http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6248535.stm
Recent changes to the rules mean you no longer have to have physically released your single on CD/Vinyl to be counted for the top 40 chart.
Their download-only single Blag, Steal & Borrow is on course to enter Sunday’s top 40, early sales figures suggest. Chart rules were changed at the start of January to count all digital single sales, even if there is no CD version…
Record labels have already contacted them on the strength of this week’s chart showing.
“It’s absolutely out of this world and fingers crossed it could be the start of a good career for us,” Murphy said.
"If someone comes along and gives us an offer, we’ll talk to them.
But it depends whether we need it. If we can get enough exposure and get in the top 40 by the end of the week, do we necessarily need a large label?Probably nowadays, no you don’t. We’ll get the exposure ourselves just from being in the charts."
Their success is a result of years of hard work, he said.
I know it’s early days to predict the demise of the lumbering dinosaur that is the record industry and no doubt they’ll have a big fat cheque waved in front of them, in which case I wouldn’t blame them if they did sign a deal, but I’d love to think that they don’t.