put into a band, and therefore qualified for the “Groups” category. And the rest they say, is history. Following The X Factor, One Direction signed a £2 million record contract with Syco Records, and went one to participate in the X Factor Live Tour.
What Makes You Beautiful broke the pre order sales record for Sony Music. One Direction’s second single “Gotta Be You” was released on 13 November 2011, and peaked at number three in the UK singles chart. Their album Up All Night was the sixteenth biggest selling album on the UK Albums Chart of 2011, selling and incredible 468,000 copies. The album reached the top ten in nineteen other countries.
“One Thing” was One Direction’s third single from Up All Night, and become the third consecutive top ten single from the album.
Recently One Direction have taken American by storm, drawing comparisions to the success of The Beatles. Due to overwhelming fan demand, Up All Night was released one week early on 13 March 2012. Up All Night went straight to the number one spot on the U.S. Billboard 200, selling 176,000 copies in its first week of release, which made One Direction the first UK group to debut at number one with their first album.
The success of One Direction has continued with great live performances which have seen them under heavy security protection from the sheer volume of fans that have attended these performances. They performed on the Today Show and at the 2012 Kids’ Choice Awards, and are also set to perform on the renowned Saturday Night Live on 7 April 2012. Other US promotion scheduled includes an appearance in iCarly in 2012, where the band will be cast as themselves and perform their hit single “What Makes You Beautiful”.
The success of the boys looks set only to grow with them securing a headline US tour in 2012, and their set to become a legendary British boy band. Check out their videos below, the great hits that they’ve already produced and they’re only one album into their career. One Direction, we salute you!
One Direction – What Makes You Beautiful on MUZU.TV.