VINYL'S amazing resurgence amongst music fans will be underscored at a big event taking place in Glasgow today.

Sales of the format, once under serious threat from CDs, downloading and streaming, have enjoyed eight consecutive years of growth, with sales of Adele's new album topping the UK lists in 2015.

Rob Lythall of VIP Events, which is staging the Glasgow music fair at Bellahouston Leisure Centre, said: "It is excellent news that vinyl has come back into fashion so strongly after years of being eclipsed by other formats. We have dozens of dealers who specialise in vinyl covering every genre of music."

The Official Charts Company has launched singles and albums charts for vinyl. Last year's album top sellers in the UK were Adele and Amy Winehouse, followed by such acts as The Stone Roses, Ed Sheeran, Royal Blood and Pink Floyd.

The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) said last month that annual events such as Record Store Day, and a "new generation of rock fans falling in love with the format", helped sales of 2.9 million LPs last year, 800,000 more than in 2014. Music retailer HMV sold a turntable a minute over the festive period, it added.

Ian McCann, editor of Record Collector magazine, said nostalgia had much to do with vinyl's revival.

He said: "Rock music is generally retro in outlook these days. Bands use analogue equipment and valve amps because they feel that’s how the Rolling Stones, The Who, The Byrds and other groups got such a great sound and they want to get it too.

"That gear is seen as authentic. Bands also like the idea of their records being in a traditional rock’n’roll format – vinyl. Fans identify with that: they want to feel that the artists they like are genuine and feel that to get the true rock’n’roll experience, they ought to be listening to vinyl.

"Vinyl tends to sound better. A great MP3 player will never have the sheer oomph of a decent stereo with a half-decent deck. Downloads are a very mediated, compressed format: you’re hearing it how the electronics want you to hear it.

"What you lose in convenience with vinyl, you gain in sound. It’s the difference between a Michelin-starred chef’s meal and a burger. Both have their place, but only one can really deliver a sense of true artistry. There is more surface noise heard from a record, but as John Peel put it, 'life has surface noise'."

Record Store Day had helped spread the idea of buying vinyl but many serious collectors disliked it, he said, viewing the releases as artificial collectables pressed up for marketing purposes.

Another factor was that many people in advertising and marketing grew up with vinyl. "They see it as a wholesome, retro thing, and use it on TV ads to make products look fashionable, to express solidity and quirkiness.

"This probably has a drip-feed effect on the collective conscious - it normalises vinyl as a living medium, when once it was seen as dead."

The VIP fair will return to Bellahouston in June and September.

* www.vip-24.com