Two years after it was rescued from the brink of ruin, music retailer HMV has become the top seller of physical CDs and vinyl.

The high street retailer went into administration back in 2013 but was bought by Hilco who set about priming the brand to work against competition from online stores and digital downloading.

It seemed like it would be unlikely a couple of years ago but the high street giant has even overtaken online behemoth Amazon for the first time since 2013.

Figures of sales were released by Kantar Worldpanel who have reported that physical sales in music have increased overall for the first half of the year.

Fiona Keenan, an analyst at Kantar Worldpanel, said: "HMV has been successful in attracting shoppers in store that want to browse its extensive range of products before deciding what to buy, which historically was a real area of strength for the high street specialist.

"Spend from consumers browsing for music products in HMV has grown by almost 50pc compared to this time last year, helping to boost the retailer’s share of total browsed spend in the market to 43.4pc, making it the standout player.

"Pre-administration, HMV’s share of browsing purchases was regularly over 50pc, so this recent resurgence is a positive sign for the retailer’s future as it faces increased competition from the online market.”

It’s true that HMV’s strength was always the range of merchandise it sold and the browsability of its stores was always a great pull for customers. The upturn that the store is experiencing is encouraging because part of the whole experience of being an entertainment fan is browsing; seeing everything laid out for you and the thrill of being able to make a decision on what to buy based on what’s right in front of you.

It’s true that online retailers often have the advantage over stores on the high street because they can offer a lot more choice and are often much cheaper than their physical counterparts but there is still something to be said for going into a shop and being able to browse at your leisure.

It is most definitely a good thing that HMV are doing so well and will help to preserve the simple pleasure of being able to browse through the record store.

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