It’s been a tough slog for vinyl diehards in the wake of compact disc domination and then of course the advent of those pesky MP3s and that’s not even mentioning all the drama around the fate of Technics. But it looks as though a little ray of light is shining through all that doom and gloom for devotees of wax.

According to figures released by data gurus Nielsen SoundScan vinyl sales surged upwards in 2010, increasing by a very healthy 14% in the year for some 2.8 million units sold. That’s the highest figure for vinyl sales since 1991 apparently.

What’s even more interesting is that the rise in vinyl shifted goes against the larger trend for album sales which dipped a further 13% on 2009.

Out of interest the top 10 list of the year’s big vinyl sellers was populated by legacy rock acts such as The Beatles and Pink Floyd with some nice inclusions of The xx and Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

Top Ten Vinyl Albums, 1/4/2010 – 1/2/2011
1. The Beatles Abbey Road (35,000)
2. Arcade Fire The Suburbs (18,800)
3. Black Keys Brothers (18,400)
4. Vampire Weekend Contra (15,000)
5. Michael Jackson Thriller (14,200)
6. The National High Violet (13,600)
7. Beach House Teen Dream (13,000)
8. Jimi Hendrix Experience Valleys of Neptune (11,400)
9. Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon (10,600)
10. the xx xx (10,200)