Niall Horan, Irish singer and songwriter, won Favorite break out artist at the 2017 People's Choice Awards, held on Wednesday, Jan 8 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Also included in the same category was Niall's former bandmate Zayn, who left One Direction in March 2015.
Niall Horan's Award History
While this is Horan's first win on his own, he is no stranger to winning awards, having won a total of 195 awards with the English-Irish boy band, One Direction. Together, the band also has 367 award nominations. Horan is also very familiar with the people's choice awards- One Direction was also nominated for the very same award in 2013.
One Direction has won three People's Choice Awards-Favorite Album and Favorite Song in 2013, and Favorite Band in 2014. In addition, they've been nominated for a total of six People's Choice Awards. After taking a hiatus in late 2015, members of the band began to purse solo projects with Horan and Louis Tomlinson already releasing work. Liam Payne is said to be working on an album, as is Harry Styles, who is also starring in the upcoming film Dunkirk.
"This Town" pushes Horan above other nominees
Despite having no full album or even a release date set for an upcoming album, Horan clinched the category, beating out Alessia Cara, The Chainsmokers, DNCE, and former bandmate Zayn. The category was fan-voted.
Horan's debut song, "This Town," was released on October 4, 2016. It debuted on the Billboard+Twitter top tracks chart (dated Oct. 22), and peaked at 20 on the US Billboard Hot 100 Chart, and number 9 on the UK Singles Chart. It was also certified Gold in Australia and Canada, proving Horan's global appeal. Since its release, Horan has been promoting the song on shows such as The Tonight Show and The Ellen Degeneres show, as well as with a stint on the Jingle Ball Tour.
With Horan still working on an upcoming album, with the title and release date to be determined, it is very likely his history of winning at the People's Choice Awards will continue.
