It's crazy to think that exactly three years ago today (July 23), One Direction officially became a band! Harry Styles even took a moment to thank fans earlier today on Twitter saying: "3 years.. I honestly can't believe it. Thank you so much for everything, we're so lucky to have you. You keep making it more and more fun." Liam Payne later added: "3 years already ! Wheres that time gonneee! I have loved every minute of it! Thank you for being the best fans ever i love everyone of you!"
The group was put together by Simon Cowell and the judging panel at The X Factor UK on this date in 2010 after all of them agreed that each of them were to talented to let go. If you wanna relive each of the boys' individual additions you can do so by visiting their bio pages on 1D Zone, but let's relive that emotional moment the boys became a band, shall we?
The group was put together by Simon Cowell and the judging panel at The X Factor UK on this date in 2010 after all of them agreed that each of them were to talented to let go. If you wanna relive each of the boys' individual additions you can do so by visiting their bio pages on 1D Zone, but let's relive that emotional moment the boys became a band, shall we?
After doing an amazing performance of "Torn" at Simon's house and rocking their live performances each and every week, One Direction eventually came in third on The X Factor UK final in 2010. Since then they have easily became one of the biggest bands in the world and have pretty much became the face of The X Factor franchise globally as the most successful act from the show. The boys have accomplished more in three years than some accomplish in a lifetime, let's take a look at some of their amazing accomplishments.
Starting with their chart success, the band has currently had 2 hit albums, Up All Night that was released in the UK in 2011 and Take Me Home that was release globally in 2012. They've sold over 14 million records and went #1 in several countries. Each of their albums broke music records around the world as the band became the first ever UK band to debut at #1 in the United States. The two albums generated many hit songs for the band including "Live While We're Young," and the UK #1 hits "Little Things" and of course their debut single, "What Makes You Beautiful."
With all the chart success also comes award success! The band has won over 60 different awards in their short time on the music scene in addition to be nominated for many others. The awards they've won include two BRIT Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, BBC Radio 1 Teen Awards, Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards, two Billboard Music Awards and were even named 2012’s “Top New Artist" by Billboard.
The boys have had some pretty memorable performances over the past three years. 2012 was possibly the biggest year for the band so far as far as performances go as they performed on X Factor shows around the world, broke crowd records twice at NBC's Today Show in New York City and performed “Little Things" at the 2012 Royal Variety Performance in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II. Millions around the world watched as they performed "What Makes You Beautiful" at the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in London and in December of last year they performed to a sold-out crowed at New York City's Madison Square Garden. It was a milestone so big for the band that Zayn even got the date tattooed on his arm.
With all the success the boys have had, they've also given back and have raised thousands of dollars for charity. In February 2013, One Direction released a cover/mash-up of the songs "One Way or Another" and "Teenage Kicks" as the 2013 Comic Relief charity single. The song went to #1 on iTunes charts in 63 countries and became the #1 song in the UK, Ireland, and more making it Comic Relief's biggest single ever. They didn't just record a song for Comic Relief though, they also visited Africa to see how the money they raised would help, and they even auctioned off some of their own clothes to raise more money for the charity.
Comic Relief isn't the only charity One Direction has been involved with, Liam and Harry recently teamed up with Trekstock, a leading cancer charity, and will be donating £200,000 of ticket sales of their upcoming tour to the charity Stand Up To Cancer.
Speaking of tours, One Direction completed the Up All Night tour last year and are currently on their Take Me Home world tour. As mentioned above, the band have already announced a 2014 stadium tour titled the Where We Are Tour. So far only a few dates have been announced, but more are expected to be announced later this year.
I've only covered a fraction of One Direction's success the past three years in this post, but let's be honest it would take forever if I were to write about everything One Direction has accomplished. They've done a lot and they're still on top with the release of their new single "Best Song Ever" this week, which broke the VEVO record for the most plays in the first 24 hours with at least 10.9 million views, and their upcoming third album due out later this year. The band's first ever movie, This Is Us, is also not that far away coming out on August 30.
And with that, I'm sure we can all agree when I say - I can't wait to see what else the future holds for the band!
Congrats on 3 great years One Direction! Here's to many more!
Posted By: Joe
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