Record Store Day lineup

Record Store Day is two Saturdays away, and the 2026 lineup is already doing what this event does best: turning a normal shopping trip into a scavenger hunt for people who still care what an album feels like in their hands. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the official date is Saturday, April 18, 2026, with hundreds of limited releases headed to independent shops for one-day sales. (recordstoreday.co.uk) The United States event lands on the same date, and this year’s American ambassador is Bruno Mars. Record Store Day’s U.S. organizers say Mars is fronting the campaign as the face of the 2026 celebration of independent record stores. (recordstoreday.com) That ambassador role is not just honorary window dressing. Record Store Day is using it to tie Mars directly to one of the event’s marquee exclusives, a vinyl compilation called *The Collaborations*, built around hits like “Uptown Funk” with Mark Ronson, “Die With A Smile” with Lady Gaga, and “APT.” with Rosé. (recordstoreday.com) In Britain, the event has grown into a retail ritual with around 300 participating stores across the United Kingdom and Ireland, according to Record Store Day U.K. The official 2026 list says all titles will be sold over the counter at independent record shops on April 18, which is part of the appeal for collectors who want something scarcer than a normal online preorder. (recordstoreday.co.uk, recordstoreday.co.uk) The 2026 list is broad enough to pull in casual fans and hard-core collectors at the same time. Record Store Day U.K. has highlighted exclusives and special releases from artists including Elton John, Madonna, Blur, Charli XCX, Primal Scream, Wolf Alice, Olivia Dean, and Bruno Mars. (recordstoreday.co.uk) One of the more collector-friendly releases is Elton John’s *Positiva Presents: Elton John – The Remixes*. The official listing describes it as a limited-edition, glow-in-the-dark 180-gram vinyl album curated by John, with remixes of songs tied to Dua Lipa, Britney Spears, Pnau, RuPaul, and “Rocket Man.” (recordstoreday.com) That Elton John release also carries the label “Record Store Day First,” which usually means the vinyl appears at Record Store Day before a wider release later. The official Record Store Day entry marks it as “RSD First” rather than “RSD Exclusive,” a small distinction that matters to buyers deciding whether they need to line up at dawn or can wait. (recordstoreday.com) A separate report this week says Elton John’s remix set is also getting a digital release, which softens the usual all-or-nothing pressure around Record Store Day titles. That means collectors can still chase the glow-in-the-dark vinyl, while listeners who just want the music may not be locked out if copies disappear fast on April 18. (myq105.com, recordstoreday.com) Another title to watch comes from doPE, the project pairing Public Enemy’s Chuck D with The Doors drummer John Densmore. Their album *No Country For Old Men* is listed by Record Store Day as a limited-edition vinyl release for 2026, and it includes the track “Every Tick Tick Tick.” (recordstoreday.com) That song has already been singled out inside the Record Store Day ecosystem. Record Store Day’s release listing says “Every Tick Tick Tick” was named the 2026 Record Store Day Song of the Year, giving the doPE album an extra bit of collector heat before anyone even gets to the bins. (recordstoreday.com) The Chuck D and John Densmore collaboration also has a long runway behind it. A report on the project says the two first connected on a Record Store Day panel in 2014, and that exchange eventually turned into a full-length release more than a decade later. (thatericalper.com) Underneath the celebrity names, the event is still built around a simple retail idea: give independent stores something the internet cannot fully flatten. Record Store Day U.K. says vinyl sales remain at their highest level in 20 years, with the Digital Entertainment and Retail Association reporting 7.5 million records sold last year in the U.K., worth £238 million. (recordstoreday.co.uk) So the useful takeaway for April 18 is not just that Bruno Mars is the ambassador or that Elton John and doPE have attention-grabbing releases. It is that Record Store Day 2026 is shaping up like the event always hopes to: one part music release calendar, one part local-store traffic machine, and one part treasure hunt where the best item may be gone by lunchtime. (recordstoreday.com, recordstoreday.co.uk, recordstoreday.com)