I asked if he'd ever be bigger than 1D around the time of his Fine Line era and the consensus was that he wouldn't be. Was ATRL wrong?

 

Single certifications in the US (RIAA):

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Harry Styles 35/35 songs certified (100%)

One Direction: 10/90 songs certified (11%)

Single certifications in the UK:

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One Direction:

• 1.8 + 3.6 + 4.8 + 1.2 + 1.4 = 12.8 million
• 21/90 songs certified (23%)

 

3x Platinum 1.8 million

1. What Makes You Beautiful

2x Platinum 1.2 million (x 3 = 3.6 million)

1. Little Things
2. History
3. Story of My Life

Platinum 600K (x 7 = 4.8 million)

1. Live While We're Young
2. Kiss You
3. One Way Or Another (Teenage Kicks)
4. Best Song Ever
5. Perfect
6. Drag Me Down
7. Steal My Girl

Gold 400K (x 3 = 1.2 million)

1. 18
2. One Thing
3. You & I

Silver 200K (x 7 = 1.4 million)

1. If I Could Fly
2. No Control
3. Where Do Broken Hearts Go
4. Olivia
5. Infinity
6. They Don't Know About Us
7. Midnight Memories

 

Harry Styles:

• 3.6 + 3.6 + 2.4 + 1.2 + 4 = 14.8 million
• 32/35 songs certified (91%)

 

3x Platinum 1.8 million (x 2 = 3.6 million)

1. As It Was
2. Watermelon Sugar

2x Platinum 1.2 million (x 3 = 3.6 million)

1. Adore You
2. Falling
3. Sign Of The Times

Platinum 600K (x 4 = 2.4 million)

1. Late Night Talking
2. Golden
3. Lights Up

Gold 400K (x 3 = 1.2 million)

1. Music For A Sushi Restaurant
2. Matilda
3. Kiwi

Silver 200K (x 20 = 4 million)

1. Grapejuice
2. Daylight
3. Little Freak
4. Cinema
5. Daydreaming
6. Keep Driving
7. Satellite
8. Cherry
9. To Be So Lonely
10. She
11. Sunflower, Vol. 6
12. Canyon Moon
13. Treat People With Kindness
14. Fine Line
15. Meet Me In The Hallway
16. Carolina
17. Two Ghosts
18. Only Angel
19. Woman
20. From The Dining Table

Single performances in the US:

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One Direction:

• 0 #1 hits
• 0 weeks at #1
• 6 top 10 hits
• Longest charting 34 weeks
• 29/91 songs charted (32%)

 

Harry Styles:

• 2 #1 hits
• 16 weeks at #1
• 7 top 10 hits
• Longest charting 61 weeks
• 22/35 songs charted (63%)

Single performances in the UK:

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One Direction:

• 4 #1 hits
• 4 weeks at #1
• 14 top 10 hits
• 56 weeks in the top 10
• Longest charting 78 weeks (before ACR)
• 40/91 songs charted (44%)*
• *All 5 albums before the rule that limits it to 3 songs per artist in the chart.

 

Harry Styles:

• 2 #1 hits
• 11 weeks at #1
• 7 top 10 hits
• 72 weeks in the top 10
• Longest charting 88 weeks (after ACR)
• 19/35 songs charted (54%)*
• *2/3 albums (his most popular) after the rule that limits it to 3 songs per artist in the chart.

Total Spotify streams:

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One Direction:

• 18,343,694,982 (125 tracks)
• Average per track: 146,749,560
• Amount of tracks above 1 billion: 2

 

Harry Styles:

• 18,343,779,697 (37 tracks)
• Average per track: 495,777,830
• Amount of tracks above 1 million: 5

Album certifications US (RIAA):

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One Direction:

• Up All Night - 3x Platinum
• Take Me Home - 3x Platinum
• Midnight Memories - 3x Platinum
• Four - Platinum
• Made In The AM - 2x Platinum

 

Harry Styles:

• Harry Styles - Platinum
• Fine Line - 3x Platinum
• Harry's House - 2x Platinum

Album certifications UK:

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One Direction:

• Up All Night - 4x Platinum
• Take Me Home - 4x Platinum
• Midnight Memories - 3x Platinum
• Four - 2x Platinum
• Made In The AM - 2x Platinum

 

Harry Styles:

• Harry Styles - Platinum
• Fine Line - 2x Platinum
• Harry's House - 2x Platinum

Album performances in the US:

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One Direction:

• 4/5 #1
• 4 weeks at #1
• Up All Night: 105 weeks in chart
• Take Me Home: 78 weeks in chart
• Midnight Memories: 90 weeks in chart
• Four: 66 weeks in chart
• Made In The AM: 48 weeks in chart

 

Harry Styles:

• 3/3 #1
• 5 weeks at #1
• Harry Styles: 153 weeks in chart
• Fine Line: 188 weeks in chart (entire run, currently charting)
• Harry's House 61 weeks in chart (entire run, currently charting)

Album performances in the UK:

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One Direction:

• 4/5 #1
• 5 weeks at #1
• Up All Night: 127 weeks in chart
• Take Me Home: 96 weeks in chart
• Midnight Memories: 900 weeks in chart
• Four: 34 weeks in chart
• Made In The AM: 40 weeks in chart

 

Harry Styles:

• 2/3 #1
• 7 weeks at #1
• Harry Styles: 145 weeks in chart (currently charting)
• Fine Line: 189 weeks in chart (entire run, currently charting)
• Harry's House 62 weeks in chart (entire run, currently charting)

CSPC worldwide:

(pure hasn't been updated for either of them in 18 months, Harry's sales are particularly outdated because he sold a ton of pure of all albums, especially HsH)

Spoiler

One Direction:

Up All Night 14.8M

Take Me Home 14M

Midnight Memories 12.7M

Four 9.4M

Made In The AM 9M

 

Harry Styles:

Harry Styles 6.2M

Fine Line 11.5M

Harry's House 7M

Tours:

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One Direction:

Up All Night (2011/2012):

• no gross data
• no attendance data
• 54 shows
• theaters

Take Me Home (2013):

• 114M gross (143.22M adjusted for inflation)
• 824K attendance
• 123 shows
• arenas

Where We Are (2014):

• 290.2M gross (358.73M adjusted for inflation)
• 3.4M attendance
• 69 shows
• stadiums

On The Road Again (2015):

• 208M gross (256.8M adjusted for inflation)
• 2.3M attendance
• 77 shows
• stadiums and arenas

 

Harry Styles:

Live On Tour (2017/2018):

• 63.1M (78.67 adjusted for inflation)
• 807K attendance
• 89 shows
• theaters and arenas

Love On Tour (2021/2023):

• 589.4M (625M adjusted for inflation) (not fully reported)
• 4.7M attendance (not fully reported)
• 169 shows
• arenas and stadiums

Total gross & attendance on tour:

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One Direction (four tours, five albums)

Gross not adjusted for inflation: 612.2M

Gross adjusted for inflation: 758.75M

Attendance: 6,599,493

 

Harry Styles (two tours, three albums) (not fully reported)

Gross not adjusted for inflation: 652.5M

Gross adjusted for inflation: 703.67M

Attendance: 5,546,067

Highest grossing tour:

Spoiler

One Direction:

Where We Are (2014):

• 290.2M gross (358.73M adjusted for inflation)

Harry Styles:

Love On Tour (2021/2023):

• 589.4M (625M adjusted for inflation) (not fully reported)

Awards

Spoiler

GRAMMYS

One Direction:

• Nominations: 0
• Wins: 0

Harry Styles:

• Grammy nominations: 9
• Wins: 3

 

BRIT Awards

One Direction:

• Nominations: 12
• Wins: 7
• Non-fan-voted* wins: 1

Harry Styles:

• Nominations: 8
• Wins: 6
• Non-fan-voted* wins: 5

(Brit fan-voted awards were fully retired in 2018)

 

American Music Awards

One Direction:

• Nominations: 10
• Wins: 7

Harry Styles:

• Nominations: 6
• Wins: 3

 

IVOR NOVELLO AWARDS (songwriting excellence)

One Direction:

• Nominations: 0
• Wins: 0

Harry Styles:

• Nominations: 6
• Wins: 2

 

MERCURY PRIZE (most prestigious British award)

One Direction:

• Not shortlisted

Harry Styles:

• Shortlisted in 2022

 

MTV Video Music Awards

One Direction:

• Nominations: 4
• Wins: 4

Harry Styles:

• Nominations: 17
• Wins: 4

 

ARIA Awards (one per era possible)

One Direction:

• Nominations: 5/5
• Wins: 5/5

Harry Styles:

• Nominations: 3
• Wins: 3

 

Juno Awards (one per era possible, "Canadian Grammys")

One Direction:

• Nominations: 3/5
• Wins: 0

Harry Styles:

• Nominations: 2/3
• Wins: 2

 

 

The only metric where Harry hasn't overwhelmingly surpassed 1D is in album sales and certifications, but his album runs in both the UK and the US (biggest markets for both of them) are better than the band's, so this is simply because album sales are lower in general.

 

Harry also broke a bunch of 1D records that I'm not mentioning, like biggest attendance in Scotland, selling more Wembley stadium shows in one single tour, etc.

Edited July 29, 20233 yr by More Than A Melody
fixed formatting

Yes numbers wise but 1D felt like a phenomena idk 

I never went to a 1D concert but I went to Harry’s  2017 Concert tour and was kinda blown away by just how massive he was then🤯 1D was a phenomenon, but I don’t think they have had the longevity in pop culture. They feel so early 2010’s and forgotten. But Harry had had multiple Era’s as a main pop boy. So I wouldn’t be shocked if he was bigger overall now

2 minutes ago, whiteferrari said:

Yes numbers wise but 1D felt like a phenomena idk 

I get that, butttt, I think Harry is almost as big of a phenomenon and the only reason he doesn't feel bigger is that pop culture has been severely segmented in the past 5 years.

I think so? But he wouldn't have done it without 1D, especially touring-wise. He was always destined to have the biggest solo career imo and his music also has way more appeal than 1D's so that obviously helped a lot.

 

Even if he hasn't passed them it yet, it is for sure happening in the future. But the chokehold the band had on pop culture and many people across the globe back then is incomparable honestly and the death of monoculture isn't helping Harry here. Their daily streams are still great for a group that disbanded ages ago and their fans are all grown-ups now.

Edited July 29, 20233 yr by State of Grace.

One Direction... was a moment. Almost everyone actively kept up-to-date with them or at the very least had a strong opinion about them all, but I would not say Harry's impact was greater than the groups. Although I do believe Harry Styles is definitely the biggest solo artist to come from the group 

I'm starting to associate him less and less with 1D which speaks volumes considering I was in High School back in 2012 when 1D hit the scene with 'What Makes You Beautiful' and every girl at school seemed to go into hysterics whenever they were just as much mentioned in anything

 

Fine Line was a big deal obviously, but Harry's House is definitely the album that cemented his status as a solo star on his own. 

 

It'll be interesting to see where he goes going forward, but it's still interesting to me how circa. 2016/2017 I was convinced Zayn was going to be that breakout star and 6 years later Harry's left everyone in the dust.

 

Crazy how things work.

1 minute ago, State of Grace. said:

I think so? But he wouldn't have done it without 1D, especially touring-wise. He was always destined to have the biggest solo career imo and his music also has way more appeal than 1D's so that obviously helped a lot.

 

Even if he hasn't passed them it yet, it is for sure happening in the future. But the chokehold the band had on pop culture and many people across the globe back then is incomparable honestly. Their daily streams are still great for a group that disbanded ages ago and their fans are all grown-ups now.

"He wouldn't have done it without 1D" is a weird take because

 

1. There are four other members and none of them are even close to anything similar to this
2. We don't have a crystal ball to guess what would've happened in a reality where 1D didn't exist, so we can't really know. Perhaps if he hadn't agreed to be part of the band he'd been discovered like Justin Bieber and be even bigger because he'd been around since the sales era. He could've easily auditioned again for the X Factor (Louis auditioned 3 times and Liam twice). 2010 was the first year he could audition. Perhaps he would've given up and study to be a lawyer like he said. There's no way of knowing, so it's a pointless scenario to imagine.

I think nobody has the chokehold anything had in the 2000s and the 2010s anymore because pop culture is segmented. Taylor is bigger than she ever was and to me, she still felt more inescapable back then. A hit song in the 2010s was everywhere. Now you can have a song be a hit and a vast majority of people have never listened to it. That's impossible to compare.

I didn't need to look at the stats to give a very easy yes

By nature of 1D being a boyband, a large segment of the listening population was never going to take them seriously no matter what they release. Harry as a solo artist though is able to come across as less manufactured, particularly among straight males. This is why 1D would never have won a Grammy, but Harry is able to sweep.

Just now, More Than A Melody said:

"He wouldn't have done it without 1D" is a weird take because

 

1. There are four other members and none of them are even close to anything similar to this
2. We don't have a crystal ball to guess what would've happened in a reality where 1D didn't exist, so we can't really know. Perhaps if he hadn't agreed to be part of the band he'd been discovered like Justin Bieber and be even bigger because he'd been around since the sales era. He could've easily auditioned again for the X Factor (Louis auditioned 3 times and Liam twice). 2010 was the first year he could audition. Perhaps he would've given up and study to be a lawyer like he said. There's no way of knowing, so it's a pointless scenario to imagine.

I think nobody has the chokehold anything had in the 2000s and the 2010s anymore because pop culture is segmented. Taylor is bigger than she ever was and to me, she still felt more inescapable back then. A hit song in the 2010s was everywhere. Now you can have a song be a hit and a vast majority of people have never listened to it. That's impossible to compare.

I'm just saying that 1D has definitely helped his solo career considering they were a massive touring act and Harry is the biggest member. Obviously, that wasn't the sole reason for his success. Having a bigger fanbase, better music, better marketing, better performances, etc have all helped cement his status as a solo artist and big touring act.

 

I agree with the last part. I already edited my post and added that monoculture dying is working against him.

6 minutes ago, More Than A Melody said:

"He wouldn't have done it without 1D" is a weird take because

 

1. There are four other members and none of them are even close to anything similar to this
2. We don't have a crystal ball to guess what would've happened in a reality where 1D didn't exist, so we can't really know. Perhaps if he hadn't agreed to be part of the band he'd been discovered like Justin Bieber and be even bigger because he'd been around since the sales era. He could've easily auditioned again for the X Factor (Louis auditioned 3 times and Liam twice). 2010 was the first year he could audition. Perhaps he would've given up and study to be a lawyer like he said. There's no way of knowing, so it's a pointless scenario to imagine.

I think nobody has the chokehold anything had in the 2000s and the 2010s anymore because pop culture is segmented. Taylor is bigger than she ever was and to me, she still felt more inescapable back then. A hit song in the 2010s was everywhere. Now you can have a song be a hit and a vast majority of people have never listened to it. That's impossible to compare.

I would agree, but the breakout stars from groups are the exception & not the rule and he wouldn’t be where his exactly right now without One Direction and that’s not a bad thing, he took his platform from the band and turned it into greater success. 

1 minute ago, State of Grace. said:

I'm just saying that 1D has definitely helped his solo career considering they were a massive touring act and Harry is the biggest member. Obviously, that wasn't the sole reason for his success. Having a bigger fanbase, better music, better marketing, better performances, etc have all helped cement his status as a solo artist and big touring act.

 

I agree with the last part. I already edited my post and added that monoculture dying is working against him.

I agree it helped him, but I don't know how much it helped considering try as they might, the others don't seem to be able to go anywhere near. What I think 1D did, for all of them, is give them the platform to launch their solo careers. That's why for the others their first eras and singles were the biggest. But for Harry, it was the smallest. He took that opportunity and used it to his advantage and managed to become bigger than the band ever was.

 

But of course, to deny that 1D give him that launching pad is to be delirious.

Yes. And thank god. We didn't need 5 to begin with 

I’m going to say no. If 1D come back, you’ll see crazy demand again. Streaming has obviously helped Harry and touring has become bigger since he went solo. 
 

He has done very well for himself though. 

Yes, especially considering his solo career has already lasted longer than 1D's entire run as a group and he's still getting bigger.

1 minute ago, Keeandga said:

I would agree, but the breakout stars from groups are the exception & not the rule and he wouldn’t be where his exactly right now without One Direction and that’s not a bad thing, he took his platform from the band and turned it into greater success. 

But most bands don't produce a breakout star bigger than the band ever was. It happens around 20% of the time, and I'd say even less so when the band is hyper successful.

 

I did already clarify that I think 1D helped, but I don't think it's the reason or that it would've been impossible for him to be here without it. It's entirely possible he'd be as big or bigger without it. It's just a scenario we can't really know.

9 minutes ago, Shelter said:

I’m going to say no. If 1D come back, you’ll see crazy demand again. Streaming has obviously helped Harry and touring has become bigger since he went solo. 
 

He has done very well for himself though. 

1D was in decline when they broke up. Look at the stats I posted and you'll see. Each album sold less than the one before and they had less and less successful singles. Their last tour was smaller than the one before and wasn't fully sold out. I do think the first era if 1D were to come back would be huge, but after that the novelty would wear off and it'd sink. Just like it happened to the Jonas Brothers.

 

Harry isn't going back anyway. He has no reason to.

1 minute ago, More Than A Melody said:

1D was in decline when they broke up. Look at the stats I posted and you'll see. Each album sold less than the one before and they had less and less successful singles. Their last tour was smaller than the one before and wasn't fully sold out. I do think the first era if 1D were to come back would be huge, but after that the novelty would wear off and it'd sink. Just like it happened to the Jonas Brothers.

 

Harry isn't going back anyway. He has no reason to.

Streaming got bigger since and their last singles were their weakest. He will go back for a tour.  They always do  even 5 - 10 years from now, you don’t think he will? 

13 minutes ago, Shelter said:

Streaming got bigger since and their last singles were their weakest. He will go back for a tour.  They always do  even 5 - 10 years from now, you don’t think he will? 

Timberlake hasn’t gone back and toured with NSYNC, so I don’t really see why Harry would want or need to tour with 1D ever again

2 minutes ago, WeFoundTrouble said:

Timberlake hasn’t gone back and toured with NSYNC, so I don’t really see why Harry would want or need to tour with 1D ever again

Harry is way more humble than JT

Yes. One Direction peaked with their 2013 album and then got less and less relevant (still huge) 

 

Harry has managed to almost make people think of him as a star alone not a former member of a boyband. That's a very hard thing to do when coming out of a group

 

Unless he absolutely falls off a cliff in popularity in the next few years, which the chances of that happening are next to 0, I don't think he'll ever go back to 1D when they inevitably have a reunion. Unless of course that reunion is for a Harry Super Bowl or something 

Definitely. 1D was more so notorious than famous, from my experience. All the online memes and hatred 

9 minutes ago, WeFoundTrouble said:

Timberlake hasn’t gone back and toured with NSYNC, so I don’t really see why Harry would want or need to tour with 1D ever again

JT is a **** though. N Sync were local anyway.

 

I could see it happening, even if it was a UK residency thing for a certain amount of shows for their anniversary or something. I doubt it’s the last of 1D. 

26 minutes ago, Shelter said:

Streaming got bigger since and their last singles were their weakest. He will go back for a tour.  They always do  even 5 - 10 years from now, you don’t think he will? 

Beyoncé, Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Ricky Martin, and Robbie Williams didn't go back for a tour. In fact, I can't name a single breakout star from a band that made it bigger than the band that went back.