UK’s National Album Day returns in October on Saturday the 14th and this year it will be themed around The 90s, following previous celebrations that included The 80s, Women in Music, and, just last year, Debut Albums. It will also help to honour 75 years of the album LP format.
Now in its sixth edition, this year’s National Album Day will look to shine a light on a decade that skipped between Britpop, Trip Hop and Hip Hop; gave us national treasures Take That and global phenomenon the Spice Girls; and saw diverse genres ranging from dance, house and techno to R&B, rap and reggae and to grunge and industrial rock, among many others, rise in the UK and globally.
National Album Day is again presented in association with BBC Sounds. As in previous years the day will involve artist ambassadors tied into the theme – both those that came to the fore during the 1990s and current new and emerging talent that are inspired by its music. Expect specially reissued albums and new releases, promotional events and other activities.
Typically benefitting from around a week-long build up, National Album Day has hosted a variety of activities such as listening events with album platforms including Classic Album Sundays, Pitchblack Playback, The Record Club, Tape Notes and Tim’s Twitter Listening Party; live performances; in-store artist appearances and record store promotions, street art murals; and album sleeve artwork exhibitions.
National Album Day is organised jointly by the BPI and the ERA and is supported across the breadth of BBC Sounds radio, TV and online channels, and is backed by the wider recorded music community, taking in UK record labels; AIM, PPL and other trade associations; independent record stores and specialist chains, such as hmv; and online retailers and digital/streaming services including Amazon, Spotify and YouTube.
To keep up to date with all the physical and online events leading up to National Album Day as well as events on the day go here.
