Vinyl countdown: Records get their own chart in Britain

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds topped two new charts for vinyl albums and singles launched in Britain on Monday in recognition of the growing popularity of the once-spurned music format.

Britain's Official Charts Company said the launch of the new charts coincided with the run-up to next weekend's international Record Store Day, which is a celebration of vinyl records and the mainly independent stores that continue to sell them against a tide of downloads and streaming.

“2014 witnessed vinyl LP sales reaching a 20-year high in the UK at 1.29 million, following seven years of unbroken growth,” the chart company, which provides weekly rankings of British music sales, said in a statement.

It said for the first quarter of 2015 vinyl album purchasing rose 69 percent versus the same period in 2014. Vinyl singles sales grew 23 percent.

The company said its new weekly charts put former Oasis singer Gallagher’s band top on both for both its album “Chasing Yesterday” and for the single “Ballad of the Mighty I”.