Simon Cowell ‘thoroughly enjoyed’ Bradley Walsh outselling Zayn Malik’s debut album

Walsh's Chasing Dreams was the highest selling debut album by a Brit in 2016
Success: Bradley Walsh beat Zayn Malik
Anthony Harvey/Getty
Emma Powell20 February 2017
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Bradley Walsh has said Simon Cowell ‘thoroughly enjoyed’ hearing the news that his album outsold Zayn Malik’s debut, Mind of Mine.

Speaking about his success, Walsh told the Guardian: “I just laughed when I found out. I thought it was hysterical. I am probably the oldest new artist Sony has ever signed.

“Niall Horan was sending me messages, laughing his head off. And I got big congratulations from Simon Cowell. He thoroughly enjoyed it.”

Outsold: Zayn Malik failed to sell as many albums as Bradley Walsh
Kevork Djansezian/Getty

Chasing Dreams was the 57th biggest- selling album of the year and the best-selling debut by a Brit and was certified gold after selling a staggering 111,650 copies within two months of its release last November.

Walsh also beat off the likes of Blossoms and Brits Critics’ Choice Award winner Jack Garratt to take the title of the highest selling British debut album.

Speaking about the secret to his success he said: “It’s just about being an entertainer; it’s about having all those tools over the years to do all sorts: films, musicals, playing a bit of piano, running a quiz show – it just becomes part of the job.

“I like something you can hum along to. I think new artists sometimes miss the point … I can’t listen to rap music, it’s not my thing. They say that they’re the modern poets: of course they are, but it’s not for me.”

One Direction's Zayn Malik - In pictures

1/29

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in