Step-by-step How Royal Blood hit Number One

66,000 copies. The biggest new band in the country. A bolt out of the blue for some, but Royal Blood’s ascent hasn’t just been steep - it’s been near-stratospheric. This time last year, technically, nobody had heard a single audible second from Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher. A couple of solid demos on Soundcloud were swiftly taken down to make way for a debut single in autumn 2013, and hey ho, nine months later we’re talking about the fastest selling rock debut album in three years. This ‘Little Monster’ turned into a beast of its own.

Apart from the mind-boggling, brilliant sales figures, the duo’s story isn’t atypical, but it’s still worth taking note of. Their every move’s been followed since day one, so we dug into the past twelve months of DIY archives to bring together standout moments from their heady first year.