Image caption Sam's album has replaced Post Malone at the top of the UK chart

"It's all stupid."

Sam Fender's laughing as he and his drummer Drew Michael sit in front of a green screen at Radio 1 discussing how his debut album, Hypersonic Missiles, has outsold the rest of the UK's top five albums combined.

Until now, his highest chart position was 59 with his single Will We Talk.

"I can't sum it up. What is our life? It's like The Truman Show."

Sam grew up in North Shields where he met his manager in a pub while he was celebrating winning a Brit with Ben Howard.

Since then he's played shows all over the world, performed on some of the biggest talk shows in America and won the Brits Critics' Choice award.

Image copyright Twitter/@Bramwell_Bronte Image caption Sam's producer wrote an open letter to the singer and his manager when the album was released

Despite acknowledging that "we've been working really hard for years" he's still struggling to come to terms with how "it's suddenly all clicked".

"Me and Drew are thick as mince". (Drew suggests it would be "that really fatty mince, too").

"We should just be kicking a football around a wasteland in the northeast. But right now, we're playing to 5,000 people.

"We have imposter syndrome, I feel like an imposter."

Drew says Sam and the band's journey is "one massive lucid dream".

"It's like a horrible game that someone's playing on us and we haven't been told about it yet."

Sam adds: "People were telling me it was likely the other day… Top five would have been ridiculous, let alone this."

During the weeks of promo leading up to the release of the album, the singer claimed he'd be jumping in the River Tyne.

Now that it's become reality, will he keep to his word?

"I'll be running in from Shields' beach.

"That goes into the dirty end of the river because it's where the sewage pipes are.

"I'm going to come out like one of those fish off The Simpsons with five eyes."

Follow Newsbeat on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.