Somehow we've never given RSD a dedicated thread, although the special releases have popped up here once in a while. The big event took place yesterday, and according to a story I just heard on BBC News, the crowds were larger than ever this year. Record Store Day began in 2008 and by 2011 it began generating special releases from the record companies. These releases, now numbering in the hundreds each year draw a lot of foot traffic to retailers because they often sell out immediately. The energy and enthusiasm of this event has played a large role in the resurgence of vinyl among younger listeners.
This list of special releases for 2026 is here. If you sense a new listening project in the offing, you're not wrong. We're going to take a closer look at some of the more interesting instant rarities to see what the shouting is all about.
After taking a closer look at the list of this year's RSD releases, I have drawn a few conclusions:
'There is truly something for everyone. Of the 359 releases, 210 are RSD exclusives and an amazing 66 (on top of those exclusives) are first release anywhere.
The focus is definitely on vinyl. There are only 5 CD's included.
New material with a wide appeal still appears on CD, either as part of RSD (Pink Floyd) or separately (Bruce Springsteen).
There are loads of catalog reissues that have been OOP for a while but still can easily be found at a fraction of the cost on LP or CD.
This high priced luxury product is not the place to explore unfamiliar artists. But as a long time collector, I'm having a lot of fun evaluating releases by artists I already like to see just how deep into the vault I really want to go.
