MUMBAI: British boy band One Direction is in the studio working on their third album, a follow-up to their smash ‘Take Me Home’ (2012). Their first album was ‘Up All Night’ (2011).

The in-the-works album is scheduled to be released by Christmas.

"We've already started recording the new album, we started about a month ago. We've been writing and recording it while on tour. We are really happy with it. We don't want to rush it, but it will be out for Christmas," said member Louis Tomlinson.

According to report, the band has been working on it for a few weeks while on the road, via a portable recording studio.

The group were rumoured to be wanting to take several months off to work on the record, but it is said that the quintet remain "career minded".

"There was talk about the boys taking some time off before the next album but it was decided to release the record while they are so popular. The band are going from strength to strength so it would be silly not to have an album out in time for the profitable Christmas market," a source said.

The band- Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson- are currently on a world tour promoting their latest album ‘Take Me Home’, which was released in November 2012 and became one of the best-selling releases of the year. They are also gearing up for the premiere of their first movie, ‘This Is Us’, in 3D which will hit theaters in US in August.

According to the UK's Sunday Times ‘Young Music Rich List’, the five of them have earned a ?5 million fortune each in the last year, with combined earnings of ?25m.