Happy birthday Zayn Malik! Check out hot photos of the star as he turns 23

Zayn Malik is God, basically

Zayn Malik was undoubtedly the best looking member of One Direction, no, sorry Directioners (and Hazza), it's true.
But now he's out on his own he has no competition and we think he's got even fitter in the past 12 months as he's owned his identity and made plans to launch as a solo artist.
Today marks the singer's 23rd birthday and after THAT hot Billboard magazine cover story, we thought we'd celebrate by bringing together a collection of his sexiest moments.
He might be dating gorgeous model Gigi Hadid at the moment but the star has also given us normal lasses hope that we could bag him as a husband one day.

Zayn Malik is 23 today!

"I need a challenge," he revealed. "Also, I like girls that are a bit chunky in certain areas ... the nice areas. I like a fuller woman."
Well, there you have it, we can continue starring at his Instagram shots while snacking and not have to worry at all that he won't fancy us.
Here are some of his hottest moments..

That Billboard cover

Zayn on the cover of Billboard

Could Zayn Malik BE any fitter in this cover shoot?
We were pretty excited about his first big mag interview after quitting the band but we never expected him to look this good on the cover. Oh, wait, yes we did.

Here's a throwback GIF to his 1D days when he took us out for dinner in the video for Night Changes (kind of).
We were actually able to pretend we were his actually girlfriend while watching the promo and his cute smile is too much.

Posing for Interview

The pop star on the cover of Interview

Zayn posed for a shirtless selfie last year for Interview magazine's #Me issue and the result was pretty excellent.
His hair was perfect, his facial expression was perfect, basically, he is perfect.

Smoking selfie

Zayn smoking in a sexy pic

We don't think his weed smoking is very cool, but Zayn does look amazing in this smoking shot.
His Instagram is full of black and white brooding pics and this is one of our faves.

He struggled a bit as it chucked it down while One D performed at the Stadio Olimpico in Turin, Italy, but it turned into one of the best GIFs ever, so it was worth it.