Blur have stated that their new album is their best material to-date, and think it should "surely" outsell both Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran.
Blur's Damon Albarn
The Britpop group is made up of Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree, and they announced their first LP in 12 years - 'The Magic Whip - earlier this week, insisting it wouldn't be released if they didn't think it was good enough for modern-day charts.
Damon said to The Sun newspaper: "Surely acts like Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran can't possibly sell as many records as us this late into their records' lives, can they?
"Our album is a decent record and we really wouldn't be putting it out after such a long hiatus and stuck our necks out if we didn't believe in it.
"It has to be one of our best records, if not our best record."
Blur began recording their new record in Hong Kong in 2013 after a string of gigs were cancelled, and enjoyed the creative freedom which reminded them of when they first started in the industry, despite being "nervous" to hear the new LP for the first time.
Graham said: "We threw everything at it in five days in Hong Kong, so there was a lot.
"But it was like the early recordings, when we were left alone and had no one breathing down our necks. We could just be creative. Every stage was really nerve-racking though."
Damon added: "The most important thing is that the stuff we recorded in Hong Kong was magical.
"Graham came and said, 'I'd like to take this recording and knock it into shape'. It was a nervous moment when he played it to me.
"I thought, 'Oh s**t!' because it was really good and this sort of thing doesn't happen very often in life, so I couldn't really say no. As soon as I got the bit between my teeth I was back."
The group were also pleased that their comeback was kept a secret until this week, and was particularly proud Gorillaz artist Jamie Hewlett had no clue.
"It's so hard to keep anything quiet these days but nobody snitched. The best bit was when Jamie started posting new pictures of Gorillaz and he didn't know either", Damon explained.
During the album announcement yesterday, Damon admitted that the group can't wait to try out some of their new music live when they headline London's Hyde Park later this year.
"On this occasion we will have a whole new set of things to get excited about so we'll have even more music.
"I love it [playing in Hyde Park] because I can cycle to work!"
Amazon has announced that pre-orders of The Magic Whip will grant customers access to pre-sale tickets for their gig at Hyde Park's British Summer Time. The album is released on April 27.
Tagged in Blur Ed Sheeran Sam Smith