One Direction: Harry Styles – '1D were bigger than The Beatles'

One Direction were launched into stardom when they first debuted on ITV show X Factor. The band came third during the 2010 singing competition, but over the years that followed the quintet enjoyed all five of their albums going platinum and hitting the top spot of various album charts in the US, Australia, UK and Canada. Although the band were very famous, Harry once claimed he thought they even beat legendary British rockers The Beatles in terms of popularity.

The Watermelon Sugar singer said in 2014: “We all sat and watched the film of The Beatles arriving in America. And, to be honest, that really was like us.

“Stepping off the plane, the girls, the madness. It was exactly the same as when we got there – just 50 years earlier.”

It is easy to make a comparison between the two bands, especially considering Directioners famously stood outside the band’s hotels in their thousands just to catch a glimpse of one of the singers.

Despite pointing out some parallels between the two bands, Harry clarified he didn’t think they were similar in quality.

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Harry said: “None of us think we’re in the same league as them music-wise. We’d be total fools if we did.

“Fame-wise, it’s probably even bigger, but we don’t stand anywhere near them in terms of music.”

Although One Direction sold more than 36 million records worldwide, they come nowhere near The Beatles in terms of sales.

According to Wikipedia the Fab Four have sold more than 600 million units worldwide since their debut in 1962.

Paul also gave a stark warning about comparing any other boybands to The Fab Four.

He said: “When you call someone the new Beatles, it can be the kiss of death.

“People expect you to live up to what we did, and we did what we did in a particular period of time that is very different to now.”

Sometimes the fame 1D received wasn’t always good, however.

Niall Horan recently spoke up in an interview where he claimed he felt like a “prisoner” during some of his time in the band.

He then described his terror when he was told he wasn’t allowed out of his hotel room while on tour.

The 27-year-old said: “We were 17, 18, 19 for the first few years, and I struggled with it. As you know, I have to be doing something all the time and the thought of just closing the curtain in my hotel room was just madness to me.

“I really struggled with the idea. ‘Why won’t you just let us out? We just want to go for a walk!’ But you can’t get inside the brain of a fan.”

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source: express.co.uk