English singer-songwriter Louis Tomlinson has writing credits on over 90 songs, [1] seven of which have appeared in the top 10 of the UK singles chart. [a] He has written tracks on both of his studio albums, Walls (2020) and Faith in the Future (2022), and for his former band One Direction. [1]
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After co-writing songs on the One Direction albums Up All Night (2011) and Take Me Home (2012), [1] Tomlinson became more prominent as a writer for Midnight Memories (2013). He has credits on 9 tracks out of the 14 on the standard edition and 3 of 4 in the deluxe version. [4] [5] "Story of My Life", the album's second single, peaked at number 2 on the UK singles chart [6] and sold over 3 million copies in the United States. [7] "Diana" topped iTunes charts worldwide upon release and peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. [8] [9]
For the album Four (2014), Tomlinson co-wrote the lead single "Steal My Girl", which peaked at number 3 on the UK singles chart. [10] He was a principal writer of "No Control", which became the subject of a fan campaign to be released as a single and to reach number 1 on the UK single charts. [11] [12] Fans started the campaign to show support for Tomlinson after a feud with producer Naughty Boy on Twitter, [11] with the song being chosen because Tomlinson was a primary writer alongside band member Liam Payne. [12] "Night Changes" was written by Tomlinson with all four other original band members, as well as Jamie Scott, Julian Bunetta, and John Ryan. [13] Following Payne's death in October 2024, the song, along with the rest of One Direction's discography, experienced a surge in streams. [14] The song eventually peaked at number 6 on the UK singles chart. [15] Tomlinson has writing credits on more than half of the tracks on the group's final album Made in the A.M. (2015), including "Perfect", "What a Feeling", "Love You Goodbye", and "History". [16] "History" was the band's final single before going on an indefinite hiatus. [17]
Tomlinson co-wrote his first solo single "Just Hold On" with Steve Aoki, Eric Rosse, Sasha Alex Sloan, and Nolan Lambroza. [18] [19] The song peaked at number 2 on the UK singles chart, becoming Tomlinson's highest-charting song as of August 2025. [2] "Back to You", his second solo single, [20] was also co-written by him and peaked at number 8 on the UK singles chart. [21] Tomlinson has credits on every track from both his debut studio album [22] and his second studio album, [23] the latter of which debuted at number 1 on the UK Albums Chart. [24] Other than One Direction and himself, Tomlinson co-wrote "Changes" by musician Blackbear from his 2019 album Anonymous , [25] [26] "Love Shot" by Chinese-South Korean boy band Exo from their 2018 album Don't Mess Up My Tempo , [27] [28] and the 2023 single "POS" by musician Sueco. [29] [30]
Tomlinson has the most writing credits for One Direction's discography. [31] [32] [33] He has said that this made him feel "ownership" in his career for the first time, adding that within the first two and a half years of the band, he felt as though he lacked influence. [31] He and Payne are considered the main songwriters for One Direction, with Payne having the second-most credits. [34] Critics for several publications have praised Tomlinson's songwriting, including Rania Aniftos for Billboard , [35] Alex Hopper for American Songwriter , [34] Brian Mansfield for USA Today , [36] and Alim Kheraj for The Guardian . [37]
