Happy 4th Anniversary One Direction!
Auditioned as solo artists for the 7th series of the British televised singing competition The X Factor but failed to progress to the “Boys” category however they were put together as a group during the “bootcamp” thus qualifying for the “Groups” category then came third on the X Factor 2010, signed a 2 million record contract with Syco Records.
One Direction’s two albums Up All Night and Take Me Home, released in 2011 and 2012 respectively, broke several records, topped the charts of most major markets, and generated hit singles, including “What Makes You Beautiful” and “Live While We’re Young”.
One Direction performed “Little Things” at the 2012 Royal Variety Performance in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II, and headlined a sold-out show at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on 3 December 2012 and they performed “What Makes You Beautiful” at the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in London. In February 2013, One Direction released a cover version of “One Way or Another” and “Teenage Kicks”, “One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks)”, as the 2013 Comic Relief single
One Direction: This Is Us, a 3D documentary and concert movie about the group directed by Morgan Spurlock and produced by Spurlock, Ben Winston, Adam Milano and Simon Cowell, was released by TriStar Pictures on 30 August 2013. The film features the song “Best Song Ever”, released on 22 July 2013. “Best Song Ever” slated to serve as the lead single of the group’s third studio album Midnight Memories. The film was a box office success, topping the UK and US box offices and grossing over $60 million worldwide. It is currently the fourth highest grossing concert movie.
Midnight Memories was released globally on 25 November 2013. The album was described by the band as edgier and as having a “slightly rockier tone” than their previous efforts. The album debuted at number one on the Irish Albums Chart and number two on the Dutch Albums Chart. On 29 November 2013, it was announced that it had become the fastest-selling album of 2013 in the UK, with 187,660 copies sold in four days.It was revealed on 1 December 2013, that the album had sold in excess of 237,000 copies in its first week in the UK. It became the best-selling album of 2013 in the UK with 685,000 copies sold for the year.
On 16 May 2013, the band announced their first stadium tour, the Where We Are Tour, which is set to commence in April 2014. They plan to donate £200,000 of the tour’s ticket sales to the Stand Up to Cancer charity. It was also announced that when the tickets went on sale on May 25, 2013 it sold out in minutes.
+ The June 28 and 29, 2014 shows at San Siro in Milan, Italy were recorded and will be released on DVD in December 2014.
“I hope when we look back in how many years when we’re granddads, and we look back in the band, I just hope that when we look back on it and think ‘We had the most amazing time and that we’ve actually stayed true to ourselves.” - Louis