RECORD Store Day proved a hit over the weekend with punters queuing for four hours outside Sound Knowledge in Marlborough to get their hands on limited edition vinyls.

Independent record stores taking part in the day are not permitted to open before 8am but that didn't stop the first customers arriving in Marlborough at 4am on Saturday.

The day, launched in 2007 to promote independent labels and shops, is credited with the revival of the format, which saw an official vinyl chart launched last week.

Roger Mortimer, owner of Sound Knowledge, said: "It was very very busy and it continued to be busy throughout the day with punters looking for limited edition releases. It's a real shot in the arm for the participating record stores.

"We have been doing it since its inception and the whole idea is to help the remaining independent record shops survive and get people back in and its clearly achieving that.

"Each year we gain new customers, people come to the shop and have a good experience so they becoming regulars."

In addition to the limited edition releases, including a special U2 vinyl which had just 500 copies pressed, Sound Knowledge also held a free RSD Live event on Sunday with live music at adjacent cafe Azuza and a barbeque.

Mule, Nick Harper and Port Erin all performed during the afternoon as well as David Sinclair 4 and Mercutio.

Mr Mortimer said: "The music was a fantastic success which was enjoyed by all and I would like to thank everyone who attended. This year was on par with last year and we are very happy with the levels of business we did."

In Chippenham, record store Magpie Music was also busy as it more than quadrupled its takings compared to a normal Saturday.

The Market Place shop stocked special vinyl releases made exclusively for the day, like Bob Marley's Early Years collection of 7inch LPs with poster - in total only 2,000 were released - and the White Stripes' first commercial pressing on vinyl of their album Get Behind Me Satan, for its 10th anniversary.

Magpie Music, which opened in 2009, first celebrated Record Store Day last year, and this year had live performances from singer songwriters Jack Moore, from Calne, and Jordan Whatley, from Melksham.

Partner Kate Goodman said: “It is one of our busiest days of the year; it's all about getting people in to have a mooch about. I think with the vinyls chart records are on the up anyway, everybody's talking about vinyl.

"We had a lot of people phoning up about Elvis Sings [covers album released last year], and we have only one left of Johnny Flynn's Detectorists [the BBC Four drama theme song].”

The official charts company said sales of vinyl singles and albums reached a 20 year high last year.