One Direction came together after Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson all auditioned as solo artists for the seventh series of the British versions of The X Factor. Failing to make it through by themselves, the five members were put together as a group, going on to place third in the competition.
The quintet made their first appearance on the ARIA Singles Chart in November 2011 when ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ debuted at #15. The group’s debut single went on to peak at #7.
After another single, ‘One Thing’ (#3 Apr. ’12) hit the charts, before the group’s debut album Up All Night (#1 May ’12) became their first ARIA #1; going on to spend five weeks in the top spot. The album yielded a third and final single: ‘More Than This’ (#49 May ’12). Up All Night went 5x Platinum.
In late 2012, One Direction returned with ‘Live While We're Young’ (#2 Oct. ’12), the first single from Take Me Home (#1 Nov. ’12). The band’s second album spent two weeks at #1 and was accredited 3x Platinum. It also featured the singles ‘Little Things’ (#9 Nov. ’12) and ‘Kiss You’ (#13 Jan. ’13).
On the back of Take Me Home, 2012 saw One Direction win the first of their ARIA Awards forBest International Artist. The group would win the category five years running between 2012 and 2016.
The group took out their sixth Top Ten single with the charity single ‘One Way Or Another (Teenage Kicks)’ (#3 Feb. ’13). The medley of Blondie’s ‘One Way Or Another’ and The Undertones’ ‘Teenage Kicks’ was released to raise money for the Comic Relief charity.
Later in 2013, they hit the Top Ten with both ‘Best Song Ever’ (#4 Jul. ’13) and ‘Story of My Life’ (#3 Nov. ’13) before hitting #1 for a week with Midnight Memories (#1 Dec. ’13). Their third album also produced the singles ‘Midnight Memories’ (#45 Mar. ’14) and ‘You & I’ (#23 Jun. ’14). It received a 2x Platinum accreditation.
November 2014 saw the release of One Direction's aptly-titled fourth album Four (#1 Nov. ’14). The group appeared at the 2014 ARIA Awards and performed the single ‘Steal My Girl’ (#9 Nov. ’14).
The group’s first release as a quartet, ‘Drag Me Down’ became One Direction’s only #1 single in Australia when it spent one week at the top in August 2015. The fifth and final (to date) One Direction album Made In The A.M. debuted at #2 in November 2015, become the group’s only album not to hit #1. Hitting 2x Platinum, the album also garnered the singles ‘Infinity’ (#22 Oct. ’15), ‘Perfect’ (#4 Oct. ’15), ‘Home’ (#48 Nov. ’15), ‘History’ (#25 Feb. ’16).
Since One Direction’s entry into hiatus, only Harry Styles has returned to the ARIA Awards, winning Best International Artist and performing ‘Kiwi’ in 2017.
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