In its first week, Arctic Monkeys’ debut album has outsold the entire rest of the top 20 album chart combined. While this success is great for British music and the crucial independent music sector that feeds it, it comes beneath a veil of media hype.

Much of the success has been attached to the power of the internet, a tool this band was canny enough to make good use of. Using the US MySpace.com community site, the band gave away free MP3s of their tracks to a blossoming online fanbase; the very same people who ran to the shops to grab the album this week.