Westlife | |
|---|---|
 Westlife performing live on their Up All Night Tour in 2016 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Sligo, Ireland |
| Genres | Pop |
| Years active | 2013-Present |
| Labels | RCA, Syco |
| Past members | Louis Filan Zayn Akhtar Liam Feehily Niall Egan Harry Byrne |
Westlife are an Irish pop boyband, formed in 2013 and made their debut in 2015. Originally signed by Simon Cowell's Syco Records and Louis Walsh's management company, the group consists of members Louis Filan, Zayn Akhtar, Liam Feehily, Niall Egan and Harry Byrne.
The group's eponymous debut album was released on October 23rd 2015 through RCA Records and spent three weeks at #1 in the UK and found global success, mainly across Asia and Europe.
History edit
Origin edit
Westlife (2015-Present) edit
On March 1st 2015, the group released their debut single "More Than Words". The track, penned by Filan, debuted at #1 in the UK and Ireland and later hit the top spot in New Zealand and #2 in Australia. It also launched the group across Europe debuting or reaching #1 in many countries. The group's second single "Change The World" was due for release on May 24th but was pushed back due to Filan's son suffering a head injury following a fall at his mother's home. When the group's second single was finally released in August, it had changed to "Swear It Again" which spent a total of five weeks at #1 in the UK and a further 17 weeks in the UK top ten.
On October 23rd 2015, the group released both their third single "If I Let You Go" and their eponymous debut album. The single debuted at #2 in the UK and Ireland whilst the album debuted at #1 in both countries. The album spent three weeks at #1 in the UK and Ireland whilst the single spent three weeks behind Adele's "Hello" at #2. In its fourth week, the song went to #1 whilst album track "Flying Without Wings" debuted at #3. The following week, the former retained its #1 position whilst the latter rose to #1. The group became the first artist to replace themselves at #1 since Elvis Presley a decade earlier and also the first artist to ever log four consecutive weeks at #1 and #2 in the UK when "Flying Without Wings" overtook its predecessor in its third week.
In January 2016, the group broke another record when they became the first ever act to hold the top three positions on the UK Singles Chart when "Flying Without Wings" regained the top spot, "If I Let You Go" rose to #2 and "Swear It Again" climbed a place to #3. The album's fifth single "Fool Again" was released in February 2016 and debuted at #11 in the UK but broke another record when the song hit #1 in its fourth week on sale becoming the first ever act to reach #1 with their first five singles.
As of March 31st 2016, their debut album has sold over 3 million copies worldwide and have also sold 11.2 million singles worldwide.