One Direction are rumoured to be on the bill at the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games.

The British boyband has been "sworn to secrecy" about the event, but will have a five-minute slot for their hit What Makes You Beautiful, according to newspaper reports.

The quintet – Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Liam Payne – are set to perform from the back of a flat-bed truck which will move around the athletics track at the Olympics Stadium.

"It's all hush-hush and the boys have been sworn to secrecy," a source told The Sun newspaper.

"But they've been at rehearsals and can't wait to do their bit. It will be an unforgettable occasion and they feel privileged to be a part of it."

Other bands rumoured to be performing at Sunday night's finale include Madness, The Pet Shop Boys, George Michael, The Who and the Spice Girls.

The addition of One Direction to the Olympics closing ceremony line-up comes after a hugely successful year for the band.

They have sold 12 million records in less than a year, with their single What Makes You Beautiful selling five million copies worldwide including three million in the US.

Their total single, album and DVD sales eclipse the number of records sold by Britain’s most popular bands put together. The combined album sales of the Arctic Monkeys, Mumford & Sons, Kasabian, The Maccabees, Vaccines and Noel Gallagher still falls short of the youngsters' total.

But while One Direction can do no wrong in the eyes of their millions of fans, they have faced criticism in recent months. Kasabian's Tom Meighan has described the boyband as "five little dicks", while band member Zayn Malik was accused of "enciting jihad" and "pimping Islam" to young girls by a US right-wing blogger.