Mumford and Sons' Babel sets sales record

Los Angeles - Mumford & Sons' new album Babel has achieved the biggest sales week of 2012 in the US Billboard Chart.

The group sold over 600 000 copies of their second LP in America but Daniel Glass - of their US label Glassnote - says the boys won't be getting over-the-top gifts to celebrate their success.

He told MTV: "No new cars. We have something we think is very special (...) we hug. We're big huggers. We will give them a big hug and compliments on their job."

Daniel says he always knew the band - made up of Marcus Mumford, 'Country' Winston Marshall, Ben Lovett and Ted Dwane - would be successful as they're so talented and work really hard, especially when on tour.

'Fans really do come first'

He said: "I can go back to the beginning and I knew we were signing a very talented band to our roster.

"They delivered incredible music for a second time (...) and the work that was done, it's very empowering and shows a lot of confidence when a band goes out for almost two months playing new music from the new album for their fans and shares it with them and makes the fan experience so wonderful and inclusive.

"The attitude of Mumford & Sons is that fans really do come first and word of mouth is important. They've let you in on new music for a long time and it's not a marketing ploy. It has been that unfurling and exposure going on for a year and a half with the new music."

Babel also enjoyed the biggest launch week for any album in the US on music streaming site Spotify for 2012, being streamed eight million times on Spotify in the US alone.

Kenneth Parks, Spotify's chief content officer, said: "Babel's eight million-plus streams on Spotify are more than three times that of the previous record holder."