Sales record for Arctic Monkeys' debut album

The Arctic Monkeys have smashed the record for the fastest selling debut album of all time. The Sheffield band's Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not was released on 23 January and has sold more than 360,000 copies.

It has easily beaten the previous record held by Hear'Say's Popstars album, which sold 306,631 copies in March 2001.

An HMV spokesman said: "In the space of just a few weeks, the Arctic Monkeys have gone from being relative newcomers to being a household name.

"People rightly draw comparisons with Oasis, but in terms of sheer impact, where a band has come from virtual obscurity to achieve huge, overnight, chart success, we haven't seen anything quite like this since the Beatles."

The group, which is signed to Domino, an independent label, has already had two number one singles in the UK; "I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor" and "When The Sun Goes Down".

The latter tune was knocked down to number two this week by the trio Notorious BIG, Diddy and Nelly with "Nasty Girl".

"Many fans realised they could get "When The Sun Goes Down" by buying the album and didn't have to buy the single so the band has failed to take number one in both charts," the spokesman said.