Bradley Walsh outsells Zayn Malik for biggest UK debut album of 2016

Walsh's debut Chasing Dreams has reportedly sold 110,650 copies since October

Bradley Walsh with wife Donna Derby at the National Television Awards in 2015 (Getty/Anthony Harvey)

Bradley Walsh has beaten Zayn Malik to become the biggest-selling debut artist of 2016, according to reports.

You read that correctly.

The host of gameshow The Chase has managed to surpass the former One Direction star along with rising indie band Blossoms, to become the only new British act to release a record that went gold this year.

Walsh's first album Chasing Dreams, consisting of jazz covers such as 'That's Life' and 'Mr Bojangles' along with the title track, an original song written by Walsh, has sold an impressive 111,650 copies since its release by Sony CG in October, and is Britain's 7th best-selling LP overall, Music Business Worldwide reports.

Walsh told the i Paper: "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 have the opportunity to record some of the greatest songs and arrangements ever written, alongside a 54-piece orchestra and band, is absolutely thrilling.

"I never expected that [a gold album]. It just goes to show that great songs live forever."

Stockport five-piece Blossoms had the second best-selling debut of the year, shifting a respectable 74,1455 albums in 2016, according to Official Charts Company figures.

Zayn Malik's Mind Of Mine sold 65,208 copies, and Brits' Cricts' Choice winner Jack Garratt managed 62,954 copies with his debut Phase.

It's worth keeping in mind that these figures show physical album sales but do not take streaming figures into account - on Spotify the numbers are very different.

Walsh's most-streamed song on Spotify is his cover of 'That's Life' from Chasing Dreams, which has 17,256 streams. Zayn Malik's 'Pillowtalk' off Mind of Mine, meanwhile, has clocked 467,029,072.