Rising UK band takes Mercury Prize

Brit rockers the Arctic Monkeys won the Mercury Prize on Tuesday night for their best-selling album Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not.

The four-piece indie band was a strong contender to win the award, given annually to honour the year's best new albums by British and Irish artists, regardless of musical genre.

"Thanks very much to everyone who have helped us," said 20-year old lead singer Alex Turner, adding the Mercury Prize "normally doesn't go to a band who's sold as many records as we have.

"We are very pleased with it [the album] because it's got tunes thats what we've tried to do. There are too many people trying to do too many tricks."

The win adds critical favour to a band that has seen astonishing commercial success in the last year. Their album, pushed by word of mouth and downloads, became the fastest selling debut in UK chart history, selling more than 360,000 copies in its first week.

Their single, I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor, also reached number one in the UK nearly a year ago.

The band became the first band to win NME Awards for Best New Band and Best British Band in the same year and also won the 2006 Brit Awards for Best New Act.

Other records vying for the award were Radiohead singer Thom Yorke's solo album Eraser, old-fashioned crooner Richard Hawley's Coles Corner, Scritti Politti's comeback album White Bread, Black Beer and Ballad of the Broken Seas, the collaboration of former Belle and Sebastian singer Isobel Campbell and ex-Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan.

Turner accepted the 20,000 prize at London's Grosvenor Hotel, joking, "Someone call 999 Richard Hawleys been robbed."

The judges described the Arctic Monkey's album as "great songs, astonishingly performed. Essential."

More than 200 albums were considered for the 2006 prize, and 12 artists were shortlisted.

First awarded in 1992, the Mercury Prize has gone to such acts as Primal Scream, PJ Harvey, Franz Ferdinand and Dizzee Rascal.