One Direction made music.
One Direction ( commonly abbreviated as 1D ) are an English-Irish pop boy band based in London , composed of Niall Horan , Liam Payne , Harry Styles , Louis Tomlinson , and previously , Zayn Malik until his departure from the band on 25 March 2015 . 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 . Their third album , Midnight Memories , was the biggest-selling album worldwide of 2013 despite being released in late November .