The Chase’s Bradley Walsh has highest-selling British debut album of 2016

The results for the highest-selling British debut album of 2016 are in, and a rather surprising breakout artist has bagged the top spot.

Beating the likes of Zayn Malik, Blossoms and Brits Critics’ Choice Award winner Jack Garratt is someone more used to hosting gameshows than producing chart-topping singles.

Bradley Walsh, of Coronation Street and The Chase fame, has sold the most British debut albums of the year in the UK, with his incredibly popular Chasing Dreams

The album was only released on November 25 but has already been certified gold after selling a staggering 111,650 copies.

It was the 57th biggest- selling album of the year and the best-selling debut by a Brit.

Blossoms, one of the biggest new bands of the year, came in at second place on the list but were well behind Walsh on just 74,155 copies.

Malik’s eagerly-awaited debut Mind of Mine wasn’t even close to Walsh either, having sold 65,208 copies in 2016 following the March release.

Walsh’s first album, which consists of covers of classic tracks including Mr Bojangles and That’s Life, was previewed on Good Morning Britain late last year.

“I grew up listening to legends such as Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr and Tony Bennett,” he said.

“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.”