Britain's Arctic Monkeys sell 120,000 copies of debut album in single day

British band the Arctic Monkeys has sold almost 120,000 copies of its debut album in a single day and looks set to be one of the year's top-sellers, retailers said Tuesday. The Monkeys have shot from obscurity to fame in a matter of months, thanks partly to savvy use of the Internet to market their music to fans.

A stream of adulatory media articles followed, and the group's debut singles, "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" and "When the Sun Goes Down," both topped the British singles chart.

The band's album, "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not," sold 118,501 copies within 24 hours of its release Monday, more than the rest of the top 20 album chart combined. If sales hold up, it will become Britain's fastest-selling debut, surpassing the 306,631 copies sold by Hear'Say's "Popstars" in 2001.

Phil Penman, head of music for retailer HMV, said the band was "well on their way to having the first million-selling album of 2006." Former in 2003, the quartet from Sheffield in northern England signed last year to Domino, the independent record label that is home to Scots rockers Franz Ferdinand, reports the AP. N.U.