Noah Kahan, Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo top Record Store Day Black Friday sales: If you spent Black Friday flipping through vinyls at your local indie record store, chances are you went home with albums by Noah Kahan and Billie Eilish. Noah had the top-selling Record Store Day Black Friday 2024 release, according to Billboard. His Town Hall (Stick Season Collaborations) on tiger eye brown vinyl collected all eight duets from his album Stick Season (We’ll All Be Here Forever). They included collabs with Hozier, Gracie Abrams, Post Malone and Kacey Musgraves. Billie had the #2 release: A version of Hit Me hard and Soft with just the vocals isolated. Olivia Rodrigo‘s Guts (Spilled)—the deluxe version of her album Guts—was the #3 seller, pressed on red and purple vinyl.
Denver, CO | The Best Record Stores in Denver: From used jazz to new pop, the vast array of vinyl in Denver-area record stores makes for a collector’s heaven. Not so long ago, pundits predicted that vinyl records were going the way of the dinosaur. But that asteroid never hit. Instead, vinyl’s miraculous comeback in the age of streaming is every music collector’s unlikely dream come true. That is, if they don’t mind depositing their paychecks directly into the bank account of their local record store every month, particularly when Record Store Day hits twice each year: in April and on Black Friday in November. In pursuit of personal bankruptcy and a stellar record collection, here are a dozen of Denver’s best record stores—an embarrassment of turntable riches.
Columbia, SC | As it celebrates 45 years in Columbia, Papa Jazz Record Shoppe moves back home after renovations: When Papa Jazz Record Shoppe first opened in 1979, eight tracks and 78 rpm records made up the bulk of sales for the Five Points institution. Cassette tapes were years away from being the predominant music-listening medium. CDs were on the cusp of invention and more than a decade from relevancy. “There was no need for a credit card machine,” said Tim Smith, who bought the shop in the early ’80s and has owned it ever since. Forty-five years later, the medium may have changed but Papa Jazz has remained a stalwart hub for music lovers and casual listeners in Columbia. And because what was old is new again, vinyl records make up 70 percent of the shop’s sales, Smith said.
Coronado, CA | Imperial Beach Records & Radio Opens—A Trip Down Memory Lane For Some, New Experience For Others: It only took one look at the Thriller album by Micheal Jackson to remember my younger self, who traveled by train with a group of other kids to our high school. One of those kids had a connection with music. His family owned a record store. To save me a trip to buy it in person, my friend brought me the album on the train after the record came out, and I gave him cash for it. It’s something I haven’t thought about since it happened, but the memory is still strong. Some of us who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s remember buying vinyl records and playing them on the turntable. That bit of nostalgia has picked up more and more recently, with many buying turntables and records and remembering a time when life moved more slowly.
Rochester, NY | RPO, Record Archive, and Black Sheep inducted into Rochester Music Hall of Fame: An orchestra, a record store, and a rock band are being recognized for their impact on Rochester’s music scene. The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Record Archive, and the band Black Sheep are part of this year’s class of Rochester Music Hall of Fame inductees. The hall of fame will announce the rest of its inductees in February. The RPO’s induction comes after the orchestra celebrated its centennial season and won a 2020 Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition. Record Archive has been a staple on Rockwood Street since 1975, housing the largest vinyl record collection in the northeast in its 13,000-square-foot store. Black Sheep became popular in the ’70s with future Rock-and-Roll Hall of Famer Lou Gramm as the lead singer.
Bentolabs launches aurala120A modular acrylic vinyl record shelving system: The system reflects Bentolabs founder Grier Govorko’s expertise as Red Hot Chili Peppers’ production designer, where precision engineering and clean aesthetics were key at a stadium scale. This influence is evident in the system’s attention to detail, ensuring both functionality and design integrity. Flat-packed for efficient shipping, Aurala120A includes all necessary components for assembly and is built to grow alongside collectors’ expanding needs while maintaining a cohesive visual appearance across configurations. Aurala120A combines practical storage with a sleek, floating display aesthetic.
The Third ‘A Philly Special Christmas’ Album Breaks Record: The third installment of the Eagles charity album, A Philly Special Christmas Party, recorded in Conshohocken, is breaking records with its debut, according to a staff report from KYW Newsradio. The record set a new milestone, by achieving the largest sales in a week for a holiday release on vinyl in the modern era. According to Billboard, the album debuted at No. 1 on the Independent Albums chart as well as at No. 2 on the Top Album Sales chart. This means it managed to beat Kendrick Lamar and lose only to the “Wicked” movie soundtrack. Profits coming from the record will support Operation Snowball, an initiative that aims to provide a gift to every student in the city’s public schools.
Washington, DC | Press Club soundtracks craft cocktails in DC: The new Washington DC bar, which opened its Dupont Circle doors this week, is part cocktail lounge, part record bar. Press Club, the latest venture from Hive Hospitality, is a subterranean bar in DC’s Dupont Circle that marries the comfort of a 70s cocktail lounge with the vibes of a 90s record store. The joint effort comes from mixologist Will Patton, formerly of Bresca and Jônt, and DC native Devin Kennedy, formerly of Pouring Ribbons and Panorama Room. A bespoke record bar, Press Club offers craft cocktails and quality tunes in equal measure. …“Our debut menu celebrates our favourite spirits, techniques and music all at once,” Patton said. “The featured cocktails will typically fall into two categories: bright, refreshing and crushable, or spirit-forward and complex. They are arranged much like a record, starting with hit singles and crowd-pleasers, followed by deep cuts, and ending with more experimental, out-of-the-box creations…”
Hootie & the Blowfish get boxed: ‘The Atlantic Years 1994-2003’ coming in January: Come January, you’ll only wanna be with a new box set that collects Hootie & the Blowfish‘s first five albums for Atlantic Records, including their mega-selling 1994 release, Cracked Rear View. The Atlantic Years 1994-2003, due Jan. 24, will be released on vinyl and CD, though the six-LP version will only be available via Rhino.com. The five-CD set will be available at the website, as well as in stores nationwide. In addition to Cracked Rear View, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, the set includes 1996’s Fairweather Johnson, 1998’s Musical Chairs, the 2000 covers album Scattered, Smothered and Covered and the 2003 self-titled release Hootie & the Blowfish. The latter two have never been available on vinyl before.
