The Library of Congress has announced this year’s batch of “defining sounds of history” to be preserved in its National Recording Registry. Among the inductees are songs and albums by Beyoncé (“Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”), Taylor Swift (1989), Weezer (Blue Album), Chaka Khan (her version of Prince’s “I Feel For You”), the Go-Go’s (Beauty and the Beat), Jamie Principle and Frankie Knuckles (“Your Love” remix), and Gladys Knight and the Pips (“Midnight Train to Georgia”). Check out the full list below.
Robert R. Newlen, the acting Librarian of Congress, unveiled the selection of “audio treasures worthy of preservation for all time.” Recordings are chosen for their “cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage.”
In a statement, Belinda Carlisle of the Go-Go’s said, “It’ll be great 100 years from now when someone is doing their research and they see The Go-Go’s in there.” The band’s Jane Wiedlin was more forthright: “I don’t know that there is a better feeling than knowing that women are raising their daughters and playing them The Go-Go’s. As far as The Go-Go’s legacy, the biggest accomplishment is that we broke the glass ceiling. I get in a lot of arguments over this, but there is literally no other all-female band that went No. 1 on the charts, play their own instruments and write their own songs. None.”
Chaka Khan, meanwhile, said her version of “I Feel for You” represented “a moment where everything converged: Prince’s genius, Stevie’s harmonica, Grandmaster Melle Mel’s rap, and whatever God put in me that day. For the Library of Congress to say this recording belongs in the permanent collection of American sound heritage, that means it wasn’t just a hit, it was history. And I am so very grateful to have been part of it.”
Recordings Selected for the National Recording Registry in 2026:
Spike Jones and His City Slickers: “Cocktails for Two” (1944)
Pérez Prado and His Orchestra: “Mambo No. 5” (1950)
Ruth Brown: “Teardrops From My Eyes” (1950)
Kaye Ballard: “Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)” (1954)
Paul Anka: “Put Your Head on My Shoulder” (1959)
Oliver Nelson: The Blues and the Abstract Truth (1961)
Ray Charles: Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music (1962)
The Byrds: “Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)” (1965)
The Winstons: “Amen, Brother” (1969)
José Feliciano: “Feliz Navidad” (1970)
“The Fight of the Century: Ali vs. Frazier” (March 8, 1971)
Gladys Knight and the Pips: “Midnight Train to Georgia” (1973)
Chicago Original Cast Album (1975)
The Charlie Daniels Band: “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” (1979)
The Go-Go’s: Beauty and the Beat (1981)
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble: Texas Flood (1983)
Chaka Khan: “I Feel for You” (1984)
Jamie Principle: “Your Love” (1986) / Jamie Principle and Frankie Knuckles (1987)
Reba McEntire: Rumor Has It (1990)
Rosanne Cash: The Wheel (1993)
Bobby Prince: Doom Soundtrack (1993)
Vince Gill: “Go Rest High on That Mountain” (1994)
Weezer: Weezer (The Blue Album) (1994)
Beyoncé: “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” (2008)
Taylor Swift: 1989 (2014)
