Muse Wins Big in New Year

British rockers Muse have been awarded the 2009 Best Art Vinyl Prize for their work on their latest record, "The Resistance", along with "Manic Street Preachers"' track, "Journal For Plague Lovers" in second place according to an online poll.

Other winners included Fever Ray's self-titled album at number three, Massive Attack at number four and finishing off the top five is Green Day with the cover to "21st Century Breakdown".

The sleeves that won will be featured at the Art Vinyl gallery in central London as well as three other locations in Birmingham, east London and Folkestone.

Now that the award is in its fifth year, Andrew Heeps the director for Art Vinyl says this is a fantastic way to honor the artwork that goes along with the music. "A great way to celebrate the unsung heroes behind the art and design of some of our favorite bands and artists." 

Other past winners have included Hard-Fi's "Stars of CCTV", Thom York's "The Eraser" and "Fleet Foxes". The colorful album cover for"The Resistance", which was released last September, was the work of London designer La Boca.

Speaking of Muse, their latest single, "Uprising" has shattered records for remaining at number one for a whole 18 weeks according to Mediabase's Alternative Rock chart. They have broken the record for the longest run at the top in the chart's history, a title once held by the Foo Fighters.

This album is the trio's fifth studio release, and has gone to number one on the Alternative Rock and Internet album charts, and has also placed second on the Overall Digital Album chart. All these have earned the guys some impressive stats with their first high album debut on the Billboard album chart at number 3.

"The Resistance" is also an international hit, the record has spawned 20 number one debuts worldwide including: Canada,Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland and their home in the UK. Also, it has almost sold 150,000 copies in their homeland making it the best-selling album by a British artist in 2010.

Also, according to The Daily Star, Muse has been invited to write the soundtrack to the upcoming, "Clash of the Titans". Front-man Matt Bellamy told TDS that the band is very interested.

"It's something we're up for doing- it's just a case of timing because we're always on tour. 'Clash of the Titans' is the first interesting offer we've had for film work. We're definitely interested in writing for the film at some point when we get a break from being on the road.

They'll be launching a North American Tour on February 27th in Atlanta, Georgia.

Here's the video to "Uprising". Enjoy!