By Annie Jones

Rise to Fame – One Direction, is the British-Irish band that comprised of the contestants from the X Factor of 2010. Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, and Louis Tomlinson didn’t know they would soon become One Direction as they initially auditioned as solos artists. After making it to the second round they were all eliminated due to lack of experience, but were then formed into One Direction by Simon Cowell.

The group first sang together the song, “Torn” by Natalie Imbruglia. In the semi-finals of the X Factor, One Direction sang “Only Girl in the World” by Rihanna, Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol, and “Your Song” by Elton John. They concluded their performance singing “Torn” by Natalie Imbuglia again.

Unfortunately, they were eliminated leaving them in third place. Many One Direction fans (One Directioners) thought that this would be the end of the band they had all grown to love. Fortunately, they were wrong because One Direction released “What Makes You Beautiful” in September 2011. This single became a hit song reaching number one on the UK charts. It also charted in the top ten of several other international markets. In November 2011, One Direction released their debut album “Up All Night” which also reached number one in UK Album Charts. They also released; “One Thing” and “Gotta Be You” that made it top of the list in the UK.

The British Invasion-  On March 21, 2012 One Direction released Up All Night in the U.S. and it reached number one on the Billboard 200. One Direction was the first UK group in history to debut at number one with their first album.

The band appeared on the Nickelodeon Kids Choice awards as a musical guest and sang “What Makes You Beautiful.” They were also on the iCarly episode, “iGoOneDirection” in which the boys appeared and preformed. Another appearance they made was on Saturday Night Live with Sofia Vergara where they sang “What Makes You Beautiful” and “One Thing”. As you can tell One Direction is taking the World by storm one song at a time.