Fans eager to buy the latest Manic Street Preachers album queued for more than 15 hours in Cardiff on Sunday night.

Nearly 100 people braved stormy weather conditions outside the city's Virgin Megastore until the doors were opened at midnight.

Being one of the first people in Britain to own a copy is kind of cool

Manic Street Preachers fan

The shop was the first in the UK to sell Forever Delayed, the latest offering from the rock band.

"I wanted to be one of the first people in the country to get hold of their album because they are my favourite band," said one of the fans in the queue.

Another said: "Being one of the first people in Britain to own a copy is kind of cool."

Store manager Nigel Holmes said the fans were desperate to get their hands on the album.

"We opened the doors at midnight and stayed open for an hour or so until the last person bought their copy," he said.

The album is expected to be a best seller

"It was really impressive to see so many people waiting for the album despite the horrendous weather conditions.

"It shows what a dedicated fan base the Manic Street Preachers have in Wales," he added.

The album is a compilation of the band's greatest hits.

The first 30 people to buy the album received a set of four postcards signed by the band.

Mr Holmes said he expected the album to become the store's best-seller this Christmas.

And the stream of people flocking to buy the album continued on Monday morning.

Best exports

The Manics were set up in the late 1980s by childhood friends, James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire, Sean Moore and Richey James Edwards, who had grown up in Blackwood.

Despite the mysterious disappearance of Richey Edwards in 1995, the band have achieved a worldwide fan base for their music and have become one of Wales' best exports.

The band recently performed in front of a crowd of 75,000 at the opening of the Wales versus Italy football match at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium in an Euro 2004 championship qualifier.

In the wake of the performance, Wales notched up a historic win, defeating the Italians 2 -1.