Fontaines DC have insisted they "didn't want" a chart battle with Taylor Swift.

The 'I Was Not Born' hitmakers narrowly missed out on their first number one with second album 'A Hero's Death' last year, when the 31-year-old pop star dropped her 'Folklore' LP the same week and took the top spot in the UK rankings.

Reflecting on the race to the top spot, frontman Grian Chatten said: "We didn't want too much to do with that.

"If someone would have told us we were going to be number two in the charts we would have been absolutely over the moon.

"We didn't need to beat Taylor Swift for number one, we weren't dying for that, the only reason we would have wanted that number one is for the team that works around us, our management and stuff, it would have been really good for them as they put a lot of work into it."

The band - who released debut album 'Dogrel' in 2019 and hit number nine in the charts - explained they don't look to record sales as a way of measuring their success.

He added: "Success is when you write a piece of music that has you skipping around your kitchen."

Their first record was nominated for best rock album at the Grammys earlier this year, but the Irish group previously insisted they were almost disappointed by the nod.

Guitarist Carlos O’Connell said: “We get a Grammy nomination, people like us, blah, blah, blah.

“And for the first time in my life, family members were telling me how proud they were.

“Funnily enough, it made me feel worse than when they were telling me to quit and get a proper job.

“That’s when I realised. One of the reasons for doing this was to prove them wrong. Now I have to find someone else to prove wrong.”

Singer Grian added: “People wave compliments at you like finish lines. Adulation makes you feel like you’re done. It’s important not to listen to it.”