Performers and music lovers have gathered at hundreds of independent music stores in an annual celebration of vinyl records.

The seventh celebration of Record Store Day will see 240 local stores open their doors for in-store performances for vinyl music fans.

More than 600 exclusive vinyl releases will also be going on sale for one day only, by artists ranging from One Direction, Elbow, Damon Albarn, Green Day, Jake Bugg, Paul Weller, Nirvana, and David Bowie.

Paul Quirk, one of the organisers of Record Store Day 2014, told BBC news that more and more young music fans were discovering vinyl records.

"There was a survey done last year which said that biggest growth in vinyl buyers were the under-25s. They've seen what people are producing now, and the quality is so much better."

" It's a richer sound, a warmer sound, as soon as you put the needle on the turntable, you get a little hiss before the music starts."

Last year, 79,000 vinyl albums were sold in the UK .

The Arctic Monkeys' AM is the biggest selling vinyl album of the year so far, according to the Official Charts Company's sales data.

The Sheffield-born rockers fifth full-length album was followed by Mogwai's Rave Tapes, in second position, while Bruce Springsteen's High Hopes was third. Elbow's The Take Off And Landing Of Everything and Warpaint's self-titled second album made up the rest of the top five.

A resurgence in the popularity of vinyl means 2014 is set to see nearly 900,000 album sales in the format if sales continue at their current rate.

The renowned Berwick Street in London, home to six independent music stores, will see street festival performances from Adam Ant, Edwyn Collins, DJ Andy, The September Girls, Ruts DC, The Augustines, and Tim Arnold.

Exclusive vinyl fans will be able to get hold of this year include a seven inch re-issue of David Bowie's Rock & Roll Suicide, Adam Ant's debut album, Dirk Wears White Sox on white vinyl and a 10-inch glow-in-the-dark record of the Ghostbusters theme song from the 1984 hit movie.

Record Store Day started in the United States in 2007 when more than 700 independent stores came together to celebrate their unique culture and spread to Britain the following year.