The British boy band made $130 million after playing 74 dates over the past 12 months and averaging seven-figure grosses at every stop, according to Forbes. Their latest album, "Four," sold 814,000 copies in the US, according to Nielsen. One Direction was also No. 7 in Nielsen’s list of global top 10 artists based on social and web engagement in 2014. To calculate that, Nielsen looked at growth in Facebook likes, Twitter followers, and global Wikipedia page views.
In March, the band announced on Facebook that member Zayn Malik was leaving One Direction, leaving the remaining members – Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, and Liam Payne – to finish their world tour and their fifth album as a four-member band.
