10 Interesting Facts About One Direction

The boy band One Direction has become a smash hit over the last several years, going on to sell over eight million albums in the United States.

However, the band hasn't been together all that long and in fact might not of come together at all without the suggestion of an influential individual.

These are 10 different interesting facts about One Direction, the members and how they became the band.

1. All of the boys in the band actually showed up as individual auditions for the 2010 season of the British show The X Factor.

2. None of the boys were selected to move onto the "Boys" category of the hit television show. Because of this, the guest judge Nicole Scherzinger said the five should get together and become a group in order to qualify for the "Group" category. The five individuals worked together for two weeks and eventually made it to the group.

3. It was Harry Styes of the group that came up with the name One Direction.

4. The band did not win the X Factor competition. In fact, they ended up finishing in third place. However, despite finishing in third one of the show's judges, Simon Cowell, signed the five individuals to a record deal. It is believed the record deal is at about two million pounds as the five are attached to the Syco Records company.

5. Although all five of the boys are from the United Kingdom and the X Factor show took place in the United Kingdom, the first record 'Up All Night' was recorded in Los Angels. The band took a break midway through recording the album in order to return to the United Kingdom and tour with other participants in the X Factor Live Tour and ended up seeing about 500,000 people in the United Kingdom. Eventually, in April of the same year, the boys returned to the United States in order to continue working on the album.

6. The first single ever officially released by One Direction was "What Makes You Beautiful." The single made it to number one on the UK Singles Chart and also became the most pre-ordered Sony Music Entertainment single in the overall history of the company. Just look at how many views their youtube of this single has...

One Direction then got to perform the 'what makes you beautiful' single on the biggest stage in the world, the Olympics in London, 2012. Not a bad gig for 5 lads who came third in the X Factor final two years previously.

7. The same single, when released in the United States, made it to number 28, which at the time was the highest debut for any British act since 1998. The song eventually made it to number four on the list.

8. The very first television appearance for the group in the United States took place on The Today Show.

9 The album Up All Night has sold over 500,000 digital copies, which is the most ever for any boy band in the United States.

10. The band has still only released the one album, but the group has spent most of its time touring the world, from the United States to the United Kingdom and a variety of other countries along the way. The group has even been featured in their very own movie, titled: This Is Us.