Mumford & Sons Surprised by Success of ‘Babel’

2012-11-19

Story by Anne Erickson

Mumford & Sons singer Marcus Mumford says the band can’t believe their latest album, ‘Babel,’ is the No. 1 rock album of 2012

The guys of Mumford & Sons aren’t the heady types. In fact, lead singer Marcus Mumford says the band is as surprised as anyone that their new album “Babel,” is the No. 1 rock album of 2012 and the second largest debut of the year, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

“We spend our lives in a constant state of surprise at the moment, definitely,” Mumford told MTV News when asked about the album’s success. “We weren’t expecting people to [buy the album]. Especially people who had heard the songs already. You could pretty much listen to the whole album on YouTube, just in a different order to the one we put down. Most of the songs were already online … because we just liked playing them live.”

Mumford added that although seeing sky-high CD sales is fine and dandy, what Mumford & Sons really love is playing live shows. “People have always been buying albums … I just think the main thing is that people buy tickets to shows; people love seeing live shows, and that’s lucky for us, because that’s what we love doing most,” he said. “More so than albums or radio shows or whatever, we love playing gigs, and that’s what it’s all about for us.”

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Anne Erickson

Meet the expert - Author, writer and editor Anne Erickson is a Detroit-based music reporter and radio host. She has written for the USA Today Network, Consequence.net, Blabbermouth.net, Loudwire.com and many more. Anne holds a master's degree from Michigan State University. Contact Anne at anne@audioinkradio.com.