30 Facts Every Fan Should Know About One Direction – Fan Favorite Pop Boy Band

One Direction, the English-Irish pop boy band, formed on July 23, 2010, was a five-member team of Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, Harry Stayles and Zayn Malik, until Malik quit. Even after Malik’s departure, the band continues without any new member addition. Here are 30 interesting facts about the band:

1. One Directions or 1D has made history right from the start, with their debut album “Up All Night,” became the first UK pop band to be debut at number one in the United States Charts. As a result, the band got inducted into the Guinness World Records.
2. Their second concert film “One Direction: Where We Are – The Concert Film,” which is a part of their first stadium world tour, is the last movie to feature all the five members of the band - Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles and Zayn Malik, as Malik quit the band in March 2015.
3. Their single “What Makes You Beautiful,” from the debut album “Up All Night,” entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 28, which has been the highest debut for a British act since 1998.
4. After “The Beatles,” it’s One Direction that has taken the approach of each member known for his own feature – Payne – “the sensible,” Horan – “the cute,” Styles – “the charming,” Malik – “the quiet and mysterious,” and Tomlinson – “the funny.”
5. The second album of 1D, “Take Me Home,” as well as its second single “Little Things,” entered the UK charts at number one simultaneously, making the band to be the youngest act to achieve in the history of British chart. The said album topped the charts in over 34 countries.
6. The lead single “Best Song Ever,” of the third album “Midnight Memories,” broke the 24-Hour Vevo Record with 10.9 million views on YouTube. Earlier, the 24-Hour Vevo Record was held by the boy band with a record 8.2 million views of "Live While We're Young."
7. The group, as a part of the 2011 Pride of Britain Awards, presented the Child of Courage Award to the 13-year-old quadruple amputee Danielle Bailey, at her school assembly.
8. One Direction’s first book 'One Direction: Forever Young (Our Official X Factor Story)’ published in February 2011 by Harper Collins topped the Sunday Times Bestseller list.
9. Following the success of the first album “Up All Night,” released in September 2011, the boy band faced a trademark infringement lawsuit in April 2012 from an American band that claimed to have been using the name “One Direction,” since 2009. The American band sued 1D for three times the profits they made along with compensatory damages in excess of US$1million. Late in September, the same year, BBC reported that the American band lost the legal dispute and had their name changed to Uncharted Shores.
10. On July 31, 2015, One Direction released the first single “Drag Me Down,” from their fifth album, “Made in the A.M.” without any announcement or promotional material. The single debuted atop the charts in United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Australia, Austria, and New Zealand, while entered at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. This was the first material released after Malik’s departure.
11. In September 2012, Horan organized an fundraiser event in an effort to help the Irish Autism Action and Temporary Emergency Accommodation Mullingar, a charity based in his hometown. It was reported that the event’s ticket website broke down due to overwhelming response.
12. 1D’s 2011/2012 UK tour tickets reportedly sold out just as the tickets went on sale in a span of 12 minutes.
13. Their debut album “Up All Night,” topped the charts in around 16 countries, besides becoming the UK's fastest-selling debut album of the year 2011.
14. The lead single “Live While We’re Young,” from the album “Take Me Home,” entered within the top ten in almost every country it was charted in. The single also recorded the highest one-week opening sales figure for a song by a non-US artist in the United States.
15. DoSomething.org, a social change organization named One Direction, the second most charitable after Taylor Swift in the year 2013.
16. With the release of the fourth studio album “Four,” the boy band became the first band in the history of US Billboard 200 to have all first four albums debut at number one.
17. In February 2013, 1D filmed a set of pleas for the ITV’s Santa charity Christmas Campaign, asking their fans and the general public to donate £2.
18. One Direction’s third album “Midnight Memories,” was release in late November, 2013, but still the album turned out to be the biggest-selling album of the year, worldwide.
19. The boy band’s official Twitter account, since they formed in 2010 has managed to amass 10 million followers by February 2013, with an average of 21,000 per day adding to the list.
20. A recording of a concert from One Direction’s headlining UK concert tour in December 2011, "Up All Night: The Live Tour," was released in May 2012, which topped the charts in 25 countries. The global sales had reportedly exceeded 1 million copies within just 3 months.
21. The list of their accolades consist of seven American Music Awards which includes the Artist of the Year award, eleven MTV Europe Music Awards, six Brit Awards, 27 Teen Choice Awards and four MTV Video Music Awards, among others.
22. 1D’s book “Dare to Dream: Life as One Direction,” the first book from the band to be licensed in America, topped The New York Times Bestseller list just as it was published in May 2012.
23. One Direction gave a portion of their ticket sales revenues from their “Where We Are Tour,” amounting to £600,000, to the Stand up to Cancer campaign in the year 2014.
24. The boy band’s debut single ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ saw an whopping sales of 153,965 copies, just in the first week of its release at number one in the United Kingdom Singles Chart. The single even smashed the pre-order sales record at One Direction’s label Sony Music. 49.
25. 1D’s 2014 “Where We Are Tour,” which generated $282 million is said to be the highest-grossing tour ever by a vocal group, besides being the highest-grossing concert tour of the year.
26. Their first album “Up All Night,” is the first album by a boy band to have sold over 500,000 digital copies in the United States.
27. On March 25, 2015, One Direction announced the departure of Malik, and admitted that the other four members were initially angry with Malik’s decision. Later they confirmed that they will continue to work without any new fifth member.
28. Payne and Styles partnered with Trekstock, a cancer charity, for the exclusive "#HangwithLiam&Harry" global campaign, in the year 2013, in order to raise money for cancer research. The original goal was to raise $500,000 but the result was $784,984.
29. “One Direction: This Is Us” directed by Morgan Spurlock, released on August 30, 2013, topping the UK and US box offices simultaneously. The film grossed more than $60 million worldwide, becoming the fourth highest-grossing concert movie. Within just 3 days of the release, around 270,000 copies of the film were sold in the United Kingdom, breaking the record held by Michael Jackson’s “This Is It.”
30. Following the fifth album “Made in the A.M.,” the band announced that they were going on hiatus in 2016 for around 18 months. Rumors were that the group’s hiatus would turn into a permanent split, though the representatives denied said-rumors. In June 2016, Styles was confirmed to have signed a solo recording contract, while in July 2016, Payne announced a solo recording contract with Capitol Records. Later on September 29, 2016, Horan release "This Town," his solo debut single, which peaked at number 9 on the UK Singles Chart.