Louis Tomlinson has signed with Epic Records

Louis Tomlinson’s upcoming single ’Back To You’ will be released in Australia this month through Sony Music Entertainment.

Tomlinson has over the weekend signed with Sony imprint Epic, Variety reported.

He was the last of the One Direction members to finalise a solo contract.

He is the third former member of the 50 million album selling boy band to be released in this country by Sony, after Harry Styles and Zayn Malik who are respectively signed overseas to Columbia and RCA.

Niall Horan and Liam Payne are with Universal Music Australia, through Capitol and Republic respectively.

It was heavily speculated that Tomlinson would end up at RCA alongside Malik.

But Variety reported that after Epic Records President Sylvia Rhone heard Tomlinson’s music — in particular Back To You featuring Bebe Rexha — she went after him.

“We are beyond delighted to have Louis Tomlinson as an artist,” Rhone told the magazine,adding that his new music “is the perfect bridge from his past to his future, and we are just as excited as the fans to experience his journey and growth.”

Tomlinson dragged his feet in pursuing his solo career with vengeance, because he was most against One Direction taking a hiatus in the first place.

The 25-year-old told UK newspaper The Observer, “It wasn’t necessarily a nice conversation. I could see where it was going.”

His initial idea was to sit back and manage other bands until 1D got back together. “If you’d asked me a year or 18 months ago: ’Are you going to do anything as a solo artist?’ I’d have said absolutely not.”

In the same interview, he joked that he was the “forgettable” member of the group.

He released his debut solo ’Just Hold On’, a collaboration with DJ and producer Steve Aoki last year.

In the meantime the other members have also ridden successfully on the back of the band’s phenomenal global success.

Styles’ self-titled debut album was released May 12 and debuted at #1 in 20 countries, including Australia and the US where it shifted 230,000 equivalent album units first week.

Styles plays two theatre shows in Australia this year and returns next April for a longer run.

Horan’s ’Slow Hands’ is this week at #1 on the Hot 100 and #2 on the ARIA chart, while Payne’s ’Strip That Down’ (feat. Quavo) is currently at #4 on both charts.

Malik, the first to go solo, reached #1 in America last February with ’Pillowtalk’and his collaboration with Taylor Swift, ’I Don’t Wanna Live Forever’ peaked at #10 in March.

Tomlinson’s arrival at Epic comes at a time when the label is running red-hot in the United States.

One of their biggest currect acts, DJ Khaled, currently has two spots in the Top 5 — ’I’m the One’(feat. Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper, & Lil Wayne) and ’Wild Thoughts’ featuring Rihanna and Bryson Tiller — and French Montana isalso making waves with ’Unforgettable’ (feat. Swae Lee).