- One Direction – originally Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, and Zayn Malik – celebrate their 10th anniversary on July 23, 2020.
- Malik split from the group in 2015 and released his debut solo album, “Mind of Mine,” in 2016.
- The band officially went on “hiatus” in 2016 and each of the four remaining members have now released at least one solo project of their own.
- Insider ranked Styles’ sophomore album “Fine Line” as the best of the group. We also ranked Styles’ self-titled debut at No. 2.
- Liam Payne’s “LP1” was ranked as the worst at No. 8.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
This month marks the 10th anniversary of One Direction’s formation.
Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, and Zayn Malik were famously cobbled together by Simon Cowell after they auditioned individually for “The X-Factor.” After coming in third place on the show, the group went on to find astonishing worldwide success.
Malik eventually split from the group in 2015 and the band officially went on “hiatus” in 2016, insisting they’d be back together after 18 months.
Judging by their slew of solo releases, however, we’re unlikely to see an official, long-term reunion anytime soon.
Insider's music team (reporter Callie Ahlgrim and celebrity and music editor Courteney Larocca) teamed up with freelance editor Paige DiFiore, another One Direction enthusiast, to rank the former boy banders' eight solo albums.
They're listed in descending order below.
8. "LP1" didn't do Liam Payne justice.
Of the members of One Direction, Payne's voice is one of the strongest. But if "LP1" is the first time you've heard his vocals, you'd never know.
Sadly, his debut album does him no justice.
Notably, this was not his first post-1D solo venture. His first project, the four-track EP "First Time," dropped in August 2018.
I'm usually not one for upbeat, club music - and "First Time" is not revolutionary, nor particularly clever - but the EP is catchy and fun and I played it on loop for months after it was released.
This brings me to the first downfall and red flag of "LP1" - none of the head-bopping, vibe-filled tracks from the EP made it onto the album.
"LP1" is bad.
With its massive tracklist, this album is harsh with not a single true ballad to soften out its edges. The record just seems confused - is it R&B? Pop? A hybrid? None of the above?
Some of the singles - like "Stack It Up" and "Strip That Down" - are fun and perfect for dancing to, but nearly every other track blends into an incomprehensible mix that should play in the background of a club scene in a low-budget film.
The lyrics are weak and Payne's smooth vocals are buried beneath autotune and obnoxious, pulsating beats.
Perhaps the entire album is best summed up by the track "Heart Meet Break." Its main lyric, "Heart meet break, lips meet drank," is an example of how lyrically weak, lazy, and cringe-worthy this album is most of the time.
Many of the songs have unclever, crude lyrics and some even venture into offensive territory - "Both Ways" was criticized by many as being biphobic. Whether you feel that way or not, the song is inarguably bad.
Perhaps the worst part of all of this is that Payne spent three years on this album. Or maybe it's that a Christmas song, "All I Want (For Christmas)," was shoved onto the end of it. (It's fine - a tad too bleak to become a holiday classic - but I don't think it needs to be on "LP1.")
I'm going to just keep blissfully bopping to his "First Time" EP and pretending this album does not exist. - Paige DiFiore
Best songs: "Polaroid (With Jonas Blue and Lennon Stella)," "Stack It Up," "Bedroom Floor," "Strip That Down"
Worst songs: "Familiar (With J. Balvin)," "Both Ways," "Heart Meet Break," "Hips Don't Lie"
7. The songwriting on Louis Tomlinson's album "Walls" is, quite frankly, not good.
Tomlinson's voice is the weakest one of the boy-band bunch, and this is not news to most loyal One Direction fans such as myself.
But the vocals are not the problem here - this album mostly does Tomlinson's voice justice since he spends most tracks singing softly and gently, giving his voice a delicate, wind-chime-like feel.
The real problem with the album is the weak, often uninspired lyrics that tarnish over 3/4 of it.
Tomlinson has a song-writing credit for every track on the album, and it shows.
I don't think his songwriting skills have improved since his One Direction days - after all, he's still partially responsible for writing many of the worst 1D tracks ("What a Feeling," "Alive," "Little Black Dress," "No Control," "Steal My Girl," to name a few).
The songs on this album with the most heart are perhaps the singles "Don't Let It Break Your Heart" and "Two of Us" (a beautiful song about grieving over his mother's death in 2016). But two lovely singles with some powerful lines can't override an entire album weighed down by bland lyrics and dated riffs.
The album starts with "Kill My Mind," which sounds like it should be playing at the beginning of an early-aughts film, like "A Cinderella Story."
"We Made It" sounds like a rejected Green Day song from 2003 mixed with a ringtone. "Habit" repeats the same half-a--ed lyrics for nearly three minutes straight.
Tomlinson sounds angelic and regretful in "Too Young," but the elementary lyrics drag it down a few notches. "Walls" is also composed nicely and features his voice at its best - but the lyrics kind of suck. "Perfect Now" is a bargain-brand "Little Things."
If Tomlinson kept the heart and soul from his singles and distributed it throughout the rest of the album's lyrics, "Walls" would be higher on this list.
But as it stands, most of the songs fail to make me bop my head or even feel anything at all. Not even halfway through most of the tracks, I found my finger hovering over the skip button.
Fortunately, after about a decade, Tomlinson left Syco (the record label owned by Simon Cowell). Perhaps a new label will result in a stronger sophomore solo album.
But really, I think he needs to collaborate with and follow the lead of experienced songwriters who can deliver - maybe he should DM Jack Antonoff, Taylor Swift, or Finneas O'Connell. - Paige DiFiore
Best songs: "Two of Us," "Too Young," "Don't Let It Break Your Heart," "Habit"
Worst songs: "Defenceless," "Always You"
6. Zayn Malik's sophomore album "Icarus Falls" isn't terrible, but it's forgettable.
"Icarus Falls" is mostly fine, but I don't know a single person who has listened to it since it was released two years ago.
Its first offense is the obscene, indigestible length. Nobody needs a 27-song tracklist that was clearly designed to pander to streaming habits (thinly veiled as a "double album").
But its biggest flaw is its bland familiarity. Malik treads much of the same terrain that he did on his debut album, "Mind of Mine," without enough growth or fresh material to keep the experience interesting. (Indeed, some of the songs actually originated in sessions for "Mind of Mine.")
Malik's lyrics continue to underwhelm. Naturally, his vocals are as smooth and seductive as ever, but that's just to be expected.
Stylistic consistency isn't necessarily bad. But when a musician leaves a beloved group in order to flex different muscles, when he repeatedly criticizes said group for making him feel artistically stunted, it's reasonable for fans to expect some ingenuity - especially with a sophomore album, after getting plenty of thoughtful feedback.
The framework of "Icarus Falls" suggests that Malik fancies himself as an experimental, high-concept artist. But the evidence shows he hasn't yet fulfilled that potential.
He's talented, sure, and intriguingly enigmatic. But the bright spots and funky pop strokes on "Icarus Falls" are too few and far between to truly redeem it. - Callie Ahlgrim
Best songs: "Back to Life," "There You Are," "I Don't Mind," "You Wish You Knew," "Fresh Air," "Rainberry"
Worst songs: "Natural," "Good Years," "No Candle No Light"
5. "Flicker" by Niall Horan is just ok.
If anyone was going to cling onto their One Direction sound on their solo work, it was surely going to be Horan. So naturally "Flicker" should delight fans of the boy band - but it's clearly missing the other members.
Horan just wasn't innovative enough to carry an entire album by himself when "Flicker" came out, but at least it's not like, bad bad. It's a true middle-of-the-pack album.
What I will say though, is Horan knows how to pick a good single. The first two leads - "This Town" and "Slow Hands" - are easily the best moments on the project.
"This Town" is a sweet, soft ballad that feels like an upgraded (and less cringey) version of "Little Things." Meanwhile, "Slow Hands" is a certified bop that foreshadowed some of the excellent tracks to come on his sophomore album like "Small Talk."
His voice also blends incredibly well with that of Maren Morris on "Seeing Blind" for a countrified folk moment.
But songs like "On the Loose" and "Mirrors" feel just a little too much like Horan stole them right off 1D's cutting room floor to really land without his former bandmates' harmonizations.
But at least they're not as unforgettable as some of the other songs on this tracklist. - Courteney Larocca
Best songs: "Slow Hands," "This Town"
Worst songs: "The Tide," "Mirrors," "Paper Houses"
4. Malik's vocals and R&B instincts shine on his debut album "Mind of Mine," but his lyrics lack depth.
Malik's debut album has its flaws, but "Mind of Mine" is a whole smoldering mood. If you can get past the distractingly try-hard lettering of its tracklist ("BoRdErSz?" Really?), this album is freckled with moments of brilliance.
"BeFour," despite its annoying title, is hypnotic and gently sinister; "Wrong," featuring Kehlani's witchy vocals, is a simmering pot of R&B magic; "Tio" and "Like I Would" both belong on party playlists in the moody, horny, low-lit world of HBO's "Euphoria."
Adorably, the "Flower" intermission is one of the album's most tender and captivating moments, paying homage to Malik's Pakistani roots.
Perhaps the album's greatest triumph is how its pared-down production spotlights Malik's vocals, who was always One Direction's strongest singer.
Unfortunately, Malik's glossy voice is rarely singing anything particularly interesting or insightful.
"Mind of Mine" suffers at the hands of Malik's desperation to be taken seriously, and his post-boy-band eagerness to let you know he's had sex. Like, lots of sex. Like, he won't stop talking about it in grossly glib terms ("I think I know she don't love me / That's why I f--- her right"). - Callie Ahlgrim
Best songs: "BeFour," "Intermission: Flower," "Wrong," "Lucozade," "Tio," "Like I Would"
Worst songs: "Fool For You," "Blue," "Bright," "She Don't Love Me"
3. "Heartbreak Weather" is charming and markedly more mature than Horan's previous work.
As we noted in our first-listen review of "Heartbreak Weather," there are some stellar moments on this album. Horan shows a great deal of growth as an artist, though he also manages to maintain the winking charm of some of One Direction's best music.
"I like how it hews closely to '70s and '80s rock influences, but doesn't take itself too seriously," I wrote upon my first listen, calling it a "pleasant listening experience" with "some nice flourishes and funky moments."
I stand by that analysis. However, "Heartbreak Weather" is far from perfect.
The album doesn't command respect or attention as much as you'd hope, and though I'd never run from it, I haven't rushed back to it, either.
Read our full track-by-track review here. - Callie Ahlgrim
Best songs: "Heartbreak Weather," "Dear Patience," "Small Talk," "Nice to Meet Ya"
Worst songs: "Everywhere," "Put a Little Love on Me," "New Angel"
2. The eponymously named "Harry Styles" was the most solid solo debut of anyone in the group.
As far as debut solo projects go, Styles' may have been the most anticipated. He was always a favorite while in the band and he cultivated his own unique aesthetic during the group's later years.
"Harry Styles" delivered, and also proved to be the most successful departure from his One Direction days.
It's clear Styles has been heavily influenced by legendary musicians and bands like Elton John, the Rolling Stones, and Pink Floyd, but there are still glimpses into the kind of solo artist Styles would become on tracks like "Two Ghosts," "Kiwi," and "Sweet Creature."
And while "Fine Line" would expand on some of the groundwork Styles laid out here, "From the Dining Table" remains one of his best solo tracks of all time.
Insider named it No. 2 on our ranking of all of his songs, with reporter Libby Torres calling it a "gorgeously stripped-down ode to a past lover that's unabashed in its yearnings."
The only reason this isn't the best album on the list was simply that he had outdone himself. - Courteney Larocca
Best songs: "From the Dining Table," "Kiwi," "Sweet Creature," "Woman"
Worst songs: "Meet Me in the Hallway"
1. "Fine Line" proves that Styles is on a different level than his peers, and he's becoming his own kind of rock star.
"Fine Line" honestly exists in an entirely separate orbit from the rest of these albums - including Styles' own debut.
While "Harry Styles" certainly proved he had a voice, a vision, and plenty of room to grow, "Fine Line" landed like a promise being kept.
The roots of influence are all too clear on Styles' debut album, from Pink Floyd ("Meet Me in the Hallway"), Elton John ("Woman"), the Rolling Stones ("Carolina"), and The Beatles ("Sweet Creature") to David Bowie, Blur, and The Verve ("Sign of the Times") - whereas "Fine Line" has shades of the greats, but sounds definitively like Styles himself.
This is a remarkably consistent album (save for perhaps "Treat People With Kindness," the only skip to speak of).
The tracklist flows so gracefully for having such variety; early singles like "Watermelon Sugar" and "Lights Up" set the funky and triumphant tone, while Styles lets himself get a bit weirder on the tracklist's second half, soaking in '70s slow burners ("She," "Fine Line"), beachy dancehall ("Sunflower, Vol. 6"), and breezy folk that would make early-years Avett Brothers glow with envy ("Canyon Moon").
Indeed, this album is a truly unique, masterful, and even psychedelic piece of pop-rock, but never veers into self-importance or pretension.
Instead, Styles flexes his musical muscles and while sounding joyful and weightless. Even the album's most vulnerable, heart-wrenching moments ("Falling," "Cherry") sound like freedom. - Callie Ahlgrim
Best songs: "Watermelon Sugar," "Adore You," "Lights Up," "Cherry," "To Be So Lonely"
Worst songs: "Treat People With Kindness"