The year is 2012. After roughly 18 months, the British boy band which you discovered on Tumblr just weeks after their Simon Cowell-sanctioned genesis is finally releasing their debut full length album in the US. You’ve heard probably three or four songs already, but of the 15 total, you’re mostly in the dark. The fateful spring May morning arrives, and you cannot wait to get home from school to open your web browser and log in to your Spotify account to listen to those 15 tracks. No time in your life has ever been this sweet.

One Direction was hands down the most influential musical act of the early 2010s, and I will quite literally fight anyone who says otherwise. I actually wrote a review of the band and why they were so influential, not only in general but specifically for the queer community and a whole generation of lesbians and queer women. With such a short stint of hardly six years, I fear they will, if they haven’t already, become one of those brief fads that you just had to be there for. SO, in order to pay homage to the greatest musical group of the 21st century, without further ado, I present to you an objectively factual ranking of One Direction’s discography.

5. Made In The A.M. (2015)

Let me be absolutely clear to start out here: One Direction never made a bad album. In fact, they never made an average album. All five of their records are fucking great. That said, this album earns the bottom spot because it was already a period of mourning by the time it was released. I will have a personal vendetta against Zayn Malik for the rest of my life, and if this were a ranking of my favorite One Direction albums, this one might be higher up for the sole reason that I’m still mad at Zayn and he isn’t on it. I really appreciate this album because of the inherent increase in Louis and Niall solos. As a self-proclaimed ‘Louis girl,’ I was always a little disappointed in the lack of solos afforded him in most of their tracks. I thought he was being insanely under utilized; he had a beautiful voice, and he deserved more. Niall, too. Without Zayn in the mix, the two of them were automatically given more solo time. The track list here, though, I thought contained more near misses than the rest of their discography. The single off of this album, “Drag Me Down,” might be the band’s only bad song in their entire repertoire. If this song came on the radio while I was driving, there was a chance, depending on my mood, that I would change the station. The other single off of this album, however, “Perfect,” was classic 1D greatness. I also think that a lot of the tracks on this album were tailored more to the bands’ musical talents. They had grown up a bit since their conception, and they started to sing about more mature topics, recognizing that a lot of their fan base had also grown up a bit right along with them. “Love You Goodbye,” and “A.M.” about a pretty serious breakup were now more relatable to One Direction fans; they weren’t kids anymore, at least not by their own definition. Real, tangible romanticism wasn’t as foreign to One Direction fans as it once was. There is also a clear shift in lyrics on this album. There were more poetic tropes, obviously not on all of the tracks (“Drag Me Down” was absolutely NOT poetry) but “Wolves,” “Olivia,” and “Walking in the Wind” absolutely are. In sum, I think had I not known who they were prior, I would listen to this album on my own for sure.

4. Take Me Home (2012)

The sophomore slump man, it’ll get you. This album while still great, sorta sounds like they’re trying to really dig in and find their sound, key word ‘trying.’ Don’t get me wrong, there are some great songs on this album. And again, I’ll reiterate, I think the only ‘bad’ One Direction song in existence is “Drag Me Down.” Compared to the rest of the band’s discography though, this album just doesn’t fully measure up. A lot of the tracks on this album sound a little too similar that they start to blend together. There isn’t really a stand out song on this record. They’re all good, but I don’t know that any of them are great. “Live While We’re Young” is a pretty strong single, as is “Kiss You,” and far and away the best song on this album is “Little Things,” but the issue is that those are the first three tracks on the album, and one of them was written by Ed Sheeran. Take Me Home is a pretty front loaded album, and I think that might be the album’s pitfall, especially compared to other One Direction albums. All of this considered, this album was definitely a satisfying sophomore record. When they released this record, I felt like my expectations were met. I was by no means disappointed, in fact, I think “Over Again” might be one of the bands strongest tracks in terms of just overall musicality. The guitar is great, and the lyrics are also fairly poetic. On top of that, “Nobody Compares” and “I Would” are pretty standard One Direction sounding tracks, as are “They Don’t Know About Us” and “Heart Attack.” It’s also worth noting that the deluxe edition tracks are fantastic on this album. “Irresistible,’ “Magic,” and “Truly Madly Deeply” are arguably the three best bonus tracks of any of their five albums. Suffice it to say, this album definitely isn’t their best, but it’s still a pretty damn good album.

3. Midnight Memories (2013)

One Direction went on tour this summer and the album came out in November, but “Best Song Ever” had already been released as a single when I went to see them. That song was an absolutely unreal song to see them play before the album was released, and then to go to camp like a week or two after seeing them and going crazy to that song in that setting was like freaking ecstasy to a newly minted 14-year-old One Direction fan. This album was also accompanied by their movie This Is Us, so “Story of My Life” also got quite a bit of press as a single. I remember when they released the music video for that song and it was nostalgic and bittersweet and featured the boys’ families, and it was just so emotional to see the growth they had exhibited since 2010. On top of that was “Don’t Forget Where You Belong,” which was just the cherry on top; if ever there was an album to cry to in 2013, this was it. The ballads on this album, not including those ones, are also beautiful and just so heartfelt. “You & I” and “Half a Heart” are songs that I still feel in my stomach when listening to. Truthfully, this album doesn’t really have a single dud on it, and I could give worthwhile mention to every single track. To say it’s only their number three album out of only five total feels like an injustice, and any combination of these top three albums would make sense to me.

2. FOUR (2014)

This was a toss up; FOUR and Midnight Memories could actually be tied for second, but that’s not satisfactory so by a HAIR, FOUR takes the cake. “Steal My Girl” was an absolute fucking banger of a single, as was “Night Changes.” The leaked track that we found (probably illegally) on Tumblr for this album was “Fireproof,” which admittedly, was disappointing at the time. I remember sitting in homeroom freshman year of high school talking about it with my friends and the general consensus was that this album might be a dud based solely on this leaked track. Looking back after a decade, though, I don’t know what the hell we were talking about. “Fireproof” is as great a track as any on this album, and I love pretty much all of the tracks on this album. “18” is the picture of nostalgia, even for 15-year-olds who couldn’t yet conceive of the very idea of being 18. “Ready to Run” has some fantastic lines, and “Act My Age” is still an anthem, a guidebook of sorts simply for how to live life. “Girl Almighty” was often playing as I whipped my way out of the school parking lot each afternoon, and “No Control” is a similarly upbeat bop. “Stockholm Syndrome” is an all around classic, and “Once in a Lifetime” is a gorgeous ballad. “Fool’s Gold” was another great guitar song, mostly because it sounded like a complicated song and I knew how to play it, because it really wasn’t that complicated of a song. This album was also the first One Direction album that was released at a time that I felt more like an angsty teenager than a confused pre-teen. I felt like I was more of an ‘adult’ when this album was released, and seeing as though their primary fan base was roughly my age at the same time, I’m sure this was a pretty common feeling among their fans.

1. Up All Night (2012)

Of course, it’s a no-brainer. This is the record. Truth be told, desert island albums—this would probably be in the conversation for me. Every single track on this album is a fucking hit, no exceptions. “Moments” is still in my top 25 favorite songs of all time, a list that is carefully curated in order via formula. I actually made my guitar teacher learn to play this song so he could teach it to me; he didn’t know the song at all, and if you’re familiar, you know the guitar is certainly on the more complicated side. The technique is called Travis picking, which as an expert, he of course knew, but specific to this song he had to learn it by ear, and the guy actually did. For his 12-year-old student with a boy band obsession. Mind you before that he was teaching me songs like “Purple Haze” and “Day Tripper” and “Beat It,” One Direction was not exactly in his curriculum. I digress. I vividly remember when the tracklist for this album was leaked in 2011, and when it was released in the UK and I had to listen to it via British Tumblr blogs. The anticipation leading up to this album was unmatched, and the expectations were met and then some. This album also feels like the most personal album to them; I remember listening to it for the first time and thinking that each of the boys had a track on the album that felt like it was their song. Notably, “Stand Up” was the Louis song, which gave it a special place in my heart. “Taken” was the Liam song, and as a closeted teenager, pretty boy Liam was second only to Louis. “Gotta Be You,” “Same Mistakes,” and “More Than This” were great ballads that perfectly complemented single tracks “What Makes You Beautiful,” “Up All Night,” and “One Thing.” “Stole My Heart,” “Everything About You,” and “Save You Tonight” showed the band’s range and their roots as a pop boy band. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Zayn’s iconic high note in “Tell Me a Lie.” This album was the quintessential 2010s pop album—there was simply nothing better than going crazy on a Bar or Bat Mitzvah dance floor to “Up All Night” with glow sticks around your neck and cheap kb socks on your feet. Admittedly, a large part of this album’s greatness comes from the nostalgia surrounding it, but it really does stand on its own just as well.

Any comments and disagreements (within reason, and none defending Zayn. He ruined a great thing. I will never forgive him.) are more than welcome! Let me know what you think:)