In case you live under a rock, 23 July 2020 marked 10 years since One Direction was formed. Since this is a huge milestone, it called for a day wide celebration all over social media. There were hashtags trending 24/7, heartfelt posts from all the present members. A website that – in true 1D fashion – crashed almost immediately because the fans broke the internet, and even a surprise Taylor Swift album. It felt like 2013 all over again. And the celebrations are still continuing.
It all started when the One Direction Instagram account posted this on the eve of the anniversary:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CC8g3QyBwZ8/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
This quickly broke the internet, with fans having an absolute meltdown on every social media platform imaginable. And then, as the clocks struck 12 in various different countries, the celebrations began. #10YearsOfOneDirection started trending on Twitter. One Direction dropped some remastered EPs (Acoustic, Live, Rarities, and Remixes) and an expanded version of Take Me Home with songs that weren’t initially on the album.
The band also posted a 5 minute video on Youtube with some of the biggest moments in the band’s history:
Band members’ reminisce
What stole the cake, and made everyone cry, were the beautiful messages each of the remaining One Direction members posted for the anniversary. Liam Payne lead the charge with this adorable post on Instagram and Twitter early in the morning, others followed:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CC-dOGNAKjG/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
https://www.instagram.com/p/CC_HI6Vj8Qa/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Louis posted a longer message on Twitter, making fans weep with joy when he also tagged Zayn, who left the group in 2015.
Too many incredible memories to mention but not a day goes by that I don't think about how amazing it was. @NiallOfficial @Harry_Styles @LiamPayne @zaynmalik . So proud of you all individually.
— Louis Tomlinson (@Louis_Tomlinson) July 23, 2020
https://www.instagram.com/p/CC_BBgyn9L1/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
He also gave a shoutout to the crew that worked with them relentlessly through the years:
It’s the 150 person crew of carpenters, lighting, riggers, sound, stage manager Mill that flew the globe with us. it’s our band, our security boys, tour managers, our managers, our label, Sarah cooking our food for us on the road. Today is a day to celebrate those guys also.
— Niall Horan (@NiallOfficial) July 23, 2020
https://www.instagram.com/p/CC_NoNtnQpb/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Records were broken
Every single one of their tweets on this day gained over 1 million likes. And apparently, Harry Styles broke the record for the fastest tweet to garner 1 Million likes on Twitter. This record was previously held by BTS’ Jungkook (2 Hours).
https://twitter.com/TheHSUpdate/status/1286322847078649857?s=20
The band also launched a 10 Years of 1D website to commemorate the anniversary, which crashed almost immediately due to too much traffic.
Happy #10YearsOf1D Day! Relive your favourite One Direction memories here: https://t.co/GrUHfaSMUp pic.twitter.com/yS5KsERP1y
— One Direction (@onedirection) July 23, 2020
The link to the website is here. You can even make your own personalised mixtape while you’re at it.
There’s more!
And that’s not all, the celebrations are set to continue all week as the band has a few more things planned for the milestone anniversary:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CC_ozajBhkf/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
On the day of the anniversary, One Direction was the most streamed artist on Spotify:
.@onedirection was the #1 most streamed artist overall on global Spotify on July 23 with over 47 million listens. #10YearsOfOneDirection
— chart data (@chartdata) July 24, 2020
And that’s about it! It was a day filled with a lot of nostalgia, love and a bucket load of emotions and tears. Fans celebrated by having listening parties and blasting their entire discography for the whole day, and it truly felt like the good old days again. Because, after all, they’ve got a whole lotta history.
Happy 10 years, One Direction! Here’s hoping we get to celebrate 10 more.
Featured image: BBC
