Mercury Prize-winners Young Fathers have sold so few copies of their triumphant album that they could have bought the lot with their £20,000 prize money - and still have change left over.

The hip-hop trio were surprise victors last night, costing bookmakers a hefty sum after coming from behind with their release Dead to land the prestigious prize for album of the year.

But the Edinburgh-based act had shifted a mere 2,368 copies of the album by this week - and of those, the band had added only an extra 561 sales since they were placed on the 12-strong shortlist.

Dead is priced at £5.99 on iTunes and the CD is just under £8 with many online UK retailers, meaning their prize exceeds the total revenue generated by its sales.

Their win is expected to help sales rocket but prior to their win, it had clocked up only a 65th of those enjoyed by fellow nominees for their debut album.

The group had generated the fewest extra sales of any act nominated for this year's prize, marginally behind jazz act Polar Bear, whose inclusion helped them to just 569 further sales.

Young Fathers had even benefited from the exposure of another prize win in the summer when their previous release, a "mixtape" called Tape Two, triumphed at the Scottish Album Of The Year award, also earning them a £20,000 prize.

In a brief acceptance speech at the Roundhouse in London last night, the group's Alloysious Massaquoi said simply: "Thank you, we love you, we love you all."

They beat acts including hot favourite FKA Twigs and Damon Albarn and had been 14-1 with bookmaker William Hill, although with some firms they were placed at 25-1.

Simon Frith, who chaired the judging panel, said of the winners: "Young Fathers have a unique take on urban British music, brimming with ideas - forceful, unexpected and moving."

The act, formed in 2008, have clocked up appearances at numerous festivals and have been described as a "psychedelic hip hop boy band".

Their album creates a wall of sound with heavy bass synths and pounding rhythms, topped by rap, soulful vocals and chanting.

At a press conference after their win, the taciturn trio had to be asked to smile by photographers and still continued to look stony-faced.

Massaquoi - who is joined in the band by Kayus Bankole and G Hastings - said of their music: "We go out and do what we do."

The band said they were pleased the exposure would help them to bring their work to a wider audience.

They follow in the footsteps of recent winners such as James Blake and Alt-J, as well as other past victors including Pulp, Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand.