Vinyl sales at 25-year high as David Bowie's Blackstar leads revival

Vinyl sales in the UK topped the three million mark over the last 12 months, reaching a 25-year high.

Official figures show a surge in audio streaming and an accelerating demand for vinyl LPs in Britain.

More than 3.2 million records were sold in 2016, a rise of 53% on the previous year, according to the UK music industry's trade body, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

The figure is the highest annual total since 1991, when Simply Red's Stars was the best-selling album.

David Bowie's Mercury Prize shortlisted Blackstar was 2016's most popular vinyl, selling more than double the number of copies of 2015's best-seller - Adele's 25.

At the same time, CD sales and album downloads have continued to fall due to "millennials who've grown up digital", but "chose to experience heritage artists on vinyl", according to BPI council member Vanessa Higgins.

"Fans are listening to music in so many ways now - we've definitely entered a multi-channel era," Ms Higgins said.

Amy Winehouse's Back To Black vinyl made number two with accumulated sales of 35,500, followed by the Guardians Of The Galaxy soundtrack and Radiohead's A Moon Shaped Pool.

It is the ninth year in a row that vinyl sales have increased and, for one unprecedented week in early December, made even more money than digital albums.

Music streaming, on the other hand, hit the milestone of one billion streams in one week in 2016.

Served through growing services like Spotify, Apple, Deezer and Tidal, audio streaming saw a 68% rise from 2015.

Geoff Taylor, BPI's chief executive, believes the numbers "are indicative of the promise of a new era for music, where investments in a digital future fuel compelling benefits for all".

In total, 123 million albums or their equivalent were either streamed, purchased on physical format or downloaded by UK music consumers in 2016.

The biggest selling vinyl albums of 2016 were:

:: Blackstar, David Bowie

:: Back To Black, Amy Winehouse

:: Guardians Of The Galaxy - Awesome Mix 1

:: A Moon Shaped Pool, Radiohead

:: Rumours, Fleetwood Mac

:: The Stone Roses, Stone Roses

:: Legend, Bob Marley And The Wailers

:: Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles

:: Purple Rain, Prince & The Revolution

:: Nevermind, Nirvana