One Direction is a British-Irish boy band which was formed as part of the UK X Factor. The members of One Direction are Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson.
The band came third in the seventh series of the X Factor in the UK and has been extremely successful on both sides of the Atlantic. In fact, all the members of One Direction entered the X Factor as individual singers. However, they were knocked out of the Boys category but judge Nicole Scherzinger, a member of the Pussycat Dolls, suggested they would go together well as a group.
The band’s first album, Up All Night, came out in November 2011 and was the fastest-selling album in the UK that year. When it was released in America, the album went to number one on the UK Billboard 200 – this made One Direction the first UK band ever to debut at number one in the US with their first album. Top singles include What Makes You Beautiful, Gotta Be You and One Thing.
The band has a world tour scheduled in 2013 and their Australian and New Zealand dates alone have already grossed $15.7 million.
Some have said that One Direction’s success heralds a return of the boy band, a movement that has been dubbed the new British Invasion.