It is one of the best selling singles of all time, with over 7 million copies sold worldwide. It peaked at #4 in the United States, but reached #1 on the US Dance Club Songs chart. The song also reached #1 in Ireland, Mexico and Scotland. It became the third fastest selling single of 2011, selling 153,965 copies. One Direction's debut single, ' What Makes You Beautiful' was released on 11 September 2011, and debuted on the United Kingdom Singles Chart at #1 on September 18, 2011. Simon Cowell signed One Direction to his record label, Syco Music, on December 13th, 2010. Ultimately, they finished in third place behind runner up Rebecca Ferguson and winner Matt Cardle. One Direction were the favorite act to win throughout the 2010 season of X Factor, generating massive unprecedented fan and media hype. In August 2010, all five members of One Direction spent two weeks living at Harry's father's bungalow in Cheshire, England. These contestants were placed into two groups, allowing them all to continue competing. Simon Cowell and three other judges decided the groups were not evenly split that year, and decided to call back ten eliminated solo contestants. Each soloist succeeded through to the bootcamp stage, but all were eliminated at its conclusion. For Louis Tomlinson, it was his third audition process and his first to qualify past the initial producer's auditions, which took place in April 2010. Payne had first auditioned in 2008, but was eliminated during the judge's houses portion, due to his age and inexperience. For Liam Payne, it was his second audition process. In early 2010, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik auditioned as solo performers for the seventh season of British reality/talent show, The X Factor (UK).

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