One Direction Tickets

Another success of the UK talent show market, One Direction came third on The X Factor in 2010 yet, despite not winning, they still secured a record deal with Simon Cowell's Syco Music and have so far carved a successful career in the teenage pop market. The group's members, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson, had all entered the show as individual singers in the “Boys” category, but were not put through to the live shows. Instead, judge Nicole Scherzinger suggested they get together as a band, and therefore qualify for the “Groups” category, which they did, and were picked as one of mentor Cowell's “Final Four”. The other three groups soon bit the dust, leaving One Direction as Cowell's sole remaining act in the competition, and they managed to reach the final weekend, finishing behind runner-up, Rebecca Ferguson, and eventual winner, Matt Cardle.

Between February and April 2011, One Direction performed on The X Factor Tour around the UK and Ireland, and made appearances on The Alan Titchmarsh Show and Alan Carr: Chatty Man. An official pictorial book, One Direction: Forever Young, was published in February 2011, and shot to the top of The Sunday Times Bestseller list. Their debut single, “What Makes You Beautiful”, was released in September 2011, to coincide with the start of the eighth series of The X Factor, and went straight to No.1. Their second single, “Gotta Be You”, came out in November the same year, and their debut album, Up All Night, was released a week later, and also went to No.1.

In the vein of popular 1970s and 1980s bands, a One Direction Annual was published in September 2011, and another book, One Direction: Dare To Dream, also topped Hardback Bestseller lists in the UK. Their official calendar became Amazon's bestselling calendar of all time, when it was released in November 2011.

In December 2011, One Direction embarked on their first UK tour, with tickets selling out as soon as they went on sale. After their UK dates end in January 2012, they will be heading to the States to support Big Time Rush in March and April.