Record Store Day Black Friday lands on Friday 27 November 2026. The list went public on 6 October: 150 titles, sold over the counter from 8am at participating independent shops across the UK and Ireland. Most of the coverage has led with the headline names, sombr, Shawn Mendes, Noah Kahan, Playboi Carti and a Prince box set.
We read the whole list so you do not have to. This is the cut for the people who shop with us: the jazz, soul, funk, reggae and electronic records worth setting an alarm for, plus what to buy instead if the queue gets there first.
How Black Friday RSD works
It runs on the same rules as the April event, just on a smaller scale.
- One day, in person. Releases go on sale at 8am on 27 November at participating shops. The store locator on the official Record Store Day UK site tells you who is taking part near you.
- Over the counter only. Shops do not take phone or online orders for RSD titles on the day.
- One copy per title per customer. First come, first served, so expect a queue at any shop with a decent reputation.
- Not every shop gets every title. Stock is allocated, and small runs may only reach a handful of shops. Check your shop's own list in the week before.
- Leftovers go online later. Each shop picks its own timing. After the April event, Crash Records in Leeds put its unsold stock online on the Monday evening, two days later. Do not pay flipper prices on Friday afternoon when a shop may list the same record at normal price on Monday.
If you want the background on how the April event played out, our Record Store Day 2026 UK guide covers it.
Jazz: the strongest corner of the list
If this year's list has a theme, it is live jazz from the archive, and plenty of it. Four sets stand out.
Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, Blue Moon Over Paris (2LP). French radio (ORTF) recordings made between 1963 and 1968, when the Messengers were still the finishing school for every hard bop player worth hearing.
Bill Evans, Across The Alps (2LP). Two Italian concerts, Lugano and Pescara. Evans in a concert hall rather than a club is a different animal, and archive Evans rarely sits on the shelf for long.
Stan Getz, Live at the Jazz Showcase (2LP) and Clifford Jordan, Let It Ring: Live at the Jazz Showcase (2LP). Both come from Joe Segal's Chicago club, which has hosted most of the greats over the decades. Buy them as a pair if your shop has both.
Then there is the British angle, which is where we would spend our money. The Joe Harriott Quintet, Senor Blues: Soho, 1959 and Harold McNair, The Fence are records by two Jamaican born players who did as much as anyone to shape modern jazz in London. Harriott arrived in 1951 and was recording free form improvisation here at the same moment Ornette Coleman was doing it in New York. McNair, a flute and saxophone player, worked across jazz, folk and rock sessions before he died in 1971, leaving a small catalogue behind him.
For the spiritual jazz crowd, Shamek Farrah, First Impressions (2LP) is the pick. It first came out in 1974 on Strata East, the musician run New York label that has become a byword for that sound. Albert Ayler, Prophecy Completed (2LP) sits at the far end of the same road.
Further down the list, look out for Cecil Payne's Zodiac, Charles Brackeen's Rhythm X, the Cal Tjader Quintet's Plays Afro Cuban, Blue Mitchell's Out Of The Blue in mono, Larry Coryell, Victor Bailey and Lenny White's Traffic, Luiz Bonfá's Non Stop To Brazil, and a Jazz Dispensary seven inch, Cosmic Nuggets.
On our shelves now, no queue needed
- The Joe Harriott Quintet, High Spirits, from the British Jazz Explosion reissue series. The obvious companion to the Soho set.
- Clifford Jordan Quartet, Night Of The Mark VII, another Jordan live date, and a better one than most people realise.
- Bill Evans Trio, Waltz For Debby, the Craft pressing of the live Evans record everyone should own first.
- Blue Mitchell, The Thing To Do, Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition.
- Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, 'S Make It, from the Verve Vault series.
- Stan Getz & Luiz Bonfá, Jazz Samba Encore!, Acoustic Sounds pressing, and the bridge between two artists on the RSD list.
Soul and funk: the sample sources
Two of the best records on the list are the ones hip hop producers have been raiding for decades.
Labi Siffre, Remember My Song. The 1975 album that contains "I Got The...", the track Eminem built "My Name Is" on in 1999. Siffre is a Londoner, and this is a proper soul record in its own right, not just a famous loop. We have a single copy of the Mr Bongo reissue of Remember My Song in stock, so if you want it for Christmas without the queue, do not wait.
Lafayette Afro Rock Band, Darkest Light / Hihache (7"). Two of the most sampled breaks ever pressed, on one single. Public Enemy built "Show 'Em Whatcha Got" on "Darkest Light". If seven inches are not your thing, we stock the full albums: Soul Makossa and Malik, both on Strut.
Funkadelic, Live at Meadowbrook 1971 (2LP). Recorded the year of Maggot Brain, with the band at its loudest and strangest. Pair it with the studio record: we hold the ORG Music remaster of Maggot Brain in good numbers.
The rest of the soul section is strong too: Bobby Womack's The Preacher In Paris, Bill Withers In Concert Live at the BBC 1974, an Allen Toussaint collection, Rabbits & Carrots' Soul Latino and War's Christmas twelve inch. For something current, Victoria Monét and Elmiene both have releases.
Reggae: one to watch
Lee 'Scratch' Perry, The Wonderman Years Vol. 1 (2LP) is the only reggae title worth flagging, and it is a good one. If you miss it, the Versalites and Lee Perry & The Upsetters reissue, Cutting Rasar, is on our shelves at a fraction of RSD money.
Electronic: thin, but a couple of keepers
We will be honest. If you buy house and techno, this is not your Black Friday. Record Store Day has always leaned towards rock and the archive, and this list is no exception. The picks:
- The Chemical Brothers, Go (12"). The 2015 single with A Tribe Called Quest's frontman on vocals, from Born In The Echoes. Their back catalogue is easier to find: we have Dig Your Own Hole in stock.
- Fischerspooner, #1. The 2001 debut, home of "Emerge", and a reminder of how strange electroclash sounded at the time.
- Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Relax: The Complete Story (2LP). Every mix of a song that was built for twelve inch vinyl in the first place.
- Jessie Ware, Sauna / Ride (12") and Rose Gray, Club To Your Arms / Just Be Bodies (7") for the disco and pop end.
For everything else on the club side, the everyday racks are where it lives. Our deep house vinyl collection is a good place to start, and we wrote up where to buy techno and house vinyl online in the UK if you want to shop around.
The one you do not need to queue for
Vince Guaraldi Trio's A Charlie Brown Christmas is on the list, in an RSD edition. It is a lovely record, but the 1965 soundtrack is not a rarity. If you want it for a stocking rather than for the variant, do not stand outside a shop in November for it. We have the Gold Foil Edition and the Craft US pressing in stock in quantity, ready to post.
Planning your morning
Pick three titles, not ten. Check your shop's own list and social feeds the week before, because allocations vary. Arrive early, and have a second choice ready for every first choice. If you strike out, wait for the Monday leftovers before going near the resale sites.
And if the queue is not for you at all, everything linked in this piece is on our shelves now, with free UK delivery on orders over £75.
