Vinyl record sales have increased 55% this year in the UK, demonstrating that the legacy technology still has a niche in the market.

Such sales totaled 168,296 units, according to Retail Gazette. Radiohead's vinyl release of King of Limbs led the sales with 20,771 units. The report jibes with a recent study by Nielsen SoundScan, which noted a 37% increase in vinyl sales through May 8. Last year, vinyl sales were up 14.2%, though they only comprise 1.2% of physical sales, according to Nielsen.

The rise of vinyl is driven by a bit of nostalgia, deejays' preference for it and a belief that the format has better sound quality than digital.

Overall, music sales rose 8.5% for the first half of the year, Nielsen SoundScan reports. While digital sales are growing faster than sales of CDs, the latter still accounts for two-thirds of recorded music sales, according to Nielsen.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Tiney Ho