Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

A whole lot of history: 10 years of One Direction and what the boys did next

One Direction – originally consisting of Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne and Harry Styles – were formed 10 years ago (Doug Peters/PA)
One Direction – originally consisting of Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne and Harry Styles – were formed 10 years ago (Doug Peters/PA)

One Direction are celebrating their tenth anniversary.

Thursday marks a decade since Simon Cowell put Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, and Louis Tomlinson together on the X Factor.

Their time together brought five albums, four world tours and plenty of memories, midnight and otherwise. They went on indefinite hiatus in 2016.

The band have marked the occasion by releasing a trove of archival content, including music videos and behind-the-scenes footage.

Fans hoping for a reunion tour will have to wait for now. To mark One Direction’s 10th anniversary, the PA news agency has looked at what the boys did next:

Harry Styles

Harry Styles comments
Harry Styles has been hugely successful since One Direction took a break (Ian West/PA)

From the moment he stepped on the X Factor stage as a fresh-faced 16-year-old, it was clear to many Styles had star quality.

His cover of Stevie Wonder’s Isn’t She Lovely was a huge hit with the studio audience and Cowell and Nicole Scherzinger sent him through, despite Louis Walsh’s fears the young singer did not have enough experience.

His post-One Direction career has been predictably successful. Styles’ self-titled debut album arrived in 2017 to critical acclaim and topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.

His second effort, Fine Line, was released in December and was another success thanks to singles including Lights Up, Adore You and Watermelon Sugar.

Away from music, Styles made his acting debut in Christopher Nolan’s 2017 war masterpiece Dunkirk.

Niall Horan

Niall Horan comments
Niall Horan’s solo albums include Flicker and Heartbreak Weather (Matt Crossick/PA)

Irish singer Horan was widely seen as the “nice” member of One Direction.

The 26-year-old’s debut album, 2017’s Flicker, was a worldwide success, reaching number one in his home country and the US, while peaking at third position in the UK.

Flicker singles including This Town and Slow Hands. Horan followed Flicker with Heartbreak Weather, which was released in March.

Boosted by catchy singles such as Nice To Meet Ya and Put A Little Love On Me, the album replicated the success of Flicker, scoring number ones in both the UK and Ireland as well as a top five place in the US.

Zayn Malik

BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend – Glasgow
Zayn Malik has enjoyed some success as a solo performer and is expecting a child with Gigi Hadid (Mark Runnacles/PA)

In 2015, Zayn became the first member to depart One Direction, saying he wanted “some private time out of the spotlight”.

His solo career got off to a strong start and his 2016 single Pillowtalk, from the album Mind Of Mine, was a worldwide smash. It led to Malik becoming the first British male artist to debut at number one in both the UK and US.

He also found success with subsequent singles I Don’t Wanna Live Forever with Taylor Swift and Dusk Till Dawn, which featured Sia.

However, Malik’s second studio album, 2018’s Icarus Falls, failed to reach the highs of Mind Of Mine. It peaked at 77 in the UK album charts and 61 in the US.

Malik is expecting his first child with his partner, the model Gigi Hadid.

Louis Tomlinson

Coronavirus – Fri Apr 24, 2020
Louis Tomlinson’s life after One Direction has been marred by personal tragedy (Ian West/PA)

Like his bandmates, Tomlinson launched a solo career after One Direction went on hiatus. His debut solo single Just Hold On reached number two in the UK, though his follow-ups have achieved varying degrees of success.

Tomlinson’s debut album, Walls, arrived in January and made the top 10 in both the UK and US. He also served as a judge on series 15 of the X Factor and one of the contestants he mentored, Dalton Harris, won the show.

Earlier this month Tomlinson announced he had agreed to split with Cowell’s record label.

Tomlinson’s personal life post-One Direction has been marred by tragedy. His mother, Johannah Deakin, died in December 2016 following a battle with leukaemia.

And Tomlinson’s sister Felicite died of an accidental drug overdose in 2019 aged 18.

The singer is father to four-year-old son Freddie Reign.

Liam Payne

Liam Payne on BBC education episode
Liam Payne has pursued a solo career since leaving One Direction (Ian West/PA)

Payne’s debut track as a solo artist was the single Strip That Down featuring Migos rapper Quavo. It was a chart success, reaching number three in the UK and cracking the US top 10.

Payne’s maiden album, LP1, launched a week before Styles’ Fine Line but did not achieve the same critical and commercial success.

The record peaked at 17 in the UK but failed to crack the top 100 in the US. Away from music, Payne was involved in a high-profile relationship with pop star Cheryl.

They split in 2018 and have a three-year-old son together, named Bear.