To celebrate their tenth anniversary, I’ve ranked every single song in One Direction’s catalog, which is one of the most consistent discographies in recent pop memory, and included an MVP for each track to recognize the standout member or moment on that particular cut. Their sound wasn’t about legitimizing themselves in order to be really taken seriously as artists, because the millions of young women who made them megastars were already doing that.

That’s because the regard One Direction held for their audience was higher than that. There was never a sense of elitism from One Direction - even when their music moved toward electric guitars, it didn’t feel like it was to win over the people who wouldn’t think to look to a boy band for some of the last decade’s best rock music. Often described as an “edgier” boy band, they evolved from standard pop fare to interpolating the signifiers of classic rock, but excelled at both. Not that One Direction even needed that mythos to enhance their music - the songs were already excellent. Every post, picture, interview and gesture was dissected and analyzed along with the music, building a deep lore that’s just as essential as the songs. As the first big boy band of the social media age, they were accessible in a way those kinds of stars had never been before. The rest is history - and by history I mean their every movement from that moment on was chronicled by a fandom of dedicated Directioners.

But instead of going home and trying again next year, they were morphed into a different mold - why not put these cute, flippy-haired boys together? After their shaky auditions of varying degrees of nervousness, it seemed evident that Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan wouldn’t end up being the Justin Bieber clones Simon Cowell was looking for when he put every cute, flippy-haired boy through to the next round. Ten years ago, five young lads were cut from a singing competition.

One direction albums list of songs