MUMBAI: The recent news of ‘One Direction’ taking a break has actually upset a lot of fans – for the term break usually means ‘break-up’ in the music industry. In fact, a lot of successful bands lost everything to this word.

Here’s a list compiled by Radioandmusic.com of bands that broke-up at the peak of their musical careers. 

Oasis: The band won 15 NME Awards, 6 Brit Awards and 9 Q Awards. In fact, at the 2010 Brit Awards ‘(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?’ was named the best British album over the past 30 years. But, things did not go well with brothers Liam and Noel. In fact tension between them led to a fight backstage on 28 August, 2009 where Liam broke Noel's guitar. This led to cancellation of the event and a statement from Noel on the band's website about him quitting the band. This marked the end of Oasis as Noel ventured into solo project and rest of the band members went on to work on band Beady Eye.

Westlife: After 14 years, 26 top ten hits including 14 number one singles, 11 top 5 albums, 7 of which hit the top spot and 10 sell out tours Westlife decided on parting ways. They described the split as an amicable one and they wanted a well-earned break. However, later there were reports about irreparable rift in the band but the band went on to deny it.

The Verve: The Verve was undoubtedly one of the best bands but they had too many personnel issues. This is one of the reasons why they kept splitting and getting back together. The Verve first broke up in April 1999 but the original line-up of the band got together in June 2007. They also came up with the album ‘Forth’ in August 2008; this is also when ‘Love Is Noise’ was created. However, the tension within the band kept growing and they broke up for the second time in 2009.

Japan: They started as a glam rock knock-off, moved in to disco for an album, then settled into art pop. But they did create some of the most unique pop music in British pop culture history. Their “Ghosts” single hit the Top 5 in 1982, and is one of the most unique records to ever chart that high. But, unfortunately they couldn’t hold on to their success and broke-up on 16 December, 1982. The band suffered from personal and creative clashes and decided to split during a period when they were beginning to experience significant commercial success. Post the break-up the band members went on to pursue other musical projects.

The Police: They replaced Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ with ‘Synchronicity’ on the Billboard charts. They were known as the ‘thinking man’s punk band.’ Had they stayed together they would have seen more success but they split up in 1986. However, they reformed in 2007, and disbanded in 2008. The bands won six Grammy Awards, two Brit Awards - winning Best British Group once and an MTV Video Music Award.

Dire Straits:  Dire Straits' sound drew from a variety of musical influences, including jazz, folk, and blues, and came closest to beat music within the context of rock and roll. They also became one of the world's most successful bands, with worldwide album sales of over 120 million. They also won four Grammy Awards, three Brit Awards - winning Best British Group twice, two MTV Video Music Awards, and various other music awards. But the band broke-up with Mark Knopfler disbanding the band to concentrate on his solo career in 1995.

The Beatles: The Beatles are probably the most popular band in history. And they believed the same. One of the band members even went on to claim themselves to be higher than Jesus. This did not go well with the Christians and that created a lot of trouble for the band. However, the band split as they were bored with the routine of performing live. On recognising that their shows were no longer about the music, they decided to make the August, 1970 tour their last.

Small Faces: Small Faces were one of the biggest original influences on the Britpop movement of the 1990s. They are also the most acclaimed British mod and psychedelic music of that era. The band broke-up with Marriott quitting the band at the end of 1968 in a dramatic manner. The musician declared quitting the band during a performance at the end of 1968.

The Clash: They started off as a rock band but quickly branched out into ska, reggae, funk, dub and rockabilly. They were extremely popular for their politicised lyrics, musical experimentation, and rebellious attitude. However, they disbanded in early 1986. It was after ‘Combat Rock’ that The Clash began to disintegrate. Headon was asked to leave the band just before the album's release because his heroin addiction was damaging his health and drumming. His exit created some friction amongst the other band members and this led to disbandment. They did try getting back but Strummer's sudden death from a congenital heart defect on 22 December, 2002 ended any possibility of a full reunion.

The Smiths: This English rock band broke up in 1987 despite their continued success. Tensions between Johnny Marr and Morrissey led to the disbandment. Basically, Marr was exhausted and took a break from the band in June 1987 but this wasn’t taken well by his band mates hence he left the group for good. It was said that Morrissey did not like Marr working with other artists while on the other hand, Morrissey's musical inflexibility frustrated Marr.