Vinyl sales increase 55% in 2011

Sales of vinyl albums were up 55% year-on-year in the first six months of 2011.

Releases by Radiohead, Beady Eye and Adele led the way, as sales for January to June hit 168,296, up from 108,307 in 2010.

The Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA), which released the figures, also revealed the average album spend to be £16.30 for vinyl compared to £7.82 for CD and £6.80 for digital releases.

Radiohead's King of Limbs release topped the sales chart with a whopping 20,771 copies sold.

Limited edition releases, extra album artwork and initiatives such as Record Store Day were all credited with boosting interest and sales in vinyl.

2010 was the fourth successive year in which vinyl sales increased and it looks like 2011 will make it five...

Top 10 Vinyl Albums Jan-June 2011

1 Radiohead The King of Limbs

2 Beady Eye Different Gear Still Speeding

3 Adele 21

4 Arctic Monkeys Suck It And See

5 Elbow Build A Rocket Boys

6 Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues

7 Foo Fighters Wasting Light

8 Noah & The Whale Last Night On Earth

9 Vaccines What Did You Expect From The Vaccines

10 Mumford & Sons Sigh No More

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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).