Despite the increasing dominance of digital sources and declining physical album sales, the vinyl record has continued to attract an enthusiastic and loyal niche fanbase. Now, the BPI has accredited high-profile new releases from Daft Punk and David Bowie, as well as initiatives like Record Store Day, as the catalysts behind a particularly successful year for records.

The BPI are predicting UK vinyl sales of over 700,000 by the end of the year, with forthcoming releases from the likes of Arcade Fire expected to again bolster sales. This all amounts to vinyl sales earning an estimated £12 million (€14.15 million) in 2013. £2 million of that is said to have come from the extremely successful Record Store Day initiative, with 56.5% of vinyl buyers surveyed by BPI saying they had visited an independent music store on the April 20th this year. Daft Punk's Random Access Memories has been the best selling record of the year so far. 

It should be emphasised that vinyls are very much a niche market: at only 0.8% of overall album sales, it has remained an enthusiast medium. However, that marks a huge increase from 0.1% of all sales in 2007. Record buyers are also loyal, regular customers. The BPI figures, for example, reveal 1 in 5 vinyl buyers buy records at least once a week, with 7 out of 10 making a purchase once a month.

In terms of demographics, vinyl is no longer the domain of an older generation either, with over a third of vinyl buyers under the age of 35. In a particularly noteworthy finding, though, the BPI reveal that 87.4% of surveyed vinyl fans were male. 

The BPI's Geoff Taylor says “whilst sales only account for a small percentage of the overall market, vinyl sales are growing fast as a new generation discovers the magic of 12 inch artwork, liner notes and the unique sound of analogue records, often accompanied by a download code for mp3s."