Record Store Day 2024 has fans queuing early to grab limited edition releases


Record Store Day 2024

Record Store Day has returned for its 17th year today (April 20), with fans queuing since the early hours to get their hands on special edition releases from their local independent record shops.

Some of the big names putting out special one-off collectable vinyl and cassettes for the annual event include The 1975, David Bowie, Daft Punk, Talking Heads, Paramore, Blur, Lily Allen, Gorillaz, Elton John, Paramore and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.

Banquet Records in Kingston said on their social media that Record Store Day ambassadors Paramore‘s split with David Byrne was the most popular special release so far. It features Paramore’s cover of Talking Heads’ ‘Burning Down The House’ while Byrne covers their song ‘Hard Times’.

A special zoetrope edition of Lily Allen’s ‘It’s Not Me It’s You’ also seems popular on social media. The album celebrated its 15th anniversary earlier this year.

As ever, the celebrations brought huge numbers of fans to record stores around the country early this morning, with many stores taking to social media to show just how large the queues had become. Musical Box Record Shop in Liverpool, for example, said they had the first people joining the queue at 5am.

 

Dozens of fans took to social media to show off their new purchases. “I queued all night in the wind and the rain but I got what I wanted for #RSD2024,” one X/Twitter user wrote.

“It was worth the 5am alarm clock… A SUCCESSFUL @RSDUK!” said another.

This year’s Record Store Day ambassadors have been named as Paramore and Kate Bush. Paramore previously said their role was their “first order of business” as a newly independent band, a significant one for them given that “a vital part of our journey from music obsessed school friends to professional music makers”.

Bush, meanwhile, said in a statement: “What a huge honour to have been asked to be [an] ambassador for this year’s Record Store Day. It really is a great privilege.

“Isn’t it great to see how the resurgence in vinyl has taken the music industry by surprise? It had decided to leave vinyl far behind, but it would seem that not everyone agrees! I love that!”

To celebrate her involvement, she will release a special 10-inch vinyl edition of her song ‘Eat The Music’, which originally appeared on her 1993 album ‘The Red Shoes’. It’ll boast the original artwork, printed directly onto the disc.

Last year, the event proved to be highly successful, helping vinyl sales to soar by 122 per cent in the week that it took place. According to Official Charts Company data, 190,000 vinyl records were sold in the seven-day period, surpassing CD sales. Overall, physical sales were up 37.2 per cent week-on-week as well.

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