Arctic Monkeys

With their nervy and literate indie rock sound, Arctic Monkeys arrived with a blast in 2005. Assisted by rave reviews and online word of mouth (they were one of the first bands to benefit from social media), they quickly became a sensation in the United Kingdom, where they were seen as the heir apparent to the throne left vacant by Oasis and the Libertines. Buoyed by the single "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor," their 2006 debut Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not briefly grabbed the title of fastest-selling album in British history. It landed on top of both the U.K. and U.S. rock album charts and took home the Mercury Prize. What set the group apart was Alex Turner, a singer/songwriter with a biting wit and grasp of English vernacular (not dissimilar to Paul Weller, the godfather of modern British rock). However, driven by their maverick creative spirit, Arctic Monkeys have proven highly unpredictable, reworking classic rock traditions on 2007's Favourite Worst Nightmare and beefing up their guitars with the assistance of Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme on 2009's Humbug. Entitled AM, the band's fifth record was released in September of 2013, a few months after a triumphant headlining performance at Glastonbury 2013, which was opened with the new song "Do I Wanna Know?" Both a critical and commercial success, AM topped the British charts and reached number six on the Billboard 200. It also earned the group a Mercury Prize nomination and won British Album of the Year at the BRIT Awards. Eventually, they also laced in some of the lounge aspects of Turner's swinging side project the Last Shadow Puppets, an evolution that continued into 2018's arty Tranquillity Base Hotel & Casino and deepened on its 2022 follow-up The Car. By that point, the band was a staple throughout the world: a respected, adventurous, and successful group that could easily be called Britain's biggest band.