Sales of vinyl overtake digital downloads for the first time since Apple launched iTunes over a decade ago
Last week, £2.4 million worth of albums were sold on records compared to £2.1 in the digital format
Vinyl seems to be making its Christmas comeback this year, as record sales overtake downloads for the first time in over a decade.
Sales of albums sold on vinyl reached £2.4 million, overtaking digital downloads' sales total of £2.1 million for the first time since Apple released the iTunes website in 2004.
This surprising figures suggest digital download sales have halved in the past year,
The surprising figures mark a major shift in music consumption, with digital sales having more than halved since this week last year, when they reached £4.4 milllion.
Meanwhile, record sales are exactly double what they were a year ago, the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) said.
The shift in trends could be attributed to the growing number of retailers, including supermarkets such as Sainsburys and Tesco, now stocking vinyl.
The ERA also suggested that there may have been a surge in the sales this week as people look to give records as Christmas presents.
ERA chief Kim Bayley said: "This is yet further evidence of the ability of music fans to surprise us all.
"It's not so long ago that the digital download was meant to be the future.
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"Few would have predicted that an album format, first invented in 1948 and based on stamping a groove into a piece of plastic, would now be outselling it in 2016."
However, it's worth noticing that records are far more expensive than digital downloads, with Kate Bush's new Before the Dawn album costing £52 on vinyl and £12 for a download.
Meanwhile Adele's album 25 is priced at £17.99 on vinyl compared to £9.99 as a download.