In 2010, five boys beat hundreds of thousands others to get the coveted spots in the seventh series "The X Factor".
Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson did not know each other before the audition of the British talent show but they were grouped together by fate and later achieved fame in one direction.
The members applied as solo candidates but they did not qualify as "Boys" category, thus judge Nicole Scherzinger suggested them to form a group so that they would qualify as "Groups". One Direction began toppling their competition one by one although they remained the only group in its category. With Simon Cowell as their mentor, One Direction managed to finish third behind runner-up Rebecca Ferguson and winner Matt Cardle.
click their names to see them on the X factor
Throwback story
But One Direction were the quickest to break through the charts in United Kingdom and United States. Their supposed winning song "Forever Young" was leaked online after the "X Factor" final. The group signed a recording deal with Syco Records and they went on the annual contestants tour through April 2011. Meanwhile, work on their debut album was also moving fast. "What Makes You Beautiful" was released as the first U.K. Single in September 2011. The song successfully landed at number on U.K. Singles chart. "Gotta Be You" was released as one last bullet before their first album "Up All Night" was released in November 2011 and took the second spot of U.K. Albums chart by selling more than 138,000 copies in the first week. The album was followed by U.K. Tour in December 2011 and January 2012.