One Direction

One Direction

One Direction have been named Billboard's artist of the year 2014.

The ranking takes into consideration the group's chart performance on the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200 album chart throughout the year from, December 7 last year to November 29, as well as their social, streaming and boxscore data.

Over the course of the year, the boys released their third studio album 'Midnight Memories' and embarked on their 'Where We Are' world - the highest-grossing tour of the year, raking in $290 million from 69 performances across the globe.

The band - made up of Louis Tomlinson, 22, Zayn Malik, 21, Harry Styles, 20, Niall Horan, 21, and Liam Payne, 21 - are the ninth group to take home the title since it was established in 1981.

The quintet are the first group to take home the title since Destiny's Child were named artist of the year back in 2001 and have become the fifth non-American artist to receive the distinction after Brit George Michael in 1988, Swedish band Ace of Base in 1994 and London-born Adele in both 2011 and 2012.

Meanwhile, 'Frozen' - the soundtrack to the eponymous Disney movie - finished top of the Billboard 200 album chart after spending 13 weeks in the number one spot, following on from the success of its lead single 'Let It Go'.

Pharrell's 'Happy' also finished the year as Billboard Hot 100's number one track after topping the chart for 10 weeks running and receiving an Academy Award nomination for best original song.

Taylor Swift was Billboard's artist of the year in 2013.

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