BRADLEY Walsh has seen off competition from Zayn Malik to be named the best-selling debut artist of 2016.
The Chase host released his first album, Chasing Dreams, and it outsold the One Direction’s debut solo offering to become one of the year’s most popular records.
Bradley has been chasing his own dreams by moving into singing and the risk appears to have paid off as he landed huge sales figures for his debut.
He became the only British new artist to land a gold record in 2016, scoring sales of 111,650 copies since its release in October.
The album far outstripped Zayn, whose debut record Mind of Mine sold just 65,208 copies last year, according to
The Chase star’s album was also named the nation’s seventh best-selling LP of the year overall.
He also outsold acts including Jack Garratt, Biffy Clyro and Tom Odell.
The former Coronation Street star previously said of his music career: “I grew up listening to legends such as Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr and Tony Bennett.
“From those early days I’ve always been a huge fan of this style of music and now to have the opportunity to record some of the greatest songs and arrangements ever written, alongside a 54-piece orchestra and band, is absolutely thrilling.”