The results are in and Radiohead has proved that the band had nothing to lose by offering its latest album for free online months before it was scheduled to hit the shelves in retail outlets.

Radiohead’s In Rainbows (released on New Years Eve) has entered the UK charts at number one, beating Take That and X-Factor winner, Leona Lewis into second and third place respectively.

Critics were sceptical back in October when Radiohead decided to launch the band’s latest album early, online and for free.

The band announced at the beginning of October that In Rainbows would be available on a pay-what-you-want basis on the band’s website.

Although the album was offered for free many fans still chose to pirate the album. High traffic volumes on the official website meant that many people couldn’t download the album and so, downloaded it from other sources.

The outcome of this experiment is still unclear. A recent report from watchdog Comscore said that only 2 in 5 people paid for the album with 60 percent paying nothing at all for the album. However, these figures were highly disputed and were dubbed by Radiohead front man, Thom Yorke, as “wholly inaccurate”.

Good news for Radiohead. Nothing like a bit of "we told you so" to kick off the new year.