Liam Payne Celebrates One Direction’s ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ Nearing 1 Billion Streams: ‘Miss You Boys’

“I’m so happy that for 5 years we made such a great soundtrack to life,” the singer wrote on Instagram

Liam Payne and his former One Direction bandmates. Photo:Dave Benett/Getty Images; Karwai Tang/WireImage

Liam Payne is feeling nostalgic for his boy band days.

The “Strip That Down” singer, 29, took to Instagram to share that he and his former group, One Direction, are approaching a special milestone.

“What Makes You Beautiful,” the British boy band’s first-ever single — which they released in 2011 following their formation on The X Factor — has reached nearly 1 billion streams.

To commemorate the occasion, Payne shared an alternative album cover of band’s first album Up All Night, alongside which he wrote, “Wow I just got told we’re about to make a billion streams on wmyb.”

“Never in the making of this song so early in our career did I think I would be looking at those numbers,” he continued. “What an achievement boys!”

Payne added that he is “so lucky” to share the milestone not only with his former bandmates Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson, but “this amazing fanbase everyday.”

“I’m learning about myself and what was all of this for,” he continued. “But now when I listen back and think of the power we all had including you as a fanbase I’m so happy that for 5 years we made such a great soundtrack to life.”

One Direction – “What Makes You Beautiful” Music Video.Courtesy of Columbia Records

Payne added that this soundtrack was “for myself and everyone who got to listen” and share “laughter pain and everything in between.”

“Miss you boys,” he concluded. “Lots of love me x.”

One Direction broke up in late 2015 after Malik, 30, announced his departure from the band earlier in the year.

While the boys, each of whom embarked on a solo music career post-split, have each commented on their time in the band, Payne has made lots of headlines in recent years for his One Direction-related remarks.

Liam Payne performing on ‘Good Morning America’ with One Direction in 2015. Al Pereira/WireImage

A year ago, the “For You” singer appeared on Logan Paul’s Impaulsive podcast and spoke critically about his former bandmates, namely Malik. “There’s many reasons why I dislike Zayn and there’s many reasons why I’ll always, always be on his side,” he said in the June 2022 appearance.

Payne has since apologized for his comments, retracting them last month via a YouTube video in which he also revealed he is now sober after spending 100 days in rehab.

“A lot of what I said came from the wrong place,” he admitted in the emotional video. “I was so angry at what was going on around me and instead of taking a look inwards, I decided to look outwards at everybody else and I took it out on everybody else, which is just wrong, really … I want to apologize for that because that’s definitely not me.”

In the same video, the singer — who has since exchanged friendly remarks with Malik via Instagram comments — added that his former bandmates were there for him when he was experiencing extreme low points. “When I needed them most they kind of came to my rescue,” he shared.

The singer has also shown support for bandmates Tomlinson, 31, and Styles, 29, this year.

After attending the London premiere of Tomlinson’s documentary All of Those Voices in March, Payne shared a heartfelt Instagram post dedicated to the “Walls” singer.

One Direction members Liam Payne, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles and Niall Horan.

In the now-deleted post, Payne apologized for being “out of my mind” and not being “as good of a friend as you have been to me” adding that he is going to “try and make amends.”

“I’m so thankful to have you in my life mate,” he wrote. “I feel so lucky and I know you know this but you were part of a small group of people that literally saved my life, you dragged me out of something so dark I’ve never shared it, but your approach is something I admire and aspire to so I can one day do the same.”

The singer also shared an Instagram tribute to Styles after the “As it Was” singer won the award for album of the year for Harry’s House at the 2023 Grammy Awards.

“Wow… this image is really something to wake up to and when you write music like you do Harry you deserve every millisecond of that moment looking down smiling at the trophy you’ve earned,” he captioned the post. “God bless you brother congratulations.”