The hugely anticipated debut album from Arctic Monkeys was originally set to be released on January 30th 2006. The album leaked around a month prior to the date and was later followed by statements from both Domino Records and Arctic Monkeys band managent, stating that "the manufacturing went quicker than anticipated" and "it was always our intention to release the LP in 2005", ultimately resulting in the album being brought forward one week to be released on January 23rd 2006.

The Arctic Monkeys album was the hottest property since probably the release of Oasis' 'Definitely Maybe' and on the first day managed to sell over 100,000 copies, 40,000 more than predicted and also outselling all top 20 albums of that current time put together. Originally being tipped to become the fastest selling debut rock album, the first day or two showed that this record was here to break others, and the album went on to sell 363,735 copies, becoming the biggest selling debut album ever. The previous holders were Hear'say back in March 2001 with their album 'Popstars'. Since this was such an achievment for an indie rock band, especially in the times where pop music was running amock, many people, espcially hardcore Arctic Monkeys fans, dubbed this album as the greatest ever and this was reflected by many media sources ranking the LP in top 10 album lists only days after it's release.