British rockers ARCTIC MONKEYS have topped the NME's Album Of 2006 poll voted for by staff at the weekly music magazine.
The band's WHATEVER PEOPLE SAY I AM, THAT'S WHAT I'M NOT debut beat out stiff competition from SHOW YOUR BONES by New York rockers YEAH YEAH YEAHS, which came second, and MUSE's BLACK HOLES AND REVELATIONS, which finished third
. Frontman ALEX TURNER is still surprised by the critical and commercial success of the album.
He says, "We'd been up and down playing those songs and everyone had gone pretty barmy, but I didn't think that they were going to buy a CD
. "I just thought they were out and having a laugh, and I didn't think it meant we were ultimately going to make this big album
. When we finished we were so proud that we'd made a record, it seemed secondary that it was a good one." NME's top ten albums of 2006 are as follows:
1. ARCTIC MONKEYS - WHATEVER PEOPLE SAY I AM, THAT'S WHAT I'M NOT
2. YEAH YEAH YEAHS - SHOW YOUR BONES
3. MUSE - BLACK HOLES AND REVELATIONS
4. HOT CHIP - THE WARNING
5. CSS - CANSEI DE SER SEXI
6. GNARLS BARKLEY - ST ELSEWHERE
7. LONG BLONDES - SOMEONE TO DRIVE YOU HOME
8. THE STROKES - FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF EARTH
9. KASABIAN - EMPIRE
10. MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE - THE BLACK PARADE
.