Fontaines D.C. have scored their first Number One album in the UK and Ireland with their third record, ‘Skinty Fia’.

The album, which was released last week (April 22), follows the Dublin band’s previous two efforts – 2019’s ‘Dogrel’ and 2020’s ‘A Hero’s Death’ – landing in the Top 10.

‘Skinty Fia’ outsold the band’s closest competition in the Official UK Albums Chart, Ed Sheeran’s ‘=’, two-to-one. Physical sales accounted for 87 per cent of the album’s total figures, according to the Official Charts Company, boosting it to the top spot in the Official Vinyl Albums Chart too.

“We’re touched by everyone’s response to ‘Skinty Fia’, thank you to everyone who bought, streamed or downloaded it,” Fontaines D.C. told OfficialCharts.com.

You gave us our first NUMBER 1 with Skinty Fia in both the UK and in Ireland. Thanks to all who went out and got it. Thanks to everyone we work with. Love ye x ? pic.twitter.com/NkeoA7vLDz

— Fontaines D.C. (@fontainesdublin) April 29, 2022

“You gave us our first NUMBER 1 with ‘Skinty Fia’ in both the UK and in Ireland,” they added on Twitter. “Thanks to all who went out and got it. Thanks to everyone we work with. Love ye x.”

In the Official Irish Albums Chart, Fontaines also bested Ed Sheeran to reach Number One. The British singer-songwriter’s ‘=’ and ‘÷’ finished at Number Two and Number Three respectively.

In a five-star review, NME said of the band’s third album: “No matter how tormented this album gets, you can feel ‘Skinty Fia’’s wounded heart beating throughout. The fight for a better Ireland deserves songs that mirror the depth of the crisis, and in its endlessly captivating glory, ‘Skinty Fia’ rises triumphantly to the task.”

Speaking to NME for last week’s Big Read cover story, the band’s frontman Grian Chatten said he would “like to unlearn the sounds” of their debut album ‘Dogrel’. “Otherwise we’ll have the same ideas coming into our music again and again,” he explained.

“We could probably throw away the guitars eventually, and the music will still sound like us. I don’t think people would be that mad if we decided to do that, either.”