Vinyl sales and music streaming both soared by more than 50 per cent in 2014 in the United States, even as overall sales kept declining.

With few blockbuster releases and streaming becoming more mainstream, consumers in the world's largest music market bought 257 million albums last year.

That's a drop of 11 per cent from 2013.

The music industry saw one bright spot in the strong growth of vinyl which in recent years has become the format of choice for audiophiles and collectors.