Top row (left to right): Paul Anka | Taylor Swift | Ray Charles
Middle: Christopher "Tricky" Stewart | Bottom: Pete Seeger
Works by Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees and honorees are once again included in the elite list of recordings selected by the Library of Congress for what has been called “America’s Playlist,” an exclusive catalog of recordings destined for special preservation and scholarship attention due to their "cultural, historic and aesthetic significance to American society and the nation's audio heritage." Known formally as the National Recording Registry, the new selections for the list were announced on May 14th.
Included in this year’s list are contributions from SHOF inductees like the Paul Anka standard “PUT YOUR HEAD ON MY SHOULDER,” Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Awardee Ray Charles’ 1962 concept album MODERN SOUNDS IN COUNTRY AND WESTERN MUSIC, The Byrds’ “TURN! TURN! TURN! (TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON)” written by inductee Pete Seeger, “SINGLE LADIES (PUT A RING ON IT)” co-written and produced by upcoming 2026 inductee Christopher “Tricky” Stewart, and upcoming 2026 Inductee Taylor Swift’s transformative pop album 1989.
SHOF President and CEO Linda Moran said: “SHOF is always proud and honored to have our inductees and awardees represented in the National Recording Registry that features and celebrated iconic songs of our times and gives well-deserved nods to the talented songwriters and lyricists who create the soundtrack of our lives.”
The public made more than 3,000 nominations of recordings to consider this year. The 2026 selections mark the first recordings by Swift and Beyoncé chosen for the registry. It also marks the first time a daughter and father have both been included in the registry with the selection of Roseanne Cash’s “The Wheel.” Her father Johnny Cash’s “At Folsom Prison” was selected in 2003.
The recordings selected for the National Recording Registry this year bring the number of titles on the registry to 700, representing a small portion of the national library’s vast recorded sound collection of nearly 4 million items.
The 2026 selections span the sounds of country, pop, jazz, sports, Latin, folk, funk, R&B and more. The Library of Congress works with partners to ensure each recording will be preserved at the Library or by another entity and available for future generations.
Recordings Selected for the National Recording Registry in 2026
(chronological order)
- “Cocktails for Two” – Spike Jones and His City Slickers (1944) (single)
- “Mambo No. 5” – Pérez Prado and His Orchestra (1950) (single)
- “Teardrops from My Eyes” – Ruth Brown (1950) (single)
- “Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)” – Kaye Ballard (1954) (single)
- “Put Your Head On My Shoulder” – Paul Anka (1959) (single)
- The Blues and the Abstract Truth – Oliver Nelson (1961) (album)
- Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music – Ray Charles (1962) (album)
- “Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)” – The Byrds (1965) (single)
- “Amen, Brother” – The Winstons (1969) (single)
- “Feliz Navidad” – José Feliciano (1970) (single)
- “The Fight of the Century: Ali vs. Frazier” (March 8, 1971) (broadcast)
- “Midnight Train to Georgia” – Gladys Knight and the Pips (1973) (single)
- Chicago Original Cast Album (1975) (album)
- “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” – The Charlie Daniels Band (1979) (single)
- Beauty and the Beat – The Go-Go’s (1981) (album)
- Texas Flood – Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble (1983) (album)
- “I Feel For You” – Chaka Khan (1984) (single)
- “Your Love” – Jamie Principle (1986) / Jamie Principle/Frankie Knuckles (1987) (singles)
- Rumor Has It – Reba McEntire (1990) (album)
- The Wheel – Rosanne Cash (1993) (album)
- “Doom” Soundtrack – Bobby Prince, composer (1993)
- “Go Rest High On That Mountain” – Vince Gill (1994) (single)
- Weezer (The Blue Album) – Weezer (1994) (album)
- “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” – Beyoncé (2008) (single)
1989 – Taylor Swift (2014) (album)
The Registry was established in 2002. The recordings selected for the newly announced “Class of 2026” bring the total number of titles on the registry to 700, a small part of the Library's vast recorded-sound collection of nearly 3 million items. Each year, the National Recording Preservation Board recommends works to be added to the collection, and the Librarian of Congress makes a final selection of 25 works. The Board also advises on significant strategies in preservation of rare and endangered recordings, in collaboration with the nation's leading academic institutions.
Listen to many of the recordings on your favorite streaming service. The Digital Media Association, a member of the National Recording Preservation Board, compiled a list of some streaming services with National Recording Registry playlists, available here: https://dima.org/playlist/national-recording-registry-class-of-2026/.
Follow the conversation about the registry on Instagram, Facebook and other Library social media @librarycongress and #NatRecRegistry.
NPR’s “1A” will feature selections in the series “The Sounds of America” about this year’s National Recording Registry, including interviews with the Library and several featured artists in the weeks ahead.