It’s been nearly three years since One Direction — already down a member at the time — took their final curtain call, when the group’s remaining four members said Sayonara! to guaranteed collective success and took a risk on solo ventures instead. It’s likely not easy to walk away from a steady paycheck, but it’s probably just as hard to spend years at a time on the road, far and away from friends and family, especially when you're performing regurgitated material you don't necessarily believe in wholeheartedly.

And so, it was that each member set off on his own — though it should be noted, recalled and referenced however many times necessary that traitor ZAYN, no longer a proponent of Irish ditties about arrested development, first kicked things off a full year before the rest of the band was ready to set off on their own.

Harry, Liam, Niall and Louis followed suit shortly after, each with varying degrees of success. And while it is intrinsically pointless to pit these former colleagues against each other, considering their wildly different, genre-spanning sounds, we decided to do it anyway... in the name of science and Twitter trolls.

If you've ever wondered how the guys' solo careers stack up against each other, read on. Agree with No. 1? Wish you could set this list on fire and banish its writer from the Earth? Feel those feelings and more by checking out our definitive ranking, below!