Vinyl LP Sales Highest In A Decade, Says BPI
Albums by Daft Punk, Arctic Monkeys and David Bowie help push vinyl album sales to their highest level since 2003.Vinyl LP sales have reached their highest level in a decade, according to the British music industry's trade body.
The BPI said more than half a million LPs had already been sold this year - the first time that threshold has been reached since 2003.
Daft Punk's Random Access Memories is the top seller so far in 2013.
AM, the fifth studio album by the Arctic Monkeys, is in second place, while David Bowie's The Next Day is the third best-selling LP.
The sales of almost 550,000 represent year-on-year growth of more than 100%, doubling vinyl's market share in the last 12 months, said the BPI. Despite the growth, vinyl albums are still massively outsold by digital downloads and CD sales, accounting for only 0.8% of the UK market.
The BPI, which represents the interests of the major record companies as well as some 300 independent labels, believes sales could top 700,000 by the end of the year, giving the best figures since 2001.
Record Store Day, an annual promotion of independent music shops held in April, is thought to have helped revitalise the image and popularity of the format.
Independent retailers are still by far the most popular outlet for buying vinyl.
However, teenage music fans are unlikely to be ditching their MP3 players anytime soon.
The largest group of buyers are aged 35 to 44 and overwhelmingly male, according to a BPI poll.
