Cultural impact of Harry Styles

English singer Harry Styles has made a significant impact on popular culture with his music, artistry, fashion, identity, tours, and commercial achievements worldwide. He is regarded as one of the most influential men in music and fashion and a subject of widespread public interest with a vast fanbase. He is considered to be among the most successful solo artists who have emerged from a band.

His musical career began in 2010 as part of One Direction, a boy band formed on the British music competition series The X Factor after each member of the band had been eliminated from the solo contest.^[1] They became one of the best-selling boy bands of all time before going on an indefinite hiatus in 2016.^[2] After releasing his self-titled debut solo album in 2017, Styles steadily amassed fame, success, and public interest throughout his career, becoming a pop icon, a fashion icon, and a global icon and one of the most successful artists of the 21st century.

Styles has been credited for the rise in vinyl sales and has had simultaneous achievements in physical sales, digital sales, streaming, record charts, and touring. His three studio albums were commercially successful and well-received by music critics, all debuting atop the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. He has inspired several musicians and novelists, with Rolling Stone UK calling him the "new King of Pop" in 2022. Styles has often been described as a successor to artists such as Elton John, David Bowie, Elvis Presley, Freddie Mercury, and Michael Jackson and one of the culture-defining figures shaping masculinity, femininity, and gender fluidity, through his fashion and lifestyle.