What Makes You Beautiful

"What Makes You Beautiful"
"What Makes You Beautiful"
Single by One Direction
from the album Up All Night
B-side	"Na Na Na"
Released	11 September 2011
Recorded	July 2011
Studio	Malibu, California; Kinglet & Cosmos Studios, Stockholm, Sweden;
Genre	Power pop; pop rock; bubblegum pop;
Length	3:18
Label	Syco; Columbia;
Songwriter(s)	Savan Kotecha; Rami Yacoub; Carl Falk;
Producer(s)	Rami Yacoub; Carl Falk;
One Direction singles chronology
Music video
	"What Makes You Beautiful" on YouTube

"What Makes You Beautiful" (WMYB) is the debut single by English-Irish boy band One Direction. It served as their debut single and lead single from their debut studio album, Up All Night (2011). Written by Savan Kotecha and producer Rami Yacoub, the song was released by Syco Records on 11 September 2011. The uptempo power pop^[1] track features a prominent guitar-based chorus and riff. The middle eight consists of a "na na na" hook.

"What Makes You Beautiful" was a commercial success, reaching number one in several countries. It has been certified quadruple platinum in the US with sales of 4.8 million copies as of June 2016.^[3] The single peaked at number four on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the UK Singles Chart. The song won the 2012 Brit Award for British Single of the Year and was generally complimented by contemporary music critics, who highlighted the appeal to the teenage audience and the pop sensibility. It debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart after setting a Sony Music Entertainment pre-order record and selling 153,965 copies in its first week. The single also topped the Irish and Scottish Singles Charts, and reached the top ten on the Australian and New Zealand Singles Charts, Flemish Ultratop 50, Canadian Hot 100, and the Japan Hot 100.

The accompanying music video, directed by John Urbano, depicts One Direction spending time on a beach in Malibu, California. The music video was uploaded to YouTube on 19 August 2011 and has accumulated more than 1.4 billion views since it premiered. The clip garnered the group three MTV Video Music Awards at the 2012 ceremony. One Direction performed the song live on televised shows, at awards ceremonies, and on all four of their major concert tours: Up All Night Tour (2011–12), Take Me Home Tour (2013), Where We Are Tour (2014) and On the Road Again Tour (2015), while band member Harry Styles performed the song on his 2017 solo tour, as well as his 2021 solo tour. Many artists including the Piano Guys, Boyce Avenue, and Enhypen have covered "What Makes You Beautiful".

^ ^a ^b Rosen, Jody (28 March 2012). "One Direction – Up All Night". Rolling Stone. Jann Wenner. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
^ ^a ^b Billboard Staff (19 October 2023). "The 500 Best Pop Songs: Staff List". Billboard. Retrieved 24 February 2024. Such was the ecstatic power of "What Makes You Beautiful," a piece of bubblegum that felt familiar to impassioned BSB vs. *NSYNC debaters from a decade earlier, yet with a fresh pop-rock foundation...
^ Cite error: The named reference USsales2016 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Powerpop-1] Rosen, Jody (28 March 2012). "One Direction – Up All Night". Rolling Stone. Jann Wenner. Retrieved 16 April 2012.

[Billboard_Pop_500-2] Billboard Staff (19 October 2023). "The 500 Best Pop Songs: Staff List". Billboard. Retrieved 24 February 2024. Such was the ecstatic power of "What Makes You Beautiful," a piece of bubblegum that felt familiar to impassioned BSB vs. *NSYNC debaters from a decade earlier, yet with a fresh pop-rock foundation...

[USsales2016-3] Cite error: The named reference USsales2016 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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