Simon Cowell wishes he owned One Direction name so he could do Abba Voyage

The group, who went on hiatus in 2016, was comprised of Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik – who left in 2015.

Simon Cowell wearing sunglasses and a black T-shirt

Music mogul Simon Cowell has suggested he would create a One Direction version of Abba Voyage if he owned the band’s name.

The 64-year-old, who recently launched a UK-wide search for a new boyband, formed the chart-topping X Factor group in 2010.

Speaking about what it would be like to put the band back together, he told ITV’s This Morning: “We would sell out stadiums all over the world. I don’t think it’s going to happen. But I’m just saying if they did (get back together).”

Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Harry Styles at the World Premiere of One Direction: This Is Us — Simon Cowell put One Direction together on The X-Factor (Ian West/PA)

Asked if he had any regrets, Cowell added: “I wish I’d owned the name.”

Presenter Alison Hammond asked Cowell what he could do with the name.

In an apparent reference to the virtual concert Abba Voyage, which sees digital versions of Abba’s members performing with a 10-piece live band, he said: “Abba, you know the Abba thing, I’d do that and I wouldn’t have to ask anyone.”

When the live music show opened in London in 2022 band members Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, reunited in the capital for the first time since 1982.

Cowell also revealed that his son Eric had once showed him a One Direction record without realising his link to the band.

Digital versions of Bjorn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Faltskog, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad — Bjorn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Faltskog, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, of the Swedish band Abba (ABBA Voyage/PA)

He said: “A couple of years ago Eric came in cause he’s always trying to find me new records. So he comes running in and goes ‘Oh dad you gotta listen to this record’.

“And he plays me a One Direction record. I’m laughing, he goes ‘Why are you laughing?’ I thought, ‘I love it’. He said ‘Why are you laughing?’ and I said ‘I know this band.'”

One Direction members Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson went on hiatus in 2016 almost a year after Zayn Malik left the group.

Their chart-topping hits include What Makes You Beautiful, Little Things and Drag Me Down.

Cowell’s search for a new boyband is being documented by a TV crew from Box To Box Films, the company behind Formula 1: Drive To Survive.