The last five years have been hectic for One Direction between endless touring, a new album every year and relentless promotion. In a short amount of time One Direction shot up to the top of the industry, making them the most popular boyband. However, 2015 alone was a wild ride for One Direction. As the boys begin their hiatus, let's take a look back at this past year.

In the beginning of 2015, the group started the first leg of their international stadium tour, On the Road Again. From February to March One Direction played shows in Australia, parts of Asia and South Africa. There was much excitement for this proportion of the tour because the group was traveling to new places and playing shows in countries they had not been to yet. Sadly though, when in Thailand, Zayn Malik was struggling with being on tour. It was decided that he needed to take a break, but shortly after his break turned into him leaving the group.

Zayn Malik's departure hit the world hard. Zayn, accredited his decision to the fact that he wanted to be a normal 22-year-old who is able to relax and have some private time out of the spotlight" in which he posted on the official One Direction Facebook page. However, following the departure, there was speculation that Zayn was going to pursue a solo career when audio was released of him working with producer Naughty Boy. This caused a lot of backlash and hurt the feelings of many fans who had supported him. This caused a long string of Twitter feuds between Zayn Malik and Naughty Boy against Louis Tomlinson of One Direction and the fans.

The whole fandom went into panic after the official statement was released from One Direction. Although there was much speculation that Zayn would be leaving, it still left the world shocked. Fans began to worry if this was the end of One Direction. The remaining members of the group, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, Niall Horan and Harry Styles reassured fans that this was not the end of the group and they would continue the tour as planned. So with that, the group carried on without Zayn.

In June the group toured in Europe and went to North America in July. In late July, One Direction dropped a surprise single in the middle of the night. Their first single post Zayn leaving, "Drag Me Down" became an instant hit, going straight to number 1.

As August came around, rumors started rolling in that Louis was going to be a dad. Of course rumors like this are always in the headlines, but nobody was denying these claims. On August 4th while appearing on Good Morning America, Louis confirmed that the rumors were true, and he was expecting a child with Briana Jungwirth.

Between the madness of touring and recording, the group also made time to give back. In August Louis Tomlinson hosted the Cinderella Magic Ball, which is a night of fun for terminally ill children. Between Louis and Liam, they donated £5 million to the cause.

In September, One Direction announced that they would be releasing their 5th album, Made in the A.M. on November 13th. This was their first album without Zayn and there was a lot of anticipation of what the album would be like. It's been noted that One Direction had a lot more creative freedom with this album and wrote a lot of the songs. The album was the second fastest selling album of 2015 and sold 402,000 copies in the first week.

While promoting Made in the A.M. One Direction announced that they would be going on a hiatus during 2016, but constantly assured that they were not breaking up. The group desperately needed a break and despite going on a short break, they are excited to record more music and tour. As the group continued to do promotion for their new album, they has a lot of fun on the road. One Direction appeared on numerous talk shows, everything from Ellen, to Jimmy Kimmel, BBC 1 Live Lounge and the infamous Alan Carr: Chatty Man. One set of promotion that became an internet sensation was when they appeared on James Corden's Carpool Karaoke segment. The video currently has 16 million views and keeps growing. I highly recommend that you check it out.

As 2015 winds down, I can't help but reflect on the past year. Being apart of the One Direction fandom definitely feels like I'm a roller coaster ride, especially with this past year. I've been a loyal fan for five years now and I am so proud of how much they have grown. I am not sure how I will survive the hiatus, but at least I am not the only one going through this hard time. There's never a dull moment in the One Direction fandom and I'm sure this will be true even during their break.