Last Shadow Puppets Album Chart Hat-Trick For Arctic's Alex

Alex Turner, lead singer and songwriter of Arctic Monkeys, is celebrating his third number one album after his debut album from side project, The Last Shadow Puppets topped the UK album chart.

The Age Of The Understatement album is Alex Turner and Miles Kane's (from The Rascals) first number one album as part of The Last Shadow Puppets, but is Alex's third number one album, including his Arctic Monkeys releases. The Arctic Monkeys first two albums entered the chart at number one in 2006 and 2007.

The Last Shadow Puppets duo are hoping to tour in October and recorded the album during a break in commitments from their other bands.

The Kooks are at number two in the album chart with Konk, while Spirit by Leona Lewis is in third place, ahead of Duffy's Rockferry album at four and Mariah Carey's E=MC2 at number five. Whitesnake's Good To Be Bad album went straight in at number six.

Meanwhile, in the UK singles chart, Madonna retains her lead, with 4 Minutes featuring Justin Timberlake still at number one. The only top 10 new entry is Wiley's Wearing My Rolex, which went straight in at number four.

Sam Sparro climbed to number two with Black And Gold, ahead of Estelle's American Boy at number three, Wiley at four and September with Cry For You at number five.

Releases from debut acts are doing particularly well this year with five debut albums from UK artists now having topped the charts, including Last Shadow Puppets, Amy McDonald, Adele, Duffy and Scouting For Girls.

As Martin Talbot, MD of Official UK Charts Company commented, "Eleven UK debut acts made it into last year's Top 40 best-selling albums. British talent is well on the way to exceeding that figure in 2008."