Anecdotes

Member Liam Payne had auditioned for The X Factor (2004) in 2008, making it to the judges houses stage before being sent home. Had he progressed to the live shows that year, Simon Cowell would've been his mentor then too.

Louis Tomlinson is the oldest member - born 24 December 1991, while the youngest is Harry Styles who was born February 1st 1994. Liam Payne, Zayn Malik and Niall Horan were all born in 1993.

Niall Horan is the only Irish member of the band.

Each member of One Direction auditioned for the 2010 season of The X Factor (2004) as soloists and made it to the bootcamp stage. However, the judges felt they were too good to throw away, but not interesting enough to make it as soloists and were given a lifeline to proceed in the competition as a group.

21 March 2012 - Their album "Up All Night" entered the Billboard 200 pop album chart at #1, the first time ever for a debut album by a U.K. band.

Despite being put together as a boy band at the bootcamp stage of The X Factor (2004), they progressed the furthest out of all 4 of the acts in the "Group" category (all of whom were mentored by judge Simon Cowell), finishing in third place.

In March 2015, Zayn Malik quit the band.

The band was formed in 2010 and consisted of Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, Harry Styles and Zayn Malik.