Vinyl sales up 40% in 2011

Radiohead's The King of Limbs — Vinyl sales are at their highest level for six years, with sales set to be up 40% on last year.

A strong first six months – in which sales were up 55% year-on-year – has helped to see sales of vinyl pass 240,000 units. At this stage last year 170,000 vinyl albums had been sold.

The total sales figure has already surpassed last year's total, which peaked at 234,000 for the whole year.

The Official Charts Company predicts that 2011's total vinyl sales will be more than 300,000 for the first time since 2005.

Sales in the first six months of 2011 were boosted by big releases from Radiohead, Adele and Beady Eye.

Radiohead's 'The King of Limbs' tops the chart with 20,771 copies sold.

The Official Vinyl Album Top 10 of 2011 to date is as follows:

01 ‘The King Of Limbs’ - Radiohead
02 ‘21’ - Adele
03 ‘Different Gear Still Speeding’ - Beady Eye
04 ‘Suck It And See’ - Arctic Monkeys
05 ‘Let England Shake’ - PJ Harvey
06 ‘Bon Iver’ - Bon Iver
07 ‘Submarine (Ost)’ - Alex Turner
08 ‘Director's Cut’ - Kate Bush
09 ‘Build A Rocket Boys’ - Elbow
10 ‘Nevermind’ – Nirvana

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Joe is the Content Director for What Hi-Fi? and Future’s Product Testing, having previously been the Global Editor-in-Chief of What Hi-Fi?. He has worked on What Hi-Fi? across the print magazine and website for almost 20 years, writing news, reviews and features on everything from turntables to TVs, headphones to hi-fi separates. He has covered product launch events across the world, from Apple to Technics, Sony and Samsung; reported from CES, the Bristol Show, and Munich High End for many years; and written for sites such as the BBC, Stuff and The Guardian. In his spare time, he enjoys expanding his vinyl collection and cycling (not at the same time).