Record Store Day returns in April: from Springsteen to Litfiba, here are the announced releases

On Saturday 18 April, Record Store Day returns - the international celebration of independent record shops - with a particularly rich and wide-ranging 2026 edition.

This year's ambassador is Bruno Mars, who marks the occasion with the release of "The Collaborations", a collection bringing together some of his most recognisable partnerships: "Uptown Funk" with Mark Ronson, "Die With A Smile" with Lady Gaga, right up to the recent "APT." with ROSÉ.

Among the most intriguing new releases is "No Country for Old Men", the album uniting John Densmore and Chuck D, released under the alias doPE. There's also room for Robert Plant, who presents the EP "Saving Grace: All That Glitters…", a work steeped in folk and American tradition, featuring reinterpretations of Gillian Welch and Bert Jansch. Equally striking is Bruce Springsteen's "Live From Asbury Park 2024", a five-LP live album.

As tradition dictates, Record Store Day devotes plenty of space to anniversaries. This year marks fifty years of Rory Gallagher's "Calling Card" and Motörhead's "On Parole", the latter remixed by Steven Wilson. Also arriving are the fortieth anniversaries of "Some Candy Talking" by The Jesus And Mary Chain, "Live in Hollywood" by Dinosaur Jr., and the reissue of Bob Mould's "Body of Song".

There's no shortage of reinterpretations and historical rediscoveries either: the return of "Being Boiled" by Human League, remixes by Soft Cell inspired by the Danceteria club, and a punk celebration marking twenty-five years of "Jubilee" by the Sex Pistols.

Other anniversaries include thirty-five years of MC 900 ft. Jesus's "Welcome To My Dream" and thirty years of David Holmes' debut "This Film's Crap, Let's Slash the Seats", available on vinyl for the first time. Also announced are new editions of Primal Scream's "Echo Dek", Jeff Buckley's "Live À L'Olympia", Tony Bennett's "MTV Unplugged", Nas's "God's Son", Sophie Ellis-Bextor's "Read My Lips", Mark Knopfler's "All The Roadrunning" with Emmylou Harris, and St. Germain's "African Project Remixes".

On the more experimental side comes the Expanded Edition of Brian Eno's "Small Craft On A Milk Sea", made with Jon Hopkins and Leo Abrahams.

In this interweaving of eras, Record Store Day also proves essential for jazz lovers, bringing to light archival treasures and visionary collaborations. Case in point: Ahmad Jamal with the vibrant "Live at Oil Can Harry's", a previously unreleased performance from the '70s, and the introspective lyricism of Bill Evans on "At The BBC 1965", capturing his legendary trio in a state of pure grace. Meanwhile, Chet Baker's trumpet returns to move listeners with the fragility of "Shine", thanks to the work of Italy's Red Records, and jazz pushes into psychedelic, Afrofuturist territory with a powerful reinterpretation of "Nuclear War": an explosive encounter between Heliocentrics, veterans of the Sun Ra Arkestra, and the voice of Bilal.

The Italian presence is substantial too. Coming up: Ludovico Einaudi's "Divenire", three colored editions from Litfiba ("17 Re", the "Gioconda" / "Il volo" 7-inch, and the "X" 12-inch), colored editions of Ornella Vanoni's "Più di me" and "Più di te", the double vinyl of Patty Pravo's "Radio Station", and three titles from Mina: "Inediti 1963/1967", "Live 1970", and the reissue of her 1974 album "Mina".

For many years now, vinyl has no longer been just an object for nostalgics, but the true driving force behind the physical revival of music. The 2025 figures confirm an unstoppable trend: globally, the vinyl market continues to grow for the eighteenth consecutive year, with an increase of around 4-5% (source: IFPI). In Italy, the phenomenon is even more explosive: in the first half of 2025, vinyl sales recorded an incredible +17% (source: FIMI), cementing the country's status as one of Europe's most dynamic markets.

The full list of releases available in Italian stores will be published shortly on the official Record Store Day Italy website.

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