Cult group ANIMAL COLLECTIVE have been left stunned after learning their album MERIWEATHER POST PAVILION has topped the Album of the Year poll in British music magazine Mojo’s 2009 annual countdown.

The band’s release beat out Bill Callahan’s Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle and Truelove’s Gutter by Richard Hawley to claim the top spot in the musical hit list, with The Horrors’ Primary Colours and Imidiwan: Companions by world music group Tinariwen rounding out the 2009 top five.

And Animal Collective star Noah Lennox admits he and his bandmates are still shocked by the success of their eighth album.

He says, “We’re stumped on why this was so popular… It’s an honour.”