Mumford & Sons' new album hits the heights

 
Big Issue cover stars Mumford & Sons are headed for their first British number one album.

The waistcoat-wearing folkies are storming to the top of the charts after selling 89,000 copies of their sophomore album Babel, beating off competition from Pink and Green Day.

As well as releasing the fastest-selling album in the UK this year, they are also set to achieve the year’s highest first week album sales in the US.

Figures released by Billboard show they are on course to sell more than 600,000 copies, more than releases earlier this year by Madonna and teen sensation Justin Bieber.

They are also headed for the second largest sales week for any digital album in musical history, just behind Lady Gaga’s Born This Way, which managed 662,000 sales.

In a revealing interview with the Big Issue this week, frontman Marcus Mumford discussed the spiritual struggle sparked by his Christian upbringing.

Mumford, whose father was a vicar, denied Babel was a religious record and said: “It’s not a statement of faith. We don’t feel evangelical about anything. Really. Other than music.”

He added: “I wouldn’t even call myself a Christian.”

Mumford & Sons appear on a striking 'cover within a cover' image carried on the front of this week’s Big Issue, available to buy until September 30