Record Store Day 2023 kicked off earlier today (April 22) with vinyl fans descending on UK record shops around the country.

A number of limited-edition and special releases were made available over-the-counter at over 260 participating stores, with many customers queuing since the early hours.

The 1975, Blur, Pixies, U2, London Grammar, Madonna, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Foals, Donna Summer and Björk all released vinyl as part of the 2023 event.

Taylor Swift, who was last year announced as the first-ever global ambassador of Record Store Day, released ‘folklore: the long pond studio sessions’ on vinyl for the first time today, with many fans taking to social media to celebrate grabbing the limited-edition record.

“Still can’t believe she is mine,” said one fan, posing with the vinyl. “MY FIRST TAYLOR VINYL EVER SECURED!!! Worth the wait standing in my cardigan,” added another. 

“First RSD: got to the shop at 5am for a 8am opening and the shop had 30 copies and I got one!!!! Met some lovely girlies and we gushed and had someone’s wee dog sit on me,” wrote a third Swiftie.

 

Another popular release was The 1975’s live performance with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, which has been shared on vinyl for the first time.

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“Got my stores last copy of The 1975 RSD vinyl and practically broke into tears in the shop, today is already a great day,” shared one customer. “I got The 1975 RSD vinyl. I’ll cry, I’m not even kidding,” said another.

“I also had the most relaxed experience. I went to the store at opening, no queue, got the only the 1975 vinyl they had in the store and everyone was super nice,”  wrote a third.

The 1975 were confirmed as the ambassadors of Record Store Day 2023 earlier this year.

“The guys and I are really proud to be ambassadors for Record Store Day this year,” said frontman Matty Healy. “Independent record stores are the lifeblood of the music industry and have played a crucial role in our story so far. It couldn’t be more important to support their vital community and culture.”

Other highlights from the vast list of exclusive releases include the double LP of ‘Blur Present The Special Collectors Edition’ (a collection of early b-sides originally released in 1994 as a Japan-only CD), Bowie’s ‘Laughing With Liza’ set (featuring his early Deram singles collected in a 7″ box for the first time with a never-before-released version of ‘Space Oddity’), a 12″ of the Sega Bodega remix of Björk’s ‘Ovule‘, a 40th anniversary double LP reissue of Donna Summer’s ‘A Hot Summer Night’, a 10″ of The Prodigy remixing ‘Rocket Fuel by Kasabian, a number of Elvis Presley reissues and the long-mooted release of the Dan Carey dub remix of Foals’ 2022 album ‘Life Is Yours‘, pressed on gold vinyl.

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“He just loaded the album up on some decks, took some mushrooms and took the album into space!” Foals frontman Yannis Philippakis recently told NME.

 

Kingston’s Banquet Records opened at 8am for Record Store Day 2023 and shared a video of a huge queue. A dedicated Twitter account has also been giving fans real-time updates about stock levels.

 

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It was a similar scene at Brighton’s Resident Records, who are also hosting a Baby Queen signing, and Leeds’ Crash Records.

 

The 16th edition of Record Store Day comes after the recent news that in 2022, vinyl outsold the CD format for the first time in 35 years.

“We can’t wait to be taking part in Record Store Day UK,” said Scott Gamble from Crash Records in Leeds. “It’s such a great chance for us – and others stores all over the country – to shout about  what we do and see the local music-loving community out in force.”

Last year, it was also reported that Taylor Swift’s ‘Midnights’ was the first album to sell better on vinyl than CD since the 1980s. Upon its release, ‘Midnights’ was issued in five colour-coded CD and vinyl editions.

The US also saw its biggest week for vinyl since 1991 at the end of last year, selling 2.2million vinyl albums in the week ending December 22.



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