Liam Payne celebrates “What Makes You Beautiful” approaching 1 billion Spotify streams

Diane Adao

August 7, 2023

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  Attention, Directioners!

  Thirteen years have passed since One Direction was formed on The X Factor. The members have achieved remarkable milestones throughout their individual careers, both as a group and as solo artists. Even Harry Styles secured a Grammy for Album of the Year in February 2023, and his former bandmates celebrated his musical success.

  

  Nearly seven years after their hiatus, the band, originally comprised of five core members – Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, and Zayn Malik – is on the brink of joining Spotify’s prestigious Billions Club. Their debut single, “What Makes You Beautiful,” is on the verge of reaching 1 billion streams on the platform. The song was released in 2011 following One Direction’s third-place finish on The X Factor, and it remains an essential cornerstone within their compilation of five studio albums.

  The music video has already amassed over 1.4 billion views on YouTube, while the song presently boasts 999,280,040 streams on Spotify.

  One of the band’s founding members, Liam Payne, pondered this achievement through a nostalgic Instagram post on Wednesday, August 2nd. “Wow, I’ve just been informed that we’re about to hit a billion streams on WMYB! Back when we created this song early in our careers, I never envisioned these numbers. What an accomplishment, boys!” expressed the “Strip That Down” vocalist in his caption.

   

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  A post shared by Liam Payne (@liampayne)

  “I feel incredibly fortunate not only to share this with you but also with this incredible fanbase,” he continued. “Every day, I’m discovering more about myself and the purpose of all this. Reflecting on it now, considering the influence we all wielded, including you, the fans, I’m elated. For five years, we crafted such a profound life soundtrack – full of laughter, pain, and everything in between. Miss you, boys. With much love, me x”

  Given recent interactions and reported studio sightings among the boys, does this signal the coming return of a One Direction reunion?

  Listen to WMYB here:
  

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