LEGENDARY Newport band Skindred narrowly missed out on what would have been their very first number one album - but did snatch second place.

Skindred, a genre-blending band hailing from Newport, made headlines earlier this week with their eighth album Smile topping the midweek charts.

The band, which formed in 1998, were hoping to make history with their first ever UK number one following 25 years in the music industry.

But the competition was fierce, with less than 500 units separating the top three earlier this week - including The Sherlocks with People Like Me and You and Cian Ducrot with his debut album Victory.

Although Cian Ducrot took the top spot (with The Sherlocks coming fourth - and Utopia by Travis Scott taking the number three spot), Skindred are "ecstatic" that Smile has earned the #2 spot in the UK National album charts - beaten by just 140 sales.

Singer, Benji Webbe, said: "We didn't expect our eighth studio album Smile to have such a high entrance in the UK National album charts .

"If you told me that we would be number two in the UK national album charts a few weeks back we would never have believed it.

"I'm ecstastic and so happy with the result."

He added that the whole experience bought Team Dred together in a "beautiful way" and showed "how much love" there is for Skindred and their music.

"To all who pushed and pushed with us in the last week I've got nothing but love, appreciation and sunshine for you," added Benji.

"Whan amazing time to be the mighty Skindred... we are totally celebrating this win.

"Please rejoice with us - thank you to everyone who contributed to our enormous success.

"This is something we will never forget."