Here are our picks for the best Record Store Day 2026 releases.
Vinyl hounds, get ready... The 2026 edition of Record Store Day takes place this weekend, on Saturday 18 April.
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It’s the yearly celebration of music and independent record stores, who come together to curate events and boast exclusive releases to treat music fans the world over.
There are hundreds of titles pressed exclusively for RSD 2026 – including limited releases from the likes of AIR, Mama Cass, Pink Floyd, Charli XCX, Ray Charles, Ethel Cain, Fall Out Boy and Carly Rae Jepsen – to name but a few.
This year’s wide-ranging line-up may not be the strongest compared to recent years, but it has something for everyone and features some especially intriguing live albums.
We’ve combed through this year’s list of releases, which you can find on the RSD website, and come up with our selection of the must-have vinyls you shouldn’t miss out on.
Happy hunting.
Ahead of this year’s Record Store Day, Euronews Culture went to Tiki Vinyl Store in Lyon to talk to the owners about RSD26, their top picks from this year’s selection, as well as the challenges that the record store owners face. Check out the interview here.
Chet Baker - Live In Japan 1987 (Fukui) - Vol 1 & Vol 2
This year, we get two separately packaged volumes of legendary trumpeter Chet Baker’s performance in Fukui, Japan, on 6 June 1987. These are a must for any jazz fan, who’ll relish in live renditions of ‘Broken Wing’, ‘I Remember You’, ‘My Funny Valentine’ and ‘You Are My Thrill’. Good luck getting your hands on these two volumes – they'll be sought after, and considering this RSD release is Japanese import, they’ll be tough to find.
David Bowie - Hallo Spaceboy EP & Excerpts from Outside
Since his death in 2016, there’s always been some exclusive David Bowie pressing going at RSD. This year, we get a dual helping, with a neon pink 12” Hallo Spaceboy EP, which features six remixes of the titular song – including two by Pet Shop Boys and a previously unreleased Tim Simenon remix. If that’s not your jam, there’s a belated 30th anniversary commemoration of Bowie’s complex and underrated 1995 LP '1:Outside'. Originally released as an abridged 13-track cutdown his 20th studio album, 'Excerpts from Outside’ features the remastered audio for the first time, cut to half-speed using the 2021 Brian Eno-approved masters. It’s not a must-own by any means, but Bowie obsessives / completists should rush to nab this one.
Jeff Buckley - Live À L’Olympia
This one’s a first, as Jeff Buckley’s Parisian concert has never made it to vinyl... Until now. 'Live À L’Olympia' documents two nights in July 1995 when the much-missed songwriting genius came to the French capital. The recording includes cuts from ‘Grace’, as well as some stunning covers of MC5’s ‘Kick Out The Jams’ and Edith Piaf’s ‘Je ne connais pas la fin’, as well as a Led Zeppelin parody track (‘Kashmir’). Don’t pass on this RSD26 exclusive.
HAIM – Relationships EP
Following their 2025 release ‘I Quit’ (a compelling effort which still lacked the immediacy of their stunning debut ‘Days Are Gone’ and the richness of ‘Women in Music Pt. III’) comes this exclusive four-track EP. It features the single ‘Relationships’ (one of ‘I Quit’s best efforts), as well as three bonus tracks: ‘Tie You Down (with Bon Iver)’, ‘The Story of Us’ and ‘Even the Bad Times’ - all new on vinyl, as they featured only on the CD Deluxe tracklisting.
Laura Marling - Live At Albert Hall, Manchester
It’s been two years since British folk queen Laura Marling’s last studio album, 'Patterns in Repeat’. It was a quiet gem of an LP, in which Marling delighted listeners to deeply personal songs, including lullabies written directly to her daughter. While fans wait for her next effort, this year’s RSD offers a live of her special two-night-only performances at the Albert Hall in Manchester. The first half features Marling performing solo with just her acoustic guitar; the second hears her with a four-piece string quartet and a choir to perform ‘Patterns in Repeat’ in its entirety. Not one to miss out on.
Pixies – Live in Newport
This is the first audio-only physical release of the band’s first ever acoustic set from the Newport Folk Festival in 2005. Fans will get to finally own these alternate takes on some of the band’s classic songs like ‘Cactus’, ‘Here Comes Your Man’, ‘Monkey Gone To Heaven’ and ‘Where Is My Mind’. Expect us to be fighting off other RSD attendees for this one.
Labi Siffre - Crying Laughing Loving Lying (Expanded Edition)
This one is our top pick for RSD26. It’s the extended edition of the seminal third album by influential English singer-songwriter Labi Siffre – and it’s a must-own. Siffre has experienced something of a resurgence in pop culture recently, with new generations discovering his glorious music. Some of his tracks have been widely sampled – perhaps most famously by Kanye West for ‘I Wonder’ (‘My Song’); Miley Cyrus and Greta Van Fleet have covered some of his material; his songs ‘Crying Laughing Loving Lying’ and ‘Cannock Chase’ were used in The Holdovers and the Oscar-nominated Sentimental Value respectively; and his song ‘Bless The Telephone’ went viral on TikTok last year. Make sure you nab an RSD copy of this timeless album, which features many of his biggest hits – as well as new-on-vinyl bonus tracks ‘Watch Me’, ‘You Make It Easy’ and ‘Oh Me Oh My Mr City Goodbye’.
Sonic Youth – Diamond Seas
Remixes are usually more miss than hit, but this one is intriguing - and radically different to say the least. John Oswald (of Grateful Dead ‘Grayfolded’ fame) orchestrates 32 live performances of the song ‘The Diamond Sea’ (the closing track from the band’s 1995 album ‘Washing Machine’) to make two entirely new pieces. Both clocking in at 20:44, Side A stitches together performances from 1995, while Side B draws from 1996.
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band – Live From Asbury Park 2024
The Boss’ 2024 show at the Sea.Hear.Now festival in Asbury Park gets a whopping 5LP vinyl release (as well as a 3CD set). It’s a career-spanning three-hour concert from Springsteen and The E Street Band, with hits like ‘Hungry Heart’, ‘Thunder Road’, ‘Born To Run’ and ‘Dancing in the Dark’ - and some early gems like ‘Blinded By the Light’ and ‘Growin’ Up’. It’ll be one of the pricier releases this year... but worth it.
Record Store Day 2026 takes place around the world on Saturday 18 April.
