Harry Styles solo effort Sign of the Times has failed to unseat Zayn Malik’s debut Pillowtalk as the most popular streamed release out of his former One Direction bandmates’ efforts to date.
Figures from Spotifycharts.com show the 24-year-old’s debut single was streamed an astonishing 17.13 million times on the Spotify music service in the five days following its release last January (16).
Harry Styles’ debut Sign of the Times, released last Friday (07Apr17), was the next most popular in, but only managed 11.35 million streams in its first five days, almost five million fewer than Zayn’s track.
Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson lagged well behind the pair, as Niall’s solo debut This Town was only played on 7.51 million occasions by Spotify users and Louis Tomlinson’s collaboration with dance star Steve Aoki, Just Hold On racked up 5.81 million streams over the same time period.
Of the five stars propelled to fame by their success on the 2010 edition of U.K. TV talent contest The X Factor, only Liam Payne is yet to release solo material, although he is expected to debut new music later this year (17).
Zayn’s decision to quit the band in 2015 appears to have paid off, as not only was his breakout track, which was accompanied by a racy video featuring his girlfriend Gigi Hadid, a streaming success, but it also earned critical praise for moving away from his boyband roots.
His early departure from the band also means he is the only One Direction star to date to release a full album, with his record Mind of Mine topping the charts in the U.K. and the U.S.
He has already been working on a follow-up record, as in December (16) he told radio station SiriusXM, that he had been in the studio and fans could expect, “exciting stuff”.
