Sales of vinyl outstripped digital album downloads last week for the first time ever.

Vinyl’s triumph was announced by figures provided by the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA), which revealed that more money had been spent on vinyl albums than on digital albums downloads last week.

As The Vinyl Factory reports, ERA have provided figures that show that, in week 48 of 2016, £2.4m was spent on vinyl, while only £2.1m was spent on the digital download of albums. The figures significantly contrast with the statistics that were recorded at this time last year, when only £1.2m was spent on vinyl albums while digital downloads racked up an eye-watering £4.4m worth of sales.


The ERA have suggested the swing in sales compared to last year could be attributed to factors such as the recent Record Store Day Black Friday, the increasing popularity of vinyl as a Christmas gift, and the greater number of retailers – which now includes supermarkets such as Sainsbury’s and Tesco – who now stock vinyl.

Back in May, it was reported that sales of vinyl in the UK had increased for the eighth year in a row. 2015 saw 2.1 million vinyl albums sold in UK, generating sales that topped an impressive £25.1m.