Musical Career
In 2010, Tomlinson auditioned for the seventh series of the singing competition The X Factor. He sang "Hey There Delilah" by the Plain White T's and received three yeses from the judges, sending him through to bootcamp. He failed to progress to the "Boys" category at the end of the final bootcamp stage of the competition at Wembley Arena, London, in July 2010. However, after a suggestion from Scherzinger, he was put together with Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Harry Styles to form a five-piece boy band, thus qualifying for the "Groups" category at judges' houses, mentored by Cowell. For their qualifying song at judges' houses and their first song as a group, One Direction sang an acoustic version of "Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia. Cowell chose to put them through to the live shows and later commented that the performance convinced him that the group "were confident, fun, like a gang of friends and kind of fearless as well." Within the first four weeks of the live shows, the group became Cowell's last act in the competition and quickly gained popularity in the UK. One Direction ended up finishing in third place.
Following The X Factor it was confirmed that One Direction had been signed by Cowell to a reported £2 million Syco Records record contract. In September 2011, One Direction's debut single, "What Makes You Beautiful", was released. That November, their debut studio album, Up All Night was released in the UK and Ireland. Released internationally in 2012, One Direction became the first UK group to have their debut album reach number one in the USA. Following the album's release, they headlined the Up All Night Tour. Originally, the tour was to solely take place in the UK and Ireland, but shows in Australia and North America were added due to demand. The tour was a commercial success with tickets selling out in minutes and critics raving about the group's singing abilities and stage presence. A video album of the tour, Up All Night: The Live Tour, was released in May 2012. In September 2012, the band released the song "Live While We're Young", the lead single from their second album. Another single, "Little Things", spawned the band's second number one single in the UK. Two months later, One Direction's second album, Take Me Home, was released, reaching number one in over 35 countries. Reaching number one on the Billboard 200, the group became the first boy band in US chart history to record two number-one albums in the same calendar year alongside becoming the first group since 2008 to record two number-one albums in the same year. After the album's release, the band embarked on the Take Me Home Tour. The tour took place in North America, Europe, Oceania, and Asia, grossing $114 million from 123 shows. In August 2013, One Direction: This Is Us, a 3-D documentary concert film was released, accumalting a box office gross of $68.5 million.
On 25 November 2013, One Direction released Midnight Memories, their third studio album, which became the best-selling album worldwide in 2013 with 4 million copies sold globally. "Best Song Ever", the album's lead single, is their highest charting single in the US to date. In April 2014, the band began their third headlining concert tour, and their first all-stadium tour, the Where We Are Tour. Performing 69 shows in Europe, North America, and South America, the band averaged 49,848 fans per show. One Direction: Where We Are – The Concert Film, the group's second concert film, was released in October 2014. In November 2014, One Direction's fourth album, Four, was released, making it the last album to feature Zayn Malik. Singles included "Steal My Girl" and "Night Changes", both of which achieved platinum status. One Direction became the only group in the 58-year history of the Billboard 200 albums chart to have their first four albums debut at number one. In support of the album, the set off on the On the Road Again Tour, grossing $208 million. In November 2015, One Direction's fifth album, Made in the A.M., was released. Singles "Drag Me Down" and "Perfect" both debuted at number one in various countries, and the album reached number one in multiple countries, including the UK, and it reached number two on the US Billboard 200. Following the release of the album, the group went on an indefinite hiatus.
Tomlinson again appeared on The X Factor during the twelfth series in 2015, assisting mentor and label boss Cowell with his decisions in the "Over 26s" category during the judges' houses stage. In 2015, Tomlinson created his own record label, Triple Strings Ltd, as an imprint of his current label Syco. Tomlinson released "Just Hold On", a collaborative effort with American DJ Steve Aoki on 10 December 2016. Tomlinson and Aoki performed the song live for the first time on The X Factor thirteenth series final on the day of its release. The single debuted and peaked at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart and reached number one on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart.
In July 2017, Tomlinson released the single "Back to You" featuring Bebe Rexha and Digital Farm Animals. The song peaked at number 8 on the UK Singles Chart and number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Later, it was announced that Tomlinson had signed a record deal with Epic Records. In October 2017 Tomlinson released a promotional single "Just Like You" which peaked at 99 on UK Official Charts. Following that he released his second solo single "Miss You" in December 2017 which peaked at 39 on the UK Charts.
On 17 July 2018, it was announced that he would judge alongside Cowell and fellow new judges Robbie Williams and Ayda Field on the fifteenth series of The X Factor. Tomlinson subsequently became the show's first former contestant to secure a victory as the winning mentor during the final when Harris won the show. In February 2019, it was announced that Tomlinson had signed with newly-relaunched Arista Records; his first release under the label, "Two of Us", was released on 7 March 2019. In August 2019, he announced that his debut solo album will be released in early 2020. Tomlinson released a single, "Kill My Mind", on 5 September 2019.
On 23 October 2019, Tomlinson released another single, "We Made It". That same day, he also announced that he would be embarking on the Louis Tomlinson World Tour, spanning over five months and visiting 20 different countries. Furthermore, he announced that his debut album is titled Walls and is to be released on 31 January 2020. On 23 November 2019, Tomlinson released "Don't Let It Break Your Heart", the fourth single from his debut album. On 17 January 2020, he released "Walls", the fifth and the final single from his debut album. On 31 January 2020, his debut solo album Walls was released. The album debuted at number 4 on the UK Albums Chart and number 9 on the Billboard 200 chart, making it the first new album for Arista Records in almost nine years to hit the top 10 on the chart. Tomlinson was set to embark on tour for the majority of 2020, but was forced to postpone nearly every date due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In July, he announced the rescheduled dates for 2021.
In July 2020, Tomlinson announced that he had parted ways with Syco Music; he further announced he had begun writing his next album.
Tomlinson held a digital concert Live From London on 12 December 2020, which sold over 160 thousand tickets, breaking records as the most livestreamed concert for a male solo artist of the year and the third overall. The proceeds went to various charities such as FareShare, Crew Nation, Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice, Stagehand, as well as to tour crew who were struggling financially due to the COVID-19 pandemic.