Proving that you don’t necessarily need the weight of a major record label behind you to crack the US albums charts, Macklemore’s album The Heist made headlines yesterday when it powered into the Billboard chart at number two, behind the currently-unstoppable Mumford and Sons.

The Seattle MC (teamed up with DJ Ryan Lewis) shifted around 78,000 units of his album, seemingly through virtue of touring relentlessly and building up an “organic” fan base over his 13 years in the game.

In an interview with MTV’s RapFix, 29 year-old Macklemore explained that he was as surprised as anyone when the sales figures were announced. And those sales figures should have the major record companies quaking in their boots, as he explains “In terms of real music that connects on a soul level with the masses, with the people, I think that this is the way to go. I think that major labels aren't necessary anymore.”

Explaining how he came to find chart success after so many years of rapping, he told MTV “Just real organically through touring, music videos and through connecting with the fanbase, I slowly got to this point of being able to sell so many records this first week… We had no idea that it was gonna do this well, but I think the people are behind it, and it's an exciting thing for an independent artist to push this many units.”

The double full-length album 'The Heist' is released on the Macklemore label and includes the singles ‘Can’t Hold Us’ and ‘Make The Money.’