13 of the best Record Store Day 2026 releases, as picked by Tech Radar — Pavement, Public Service Broadcasting and more | Tech Radar

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13 of the best Record Store Day 2026 releases, as picked by Tech Radar — Pavement, Public Service Broadcasting and more

From Suede to Sleep Token; from Taylor Swift to The Cure

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Friends. You're here because even after consulting my in depth Record Store Day missive, you want more. And I applaud you.

You know you can access the Record Store Day list in the UK, the list for the US (similar but different!) or the much smaller but still important Record Store Day Australia list. And you can check out some of the RSD-adjacent merch we most like the look of, be it Majority's new deck-and-speakers colorway or this delightfully bold deck from Tinyl.

The thing is — and to quote one of my favorite musicians and writers of all time — you want a little of that human touch.

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So here it is. I asked the entire Tech Radar editorial team for a few sentences on the limited-edition LP or single (note: that's everything on the list) they most like the look of from this year's RSD drop, and why.

Some of the responses are genuinely touching. Music has always been the 'arms across the generations' balm we need in trying times. And, while I'm keeping it light, these particular times are pretty trying, no?

(Image credit: Record Store Day (and various stores))

Couple of things to note when picking your poison to buy on Record Store Day: stores have to be affiliated members of RSD to participate, and they abide by a code of conduct, so your local shop is probably getting involved, but it's not a given. You can check for your nearest participating store with Record Store Day's International store locator. As you can see from the main image of this listicle, my local store (Boiler Room Records in Poole, Dorset) is fully onboard.

Also, you can't buy any RSD products online until 8pm on the Monday after Record Store Day (ie. almost 72 hours after RSD proper), because the event's vibe is much more 'Get down to a real bricks-and-mortar record shop and for goodness sake talk to people'. This means that stock can — and often does — sell out on the day, before it can be shopped virtually.

Lastly, anyone offering pre-orders of RSD products online now (on e Bay or similar) is a person looking to go to their store on the day early doors, buy something and then sell it to you for a much higher price than they paid. And this is something Record Store Day frowns upon.

But enough of that. Here's your top Record Store Day vinyl, as picked by the Tech Radar team. Enjoy the music and, above all, get down to your local record store this weekend if you're able. You won't regret it.

(Image credit: Commercial Group / Buddy Guy / Record Store Day)

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Around 20 years ago I had started university and, free from parental oversight but with a fresh student loan burning a hole in my pocket, I went into one of my local record stores (back then there seemed to be loads) and spent a small fortune on any album I liked the look of, regardless of whether or not I had heard of the artists.

And somehow I ended up with Sweet Tea by Buddy Guy — which is getting a two-LP reissue this Record Store Day for its 25th anniversary.

While I can’t quite remember the exact circumstances of getting the album, its impact on me was huge. I had dipped into blues music before, but I was mainly more of a fan of the bands that were inspired by the blues that had come later. What blew me away with Sweet Tea was that it was an album by a legendary blues performer, but it sounded so modern.

Unlike a lot of contemporary blues music that felt like it was taking the chords, the bars, but not the feeling, the music on Sweet Tea felt both authentic and current — and at the center was Buddy Guy, then in his mid 60s, singing and playing guitar with the passion of a young man and the experience of an old one.

And that guitar playing! Listening to the album two decades on, when Buddy sings “Well, I done got old, Can't do the things I used to, 'Cause I'm an old man” it certainly hits differently.

(Image credit: Matador Records / Pavement / Record Store Day)

I own much of Pavement’s near-flawless back catalogue on vinyl, but not the seminal Perfect Sound Forever EP — not least because it was released 35 years ago this week, before I’d even heard of the band. My introduction instead came via the slacker-rock legends’ next release, the incredible Slanted & Enchanted album — which is an altogether more coherent work of art than this.

But though Pavement might have been the finished article when they recorded Perfect Sound Forever, it remains an important bridge between their sometimes unfocused early efforts and the era-defining output to follow. The low-fi From Now On wouldn’t be out of place on Slanted…, there’s an off-kilter indie pop classic lurking behind the walls of fuzz on Debris Slide and Home — which they performed when I saw them live for the first time in 1992 — is an early showcase for frontman Stephen Malkmus’ way with words.

It’s not perfect, by any means, but I look at it as a historical document of one of my favorite bands developing their craft in real time — and the RSD re-release finally gives me the chance to add it to my collection (and on white vinyl, too).

It’s funny how the soundtrack of my childhood has become the soundtrack of my adult life. I was at best indifferent about the 70s and 80s rock my Dad would proclaim to be “proper music” throughout the 2000s, but it turns out he was absolutely right about almost all of it.

The Cure are among the best British bands of all time, with a discography that flip-flops between the deeply melancholic and outright euphoric. You can dance down the street to Friday I'm in Love or get dressed up for a Halloween party while listening to Lullaby. It's a real mixture of weird and wonderful.

Greatest hits albums get a bad wrap, but with records as expensive as they are, The Cure’s Greatest Hits (2001) is a worthy one-stop shop for the band’s best work. Sure, its release was a result of contractual obligation rather than artistic desire, but lead singer Robert Smith did at least choose the tracks himself; you’ll get 17 stone cold classics from The Head on the Door, Wish, Disintegration, and more, plus two then-new songs.

The only other place you’ll find Inbetween Days, Just Like Heaven and Boys Don't Cry within nine tracks of one another is on my own personal Spotify playlist. Or on my Dad's.

(Image credit: Test Card Recordings / Public Service Broadcasting / Record Store Day)

Public Service Broadcasting, The Race for Space / Remixes

The recent Artemis II mission around the moon consummated my love affair with Public Service Broadcasting’s superb 2015 album The Race for Space. Formed by J. Willgoose Esq. in 2010, PSB blend archival footage from old films, broadcasts and documentaries with a mixture of art rock, electronica and ambient beats to tell the story of, variously, the scaling of Mount Everest, the history of Welsh mining and pioneering American pilot Amelia Earhart’s last flight.

Yet it’s the trio’s The Race for Space that has always entranced most, setting NASA audio and contemporaneous broadcast material against their trademark synth-with-a-big-band-beat vibe to reimagine both the 1960s’ USA-USSR battle for extra-terrestrial supremacy and what rock music can be. Go! from that 2015 original, featuring shouted codenames “Retro? Go!; Fido? Go!; Guidance? Go! Control? Go!” from the flight deck, is an exhilarating electro-recounting of the final moments of the Apollo 11 landing.

The following year, PSB released The Race for Space / Remixes. Long since sold out, the LP featured reinterpretations from such contemporaries as Field Music, Vessels and Kauf to bring further life to the original. The latter’s version of Go! eschews the codenames to zone in on the electro beat, while Vessels’ redo of E. V. A. – about the Voskhod 2 mission in which Alexei Leonov became the first person to conduct a spacewalk – keeps the broadcast footage but dials up the Leeds five-piece’s techno stylings.

It’s Field Music’s Korolev, not on the original album but a B-side, that most delights on …Remixes. Based on the eponymous designer’s building of Sputnik 1 – the first rocket into space – the song’s central archival chant “higher, further, faster than anyone” complements the Wearside brothers David and Peter Brewis swooning prog-synth styling to ethereal perfection.

The only downside of the Record Store Day rerelease of this spine-tingling rare artefact? Only 1000 go on sale. Alarm clock? Go! Coffee? Go! Wait in line? Go! It’ll be out of this world.

(Image credit: RCA Records / Sleep Token / Record Store Day)

I don't know if this is frowned upon, or you'll all think I'm some kind of idiot, but I don't buy any vinyl to play it. I'm just a collector at heart, who's more interested in proudly displaying the records of my favorite bands and artists, instead of giving them a spin.

That's why this release of Caramel by Sleep Token has caught my eye for Record Store Day. I love the gothic fantasy artwork, and the vinyl's liquid-filled design is unlike anything I've seen before. The track's a banger, too, with II's beautifully intricate drumming bringing me back to the song time and time again.

(Image credit: Demon Records / Suede / Record Store Day)

30 years since its debut in 1996, Suede's Coming Up is getting a special release for Record Store Day 2026, with Coming Up At The BBC. The band has chosen the best live versions of each of Coming Up's superb tracklist, which features hits like Beautiful Ones, Trash and Filmstar, recorded for the BBC, including a BBC-broadcasted Reading gig and various live sessions.

I saw Suede live on the Coming Up anniversary tour a few years ago and these songs sound sensational live. They're a tour-de-force of a live band with bags of energy and any live recording I've listened to is simply excellent, so I expect this to be a fantastic release. I'll be queuing up for this one!

Words by James Davidson — Staff Writer, TV Hardware

(Image credit: Curaga Records / Chill Ghost / Record Store Day)

I've got two settings these days: high-energy running and workout music (be it Sabaton and Metallica for lifting weights or throbbing house like Artbat and A Little Sound to soundtrack my runs) or downbeat jazzy, lofi hip hop.

However, ironically considering the name "lofi", the easy-breezy beats to relax/study to genre is being swamped by low-effort AI-generated homogeny, especially the video-game remix sub-genre.

So it's nice to see a name like Chill Ghost, a London-based label championing indie artists and authenticity, contribute to this laid-back, sleepy twist on classic Pokémon tunes. It's sure to feel like sitting in the back seat of the car at night, playing a Game Boy by the glow of passing streetlights.

(Image credit: Mercury KX / Loreen x Ólafur Arnalds / Record Store Day)

From the limited-edition releases on the RSA list, I’m going to bag Ólafur Arnalds and Loreen’s collaborative SAGES project. They’re an unlikely pairing — he’s best known for cinematic, minimalist neo-classical compositions, while she’s synonymous with Eurovision and atmospheric pop, but together they make something far more interesting: gentle, deeply immersive music that soothes rather than soars.

I can see extra tracks here that I’m not familiar with from the streaming single, which makes this version feel even more like a complete piece. It’s lights-off, headphones-on music that’s so finely wrought it almost disappears.

(Image credit: Legacy Rep / Nas / Record Store Day)

I don't own a record player, but I have a bag of vinyl in my parents loft just waiting patiently for the day that I do — and if I did buy one on record store day, I'd be up for getting God's Son by Nas as the first thing to spin on it.

Illmatic by Nas is my all time fave hiphop album and was the first album I thought of when I heard of Record Store Day, but sadly it's not on the UK list. However, God's Son is also great. Although the lyrics are more polished and mature on this one, I still think the raw, gravelly, vulnerable tone and old-school beats would sound great on vinyl.

I've never owned a Nas record, and this is the first time since the album's 2002 release that it will be readily available.

(Image credit: 4AD / Adrianne Lenker / Record Store Day)

I don’t love many live albums, but this ‘sonic documentary’ from Big Thief’s lead singer manages to bottle the atmosphere of my favorite gig of 2024. It’s more of a diary than a traditional album, mashing together soundchecks, ambient noises, crowd banter and live imperfections (see indiana and sneezing). Adrianne Lenker’s solo songs are also perfect for its rough-edged production, given they’re more like sketches than polished folk-rock.

Audiophiles might hate it, but fans have been clamoring for a vinyl release of this album since it launched a year ago — and Record Store Day has obliged with a three LP edition. During one highlight on anything, you float outside the auditorium, as if buying a drink for a friend, before coming back inside to a singalong. Now we’re in the age of infinite You Tube bootlegs and AI deepfakes, it might just be where live albums are headed.

(Image credit: Warner Records / Madonna / Record Store Day)

The wonderful thing about Record Store Day is that it’s celebrated around the world. And in Sydney Australia, where I live, a selection of record stores will have some limited-edition releases on sale.

The only problem? There just aren’t that many. I’ve checked the official Australian RSD list — only 19 releases. Compare that to the UK’s Record Store Day list which has 451(!) limited edition vinyl products available to buy on Saturday April 18, and you can understand my envy. And considering Madonna’s The Confessions Tour Live isn’t going to be available here (but it is on the list in both the US and the UK), you really should feel downright sorry for me. Because that’s the one record I’m truly Hung Up on…

I do hail from England. I used to make the trip into London with my dad to seek out RSD purchases — we wouldn’t necessarily come away with anything, but it was always a great experience, with shops packed and DJs playing. It just made for a good day out.

While a couple of albums I found on the UK list are available here in Oz — local artists King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard and Crooked Colours, in particular — given the small number of releases anywhere close to me, I’m not expecting much stock, nor much of a party in the land down under. I'll still check it out (some stores are close to home) but Antipodean vinyl fans deserve more of a buzz.

Words by Max Langridge — Senior Writer, Audio and Home Entertainment

(Image credit: UMG Australia / Empire of the Sun / Record Store Day)

Empire of the Sun, Walking on a Dream (Expanded Edition)

Empire of the Sun’s debut album Walking on a Dream has always felt like a time capsule for me, taking me back to an Australian summer spent with friends driving up the coast and camping along the way.

It’s a whimsical burst of electronic rock that always brings a (now no longer sunburnt, thankfully) smile to my face — and with just 3,500 limited-edition copies available this Record Store Day, securing one would be a dream come true.

(Image credit: UMG / Taylor Swift / Record Store Day)

Label: UMG Format: 7" 'Cry My Eyes Violet Glitter' vinyl record with collectible cover artwork

I knew I’d have to out myself as a “Swiftie” eventually! The megastar’s fanbase is huge, and while I've not always listened to all of her music, my wife has, so she’s always been on in our home.

I'd count myself as a fan ever since the one-two punch of Folklore and Evermore back in 2020. Those lockdown-era sister albums hooked me, thanks to her catchy songwriting, and I've loved her work since then.

Does each and every single grab me? Probably not. But Swift’s ability to cook up the most infectious melodies and blend them with sharp storytelling is undeniable. And, for this Record Store Day, the second track on 2025's Life of a Showgirl, “Elizabeth Taylor,” is getting a limited-edition “Cry My Eyes Violet Glitter” release. The original album version is on the A-side, with the So Glamorous Cabaret Version on the B-side.

What's special about this track? Instrumentally, it’s smooth, with delicate piano and some gorgeous strings leading into the powerful thump of the beat drop with the chorus. It’s the kind of addictive pop production that I’ll happily listen to again and again. The lyrics? All about the parallels between Swift and the titular Hollywood icon. It ends up being both a wistful and hopeful take on life in the spotlight, and it’s easily one of my favourites from the album.

The glitzy vinyl is set to be highly in-demand, and it’s a single that’ll probably be a bit of a battle to get your hands on for Record Store Day. "You're only as hot as your list hit," Swift tells us in “Elizabeth Taylor”. Well, this one's as hot as it gets.

➡️ Read our full guide to the best turntables

1. Best overall: Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Evo
2. Best cheap beginner deck: House of Marley Revolution
3. Best budget Bluetooth deck: Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT
4. Best premium Bluetooth deck: Cambridge Audio Alva TT V2

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Becky became Audio Editor at Tech Radar in 2024, but joined the team in 2022 as Senior Staff Writer, focusing on all things hi-fi. Before this, she spent three years at What Hi-Fi? testing and reviewing everything from wallet-friendly wireless earbuds to huge high-end sound systems. Prior to gaining her MA in Journalism in 2018, Becky freelanced as an arts critic alongside a 22-year career as a professional dancer and aerialist – any love of dance starts with a love of music. Becky has previously contributed to Stuff, Four Four Two and The Stage. When not writing, she can still be found throwing shapes in a dance studio, these days with varying degrees of success.

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Key Takeaways

• News, deals, reviews, guides and more on the newest computing gadgets

• Start exploring exclusive deals, expert advice and more

• Unlock and manage exclusive Techradar member rewards

• 13 of the best Record Store Day 2026 releases, as picked by Tech Radar — Pavement, Public Service Broadcasting and more

• From Suede to Sleep Token; from Taylor Swift to The Cure