Drag Me Down

Story of Song

The first release for ‘One Direction’ after the fifth member Zayn Malik left them to go solo.  Louis Tomlinson said in an interview with Dave Berry and Lisa Snowdon on the Capital Breakfast Show that the song was not about being ‘dragged down’ by Zayn Malik. Louis said: “Are you trying to look for some kind of controversial answer here? You’re not getting it. The song is not about that, obviously.” He then added that it’s about “just saying no-one can drag you down, you’ll be alright, don’t worry – as long as we’re with each other that’s alright.”

Release date

Released on July 31, 2015

Songwriter/s

Julian Bunetta – Jamie Scott – John Ryan

Label

Syco

Chart Rankings

US – 3

UK – 1

GERMANY  – 10

The song was streamed over 4.75 million times on Spotify on the day of its release, and 17.7 million streams worldwide in its first week. It peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100 and topped the charts in the UK. It is One Direction’s third number 1 hit on the Digital songs chart, and the boy band’s best sales week for song. ‘Drag Me Down’ peaked at number 3 on the US Billboard Hot 100 with 349.000 downloads in its first week, and it peaked at number 1 on the iTunes Singles Chart. ‘Drag Me Down’  topped the charts in Australia, Austria, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary,

It was certified Gold in Canada and the UK with combined sales over 440.000 copies, while in Australia, Italy New Zealand and Poland it was certified Platinum.

Artist’s age on release date

When One Direction released this song they had been active for 5 years. Niall Horan and Liam Payne were 22, Harry Styles was 21 and Louis Tomlinson was 24 years old.

Cover Versions

Shawn Mendes – Amateur artists covered this song on YouTube.