The National Recording Preservation Foundation congratulates the artists, composers, songwriters, and publishers recognized in the National Recording Registry’s Class of 2026. Each year, the Librarian of Congress selects twenty-five sound recordings, chosen from a slate of public nominations, which represent audio treasures worthy of preservation in perpetuity based on their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance to the nation’s recorded sound heritage. The 2026 inductees were just announced!
Above: a graphic featuring cover images of exemplars inducted to the 2026 National Recording Registry.
The 2026 National Recording Registry
Today, Acting Librarian of Congress Robert R. Newlen named 25 audio recordings as treasures worthy of preservation for all time based on their cultural, historical, or aesthetic importance to the nation’s recorded sound heritage.
The 2026 class spans 70 years of music and recorded sound. Taylor Swift’s transformative pop album “1989,” Beyoncé’s standout “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It),” The Go-Go’s debut “Beauty and the Beat,” Vince Gill’s signature “Go Rest High On That Mountain,” Weezer’s beloved self-titled debut “Weezer (The Blue Album),” Chaka Khan’s crossover hit “I Feel for You,” and the original Broadway cast album of “Chicago” are among the defining sounds of history and culture joining the Registry this year. The class also includes Ray Charles’ “Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music,” Gladys Knight and the Pips’ “Midnight Train to Georgia,” Rosanne Cash’s “The Wheel,” Reba McEntire’s “Rumor Has It,” and the broadcast recording of “The Fight of the Century: Ali vs. Frazier” from 1971, among many others. The earliest inductee, “Cocktails for Two” by Spike Jones and His City Slickers, dates to 1944.
In the announcement, Newlen noted: “Music and recorded sound are essential, wonderful parts of our daily lives and our national heritage. The National Recording Registry works to preserve our national playlist for generations to come.”
The 2026 selections bring the total number of titles on the Registry to 700 — though impressive, it’s just a small fraction of the Library of Congress’s recorded sound collection of nearly 4 million items.
Robbin Ahrold, chair of the National Recording Preservation Board, remarked that the class beautifully captures the scope of the American experience as the nation marks its 250th anniversary, spanning icons of R&B, a beloved holiday classic in Spanish, a legendary sports broadcast, and this generation’s biggest pop superstars.
Weezer was among the most nominated recordings this year, with the public submitting more than 3,000 nominations overall. The 2026 selections mark the first recordings by both Swift and Beyoncé chosen for the Registry. They also mark a historic first: for the first time, a father and daughter are both represented, with Rosanne Cash’s “The Wheel” joining her father Johnny Cash’s “At Folsom Prison,” which was selected in 2003.
NRPF Impact
Since 2016, the National Recording Preservation Foundation (NRPF) has awarded over a quarter of a million dollars in grants to support unique, at-risk audio collections held by non-profit audio archives, libraries, and other cultural heritage organizations. To learn more, check out our NRPF preservation grants page and read our 2024 Annual Report.
The Urgency of Audio Preservation
The new inductees to the National Recording Registry remind us of the significance of preservation support for significant audio recordings. Imagine if any of these recordings were lost or no longer available! The Registry represents the pinnacle of American recordings, symbolizing the larger body of recordings held by audio archives and collections stewarded by the recording industry, libraries and archives, and individuals. All analog sound recording formats are at high risk of loss due to the degradation of physical media and the increasing difficulty of finding or maintaining playback equipment.
The NRPF’s mission is to raise awareness about the significance of these recordings, assist in gathering resources to preserve them, and to support at-risk audio recordings in the many more collections that do not make it to the national registry. One way we can increase our impact is through private donations, which we gather together and return to audio archives and other non-profit collecting organizations through preservation grants.
Donate
A donation to the National Recording Preservation Foundation supports the work of non-profit audio archives, libraries, and other cultural organizations, to secure the long-term availability of at-risk audio heritage. Donations can be made directly at https://secure.givelively.org/donate/national-recording-preservation-foundation/.
Listen
Listen to many of the recordings on your favorite streaming service. The Digital Media Association (DiMA), a member of the National Recording Preservation Board, compiled a list of some streaming services with National Recording Registry playlists, available at https://dima.org/playlist/national-recording-registry-class-of-2026/. You can also hear many of the historic recordings on the Registry via the Library of Congress’ National Jukebox and other listening resources.
About the National Recording Registry
Under the terms of the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000, the Librarian of Congress, with advice from the National Recording Preservation Board, selects 25 titles each year that are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” and are at least 10 years old. More information on the National Recording Registry can be found at the web page of the National Recording Preservation Board. The public may nominate recordings for the Board’s consideration here.
Some registry titles have already been preserved by the copyright holders, artists or other archives. In cases where a selected title has not already been preserved, the Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center works to ensure that the recording will be preserved by some entity and available for future generations. This can be through the Library’s recorded-sound preservation program or through collaborative ventures with other archives, studios and independent producers.
Learn More
See the full list of inductees at the press release from the Library of Congress: https://newsroom.loc.gov/news/national-recording-registry-inducts-sounds-of-taylor-swift–beyonc—the-go-go-s–vince-gill–weezer/s/bc258688-e655-4ffb-9f91-f32b94956f36. NPR’s “1A” will feature selections from this year’s National Recording Registry in its series “The Sounds of America,” including Thursday’s “What are the sounds of America?” segement, and interviews with the Library and several featured artists in the weeks ahead. Follow the conversation about the registry on Instagram, Facebook, and other @librarycongress social media. Or, look for the hashtag #NatRecRegistry.
