Justin Bieber: New single What Do You Mean? breaks One Direction's Spotify record

Singer Justin Bieber can wipe those tears away. His new single What Do You Mean? has smashed previous Spotify streaming records. The 21 year old now holds the record for the most first-week plays on the music-streaming website, trumping the record set by boy band One Direction when they released Drag Me Down in July of this year.

The Canadian pop star has, at the time of going to press, already clocked up 21m streams, just over one million more than 1D's Drag Me Down, in the five days since releasing the single. Bieber's comeback track is also on course to become his first number one single in the UK, pushing reigning chart-topper Rachel Platten with Fight Song to number two.

The news comes just days after the Baby hitmaker broke down in tears while performing the song at the MTV Video Music Awards 2015 (30 August 2015). Shortly before getting teary, the singer said: "Life is a journey, sometimes a battle, full of the unexpected. Sometimes we focus on the destination and forget to focus on the journey."

Explaining his emotional moment, Bieber later told host Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show: "It was just so overwhelming for me... everything, the performance. I worked so hard at the album. I've worked so hard at just becoming the man that I want to become and then stepping into situations [where] you can't help but feel judged. What was so special about the emotional moment, it was authentic and real. I was just wanting it so bad."

What Do You Mean? is also predicted for huge success in the US: the track is on course to sell more than 300,000 copies in its first week, which would secure its place at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The track is expected to feature on Bieber's anticipated fourth studio album, which is set for release on 13 November of this year.