One Direction to play New York's Madison Square Garden

Image source, Reuters

One Direction are to headline New York's 20,000-seat Madison Square Garden venue on 3 December.

The boy band are in North America on a promotional trip ahead of a sell-out tour in May and June.

Harry Styles tweeted to say: "Can't believe we will be performing at MSG later this year!"

The former X Factor contestants became the first British group to go straight to the top of the US music charts with their debut album last month.

Up All Night sold 176,000 copies with the group due to perform on US TV show Saturday Night Live this weekend.

Meanwhile, the band are playing nearly 40 dates in the UK next March and April.

They also picked up the best single award at the Brits earlier this year, a prize voted for by the public, and were invited to attend a party at the White House by Michelle Obama this Easter after meeting the US president's wife at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards in Los Angeles.

One Direction is made up of Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson.

To hear the full story of One Direction in America, with access to the band across five whole days of their US tour, listen on iPlayer until Monday 9 April.