The XX Win Mercury Prize 2010

The XX won the Mercury Prize 2010 on Tuesday night in London for their debut album 'Xx'.

The band had been hotly tipped to take the prize, despite a late surge of betting on rival Paul Weller, who was nominated for 'Wake Up the Nation.'

The trio -- Romy Madley Croft, Oliver Sim and Jamie Smith -- appeared genuinely surprised when they accepted the award from muscian and TV host Jools Holland. "Thank you so much," bass player and singer Sim said. "We've had the most incredible year and it has just felt like every day we've just woken up to something incredible we just weren't expecting.It has felt just like a haze. Being here is like a moment of clarity in all that's happening."

The band beat the likes of Dizzee Rascal, Foals, Laura Marling, Mumford and Sons and Wild Beasts to walk away with the £20,000 cheque.

Later, singer and guitarist Romy Madley Croft told the press, "I genuinely wasn't expecting to hear our names"

The Mercury win caps an impressive year for the band, who released the album in August 2009 and quickly became one of the country's most talked-about bands, garnering a swathe of critical plaudits both for the album and their live shows, and fans including R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe.

Sim and Madley Croft have been friends since they were toddlers and began writing songs that appeared on the album when they were only 15. Some of it was recorded in a studio converted from a garage by their label XL Recordings.

Simon Frith, Chair of Judges, commented, "The xx have a unique sense of time and space -- urban and enigmatic. The result is a wonderfully atmospheric album – sparse, urgent, hypnotic and powerful."

The band said they now planned to put the money towards their own studio and start recording their next album.