Bieber bests One Direction’s Spotify record with new single

Justin Bieber is marking a comeback: the singer set a new record on Spotify, besting One Direction.

Spotify said on September 3, 2015 that Bieber’s What Do You Mean was streamed more than 21 million streams in just five days. The song sets a new record in the United States and globally, and surpassed the 20 million streams that One Direction’s Drag Me Down launched in its debut week.

Bieber performed the song at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards on August 30, and cried after the performance.

The 21-year-old said in an interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on September 2, 2015 that the performance was “so overwhelming for me ... I just wasn’t expecting them to support me in the way they did”.