ABBA’s “Dancing Queen,” Blondie’s era-defining “Parallel Lines,” The Notorious B.I.G.’s landmark “Ready to Die,” Green Day’s “Dookie,” The Chicks’ “Wide Open Spaces” and Lily Tomlin’s comedy have been selected as some of the defining sounds of history and culture that will join the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.
Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden today named 25 recordings as audio treasures worthy of preservation for all time based on their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage.
The 2024 class of inductees also includes Gene Autry’s “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” The Cars’ debut album, Perry Como’s “Catch a Falling Star” / “Magic Moments,” Juan Gabriel’s heartbreaking “Amor Eterno,” Héctor Lavoe’s salsa hit “El Cantante,” Kronos Quartet’s “Pieces of Africa,” Johnny Mathis’ “Chances Are,” Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” Patti Page’s “Tennessee Waltz,” and Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine.”
“The Library of Congress is proud to preserve the sounds of American history and our diverse culture through the National Recording Registry,” Hayden said. “We have selected audio treasures worthy of preservation with our partners this year, including a wide range of music from the past 100 years, as well as comedy. We were thrilled to receive a record number of public nominations, and we welcome the public’s input on what we should preserve next.”
The recordings selected for the National Recording Registry bring the number of titles on the registry to 650, representing a small portion of the national library’s vast recorded sound collection of nearly 4 million items.
The latest selections named to the registry span from 1919 to 1998. They range from the recordings of the all-Black 369th U.S. Infantry Band led by James Reese Europe after World War I, to defining sounds of jazz and bluegrass, and iconic recordings from pop, dance, country, rock, rap, Latin and classical music.
“For the past 21 years the National Recording Preservation Board has provided musical expertise, historical perspective and deep knowledge of recorded sound to assist the Librarian in choosing landmark recordings to be inducted into the Library’s National Recording Registry,” said Robbin Ahrold, chair of the National Recording Preservation Board. “The board again this year is pleased to join the Librarian in highlighting influential works in our diverse sound heritage, as well as helping to spread the word on the National Recording Registry through their own social media and streaming media campaigns.”
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/national-recording-registry-class-of-2024/.
Recordings Selected for the 2024 National Recording Registry
- “Clarinet Marmalade” – Lt. James Reese Europe’s 369th U.S. Infantry Band (1919)
- “Kauhavan Polkka” – Viola Turpeinen and John Rosendahl (1928)
- Wisconsin Folksong Collection (1937-1946)
- “Rose Room” – Benny Goodman Sextet with Charlie Christian (1939)
- “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” – Gene Autry (1949)
- “Tennessee Waltz” – Patti Page (1950)
- “Rocket ‘88’” – Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats (1951)
- “Catch a Falling Star” / ”Magic Moments” – Perry Como (1957)
- “Chances Are” – Johnny Mathis (1957)
- “The Sidewinder” – Lee Morgan (1964)
- “Surrealistic Pillow” – Jefferson Airplane (1967)
- “Ain’t No Sunshine” – Bill Withers (1971)
- “This is a Recording” – Lily Tomlin (1971)
- “J.D. Crowe & the New South” – J.D. Crowe & the New South (1975)
- “Arrival” – ABBA (1976)
- “El Cantante” – Héctor Lavoe (1978)
- “The Cars” – The Cars (1978)
- “Parallel Lines” – Blondie (1978)
- “La-Di-Da-Di” – Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick (MC Ricky D) (1985)
- “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” – Bobby McFerrin (1988)
- “Amor Eterno” – Juan Gabriel (1990)
- “Pieces of Africa” – Kronos Quartet (1992)
- “Dookie” – Green Day (1994)
- “Ready to Die” – The Notorious B.I.G. (1994)
- “Wide Open Spaces” – The Chicks (1998)
A record 2,899 nominations were made by the public this year for recordings to consider adding to the registry. The public can submit nominations throughout the year on the Library’s web site Nominations for next year will be accepted until Oct. 1, 2024. The public may nominate recordings for the Registry here.
