Justin Bieber has cemented his pop comeback by breaking One Direction's first-week streaming record on Spotify with his new single What Do You Mean?.

The British boy band racked up an impressive 20 million opening week streams when Drag Me Down was released last month (Aug15), but now Bieber has smashed that achievement with 21 million streams on the music app in just five days.

The news comes days after Bieber delivered an emotional performance of the tune at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday (30Aug15), when he appeared to break down in tears at the end of his set.

Opening up about the incident during an interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday (02Sep15), the 21 year old said, "It was so overwhelming for me, everything... Honestly, I just wasn't expecting them (fans) to support me in the way they did.

"Last time I was at an awards show (at the Billboard Music Awards in 2013) I was booed... I think it's just like I've worked so hard at this (new) album and at becoming the man I want to become, and then stepping into situations, you just can't help but feel judged...

"So I was just feeling judged and wanting to win so badly, and wanting to do what I love so badly that I just put everything on the line. And I think that that was what was so special about the emotional moment at the end, that it was authentic. It was real. I was really just wanting it so bad."

What Do You Mean? will feature on Bieber's fourth studio album, the follow-up to 2012's Believe, which is scheduled for release in November (15).