One Direction is a group.
A boy band ( or boyband ) is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers , usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation , singing love songs marketed towards young females . One Direction . The group signed with Simon Cowell 's record label Syco Records after forming and finishing third in the seventh series of the British televised singing competition The X Factor in 2010 . The band 's Where We Are Tour in support of Midnight Memories and Four , was the highest-grossing concert tour in 2014 , and the highest-grossing tour ever by a vocal group , generating $ 282 million .