The debut album from Arctic Monkeys is on course to become the fastest-selling debut album in chart history, after selling almost 120,000 copies on the first day of its release.
The album, entitled 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not', was estimated to sell about 60,000 copies on its first day of sales.
However, the album sold 118,501, which was more than the rest of the Top 20 album chart combined. It is now on course to break the record held by HearSay's debut album 'Popstars', which sold 306,631 copies in its first week of sale in March 2001.
HMV head of music Phil Penman said: "We knew day one sales were going to be big, but nobody could have expected them to be this huge. It's pretty phenomenal, really - it's as if they'd won the 'X Factor', but achieving the same kind of sales without the benefit of a massive TV audience."
"They're well on their way to having the first million-selling album of 2006," Penman said. "If it continues to sell at this rate, there's even a danger shops could sell out by the end of the week."
Among Arctic Monkeys' hit singles are 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor' and 'When The Sun Goes Down'.
