Kian Egan says One Direction will never match Westlife's record sales

Kian Egan believes One Direction won't be able to top Westlife's record sales.

The now defunct Irish group have sold over 50 million records worldwide and they enjoyed 26 top ten singles in the UK.

Speaking to the Irish Mirror, singer Egan said that he feels the changed music landscape means that One Direction will never beat his old band's figures.

The Irishman said: "I think when you look back on the music industry, back in them days, it was a very, very different animal, a very different beast then. Not that it was easier to get a number one, but a physical copy was what people went out to buy to get a number one - now it's a download. There's so many different elements to it.

"Our fanbase were just obsessed with having a copy of absolutely everything that we had. We were in the golden era of the music industry.

"I say this in no disrespect to One Direction, but One Direction will never sell what Westlife sold. They might be a bigger band and a bigger phenomenon, they might do bigger concerts and things like that, but record sales-wise they will never be able to match it because the record industry isn't that size any more."

Watch Westlife in action below: