Zayn Malik's 'Pillowtalk' surpasses One Direction's US chart record

The boyband's highest US chart entry was for "Best Song Ever" in 2013

Zayn Malik's first solo debut single is due on January 29 (Getty)

Zayn Malik's debut single "Pillowtalk" has gone straight to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, beating a record held by One Direction in the process.

His former boyband are yet to achieve a number one single in the US - their highest chart entry was at number two for "Best Song Ever" in 2013.

The single's placement sees it become one of only 25 songs to have debuted atop the chart; the last song to do so was Adele's "Hello."

The video for "Pillowtalk" stars model Gigi Hadid - the Bradford-born singer's girlfriend. The song sold 267,000 downloads and was streamed 22.3 million times in its first week alone.

The 23-year-old posted a photo to Instagram showing that you can never be too old for celebratory balloons.

 

A photo posted by Zayn Malik (@zayn) on Feb 8, 2016 at 5:34pm PST

Zayn Malik's debut album Mind of Mine will be released on 25 March - a year to the day he announced his departure from One Direction.