Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and the Go-Go's Enter the National Recording Registry
The Library of Congress this year inducted twenty-five recordings spanning eight decades — from Spike Jones in 1944 to Swift's '1989' — into the National Recording Registry. The list, as always, is an argument as much as a catalogue.
The Library of Congress on Thursday added twenty-five recordings to the National Recording Registry, the official archive of works deemed culturally, historically or aesthetically significant. The 2026 cohort includes Taylor Swift's '1989,' Beyoncé's 'Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),' the Go-Go's 'Beauty and the Beat,' Ray Charles, the Byrds, Weezer and Reba McEntire.
The oldest entry on this year's list is Spike Jones's 1944 novelty 'Cocktails for Two.' The newest sits well inside the streaming era. The registry's working principle — that durability is determined by listeners rather than by the year of release — is, by now, no longer controversial.
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