January 24, 2006 12:11

Could Arctic Monkeys have the ‘fastest selling debut album ever’?

It's a phenomenon...

Photo Gallery: Arctic Monkeys
Photo: Ed Miles

Arctic Monkeys could sell over 350,000 albums in a week and have the “fastest selling debut album in recorded chart history”, according to chart experts.

Yesterday alone (January 23) the band’s debut album 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not' sold more than 100,000, 40,000 more than was originally predicted.

It is currently outselling the rest of the Top 20 album chart combined.

Chart experts at HMV say that if this continues, the album will sell more than 350,000 copies – beating the record for a debut album currently held by Hear'say’s debut ’Popstars’ in 2001.

Spokesperson 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. If it continues to sell at this rate, there's even a danger shops could sell out by the end of the week."

The band are currently second on the bill of the ShockWaves NME Awards Tour 2006.