The Lathums have scored the UK’s Number One album with their debut album ‘How Beautiful Life Can Be’, beating Drake and more to achieve the accolade.

The Wigan indie band released their first full-length last week (September 24), and were reported to be battling Drake for the top spot according to the midweek chart update.

It has now been confirmed today (October 1) that the band have hit the top of the charts, beating Public Service Broadcasting, whose new album ‘Bright Magic’ charts at Number Two.

Speaking of the honour, Lathums frontman Alex Moore told Official Charts: “We’re four friends from Wigan who just love making music and are at Number 1 with our debut album, it’ll take a while for this one to sink in. It proves what’s possible for young, British artists with a pure-at-heart ambition to reach people with songs like ours, making friends every step along the way and finding that dreams can come true.

“‘How Beautiful Life Can Be’ is about seeing the good in things, holding on and coming through difficult times with a smile at the end. Today our smiles couldn’t be any wider. Thank you.”

Watch @thelathums react as How Beautiful Life Can Be claim a "momentous" Number 1 debut on the Official UK Albums Chart: https://t.co/Zh394hTJDr pic.twitter.com/JiX4j638Sf

— Official Charts (@officialcharts) October 1, 2021

Elsewhere on this week’s Official Albums Chart, last week’s chart topper from Drake, ‘Certified Lover Boy’, drops to Number Three, while another new entry in the Top Ten comes from Natalie Imbruglia, whose album ‘Firebird’ charts at Number Ten.

Reviewing The Lathums’ ‘How Beautiful Life Can Be’, NME wrote: “While the initial rise of The Lathums has already drawn comparisons with the Arctic Monkeys, this record is very much steeped in the jangly sound of The Smiths and The Housemartins: jaunty guitars and anthems with swelling festival crowds in mind.”