While the album, currently residing in the "Billboard" top ten, will now be absent from the floor of Virgin stores everywhere, "Tubthumping" will still be kept behind the counter for potential buyers.

The music chain's move came after Nutter appeared on ABC's "Politically Incorrect" on Tuesday night and encouraged fans who cannot afford to buy the band's CD to steal it from stores. A spokesperson for the Chumbawamba singer/percussionist said that Nutter never actually mentioned Virgin, and that she felt entrapped by show's other panelists.

However, the group's official website, The First Church of Chumbawamba, directly addresses that question in its FAQ area (at www.chumba.com). There the band lists Virgin as one of the "shops which we recommend nicking our albums from" along with HMV, Our Price, Tower, Andy's Records, Woolworth, Boots, and WH Smith.

In this same post, which has been on the site since at least December of last year, the band observes that "stealing from chain stores (as opposed to small private shops) involves fewer moral dilemmas... We've no sympathy for the bigger stores."

Virgin spokesperson Christos Garkinos told MTV News, "We were an early supporter of this group and this record, and it's like a slap in the face to us."

There's no word yet if other chains plan to pull the album as well.