One Direction – History lyrics

The whole song is about the band itself. The first verse is about Harry trying hard to keep the group together, and thinking that Zayn is gonna "leave it all behind" and he was right. Niall disapproves about Zayn leaving with the group. He then says they don't teach turning on your friends' back at school. Zayn broke his heart by leaving and he doesn't "know what to do". They thought they were going good all along but lately the band comes doubtful.
Then they proceed to say they have a hell "lot of history" and they could "be the best team, the the world has ever seen!", surpassing the likes of Queen, The Beatles, and other legends. So they don't let it go... and complete their lifelong goal. The second verse has Liam talking about the rumours that surrounded them as a band. And they survived every single one.
Repetition, saying they could beat the Beatles and bleh bleh...
Louis then says that without you (the band) here nothing he've been through actually matters because they've helped each other into fame.
Other stuff about beating the Beatles, and Harry then tells his other bandmates to "not let it go" and achieve their lifelong dreams.

it’s about the band as a whole

the whole song is about the history they have together but louis’ part always makes me want to cry bc it just described everything that happened to them while they were together as a band. “expensive cars” the band made LOTS of money and they could probably get rlly nice cars, but in this i think more about the cars in their music videos, the can in wmyb, the cars in gotta be you, the fake car and fake motorcycle in kiss you, the car louis is driving in night changes, and the thing louis drives in live while we’re young.
“hotel rooms” the first thing that comes to my head is the perfect music video, which was obviously filmed in a hotel, but i also think about all of the hotels they probably stayed in while they were together. and also when really thinking about it i think of the time they got kicked out of the donald trump hotel, or at least wernt allowed to use the back entrance that would draw less attention
“and new tattoos” that boys (other than niall) all got many tattoos while they were a band, some matching with each other and some just for themselves, harry even got “late late” tattooed on his arm on the james cordon show for tattoo roulette
“and the good champagne” being the biggest band on the planet of course they would only get the best lln
“and private planes” again being the biggest band on the planet they could really just fly on a plane like everyone else could they?
“this is not the end this is not the end we can make it you know, you know” well it looks like it was the end. this part hurts, i saw a video a while back of liam where he was saying when they filmed the music video they knew what was coming, with the hiatus and everything.

also, WHY DOES IT HAVE TO SHOW ALL OF THEIR LAST HUGS!!?????!??

Can relate to this so much. My love has been so cold to me these past months. He barely replies to me. I barely see him and when I do, it still seems like he's so far away. I keep thinking he 'wanna leave this all behind'. I mean for all the things we've been through. How can he just leave this all behind? It's killing me. These time of life lessons are the ones you'll never learn in school. This is the side of life they don't show you. The bad part; the one which isn't always happy. But now, I still try to keep my faith. I still try to save this relationship. I'm going to try to convince you that if we stay together, 'we could be the greatest team that the world has ever seen'. So baby, please don't let it go, we can make some more, yeah, we could live forever.

Basically it is talking about the relationship that had been going on for awhile. It might be something different and they have no experience on how to handle this. They had encountered numerous obstacles but always come out strong. One is hoping that the other will not give up on this relationship and believe that they are compatible and should see this relationship through. The person also feels that all the materialistic stuff is nothing without the other person. So hopefully love conquers all.