Harry Styles: 1D are 'bigger' than The Beatles

The pop star admitted that his band fail to touch the Fab Four music-wise.

One Direction's Harry Styles has claimed his band trumps The Beatles in the fame stakes, despite not rivalling them for talent.

The Kiss You singer told Top of the Pops magazine that watching the film of Liverpool's Fab Four arriving at John F Kennedy Airport for their first ever US tour in 1964 "really was like us".

"Stepping off the plane, the girls, the madness, it was exactly the same as when we got there - just 50 years earlier," Styles said.

A throng of Kiwi fans trying to catch a glimpse of Harry Styles outside the Langham Hotel in Auckland when One Direction visited New Zealand in 2013. Photo / Richard Robinson

Quick to regain some humility, he added: "But none of us think we're in the same league as them music-wise. We'd be total fools if we did. Fame-wise it's probably even bigger, but we don't stand anywhere near them in terms of music."

One Direction achieved worldwide success and buiilt an international, largely-obsessed fanbase ('Directioners') after finishing third in the 2010 series of TV talent contest The X Factor.

Their latest album, Midnight Memories, saw the band become the first to enter the US Billboard 200 at No. 1 with their first three albums.

Released last November, Midnight Memories hit number one on the UK Albums Chart and was named the fastest and bestselling UK album of 2013 after shifting 685,000 copies.

The British pop group were also the most popular global recording artists of 2013, outperforming Eminem, Katy Perry and Justin Timberlake in the first complete analysis of digital downloads, streaming and physical sales.

- Independent