National Album Day will return for its third edition on Saturday 10 October with the perfect antidote to lockdown blues – a celebration of arguably music’s greatest decade, the Eighties!
This year’s 80s theme is a first in a series of musical themes for National Album Day that will be rolled out annually, and coincides with the current resurgence of 80s popular culture that is loved by audiences both young and old. 80s culture and music is all around us; on our TV’s, on our music streaming services, and in fashion and in classic film remakes.
National Album Day will celebrate all this, with record labels, music retailers and industry bodies and partners all joining in the fun with various events taking place in the lead up to, and on National Album Day.
To celebrate National Album Day and this year's 80s theme, BBC Radio 2 DJ Gary Davies is on a quest to find out the nation's number one 80s album! The results will be revealed by Gary Davies in a Sounds Of The 80s Ultimate 80s Albums countdown special, on Radio 2 and BBC Sounds from 8pm on Friday 9th October.
Global music streaming service Deezer is hosting a one-off drive-in experience that's packed with 80’s music, food, and fancy dress. #DeezerDriveIn will take place Wednesday 7th October, in North London, with 100% of event proceeds going to the Help Musicians charity. Ticket-buyers will be welcomed by 80s legend and NAD ambassador, Toyah Willcox, before enjoying original live performances from Madonna, Prince, Stevie Nicks and David Bowie on a huge LED cinema screen. And if you're hungry, all food is discounted to 80s prices - so that's just 70p for a burger and a drink! Tickets are £15 per car from The Drive In London.
Classic Album Sundays is celebrating their 10th anniversary with a National Album Day Pub Quiz and an ‘Albums for Escape’ online video series. Founder Colleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy will host a private National Album Day Pub Quiz for the music industry on Thursday, 8th October and a public National Album Day Pub Quiz at 8 pm on Friday, the 9th October on the Classic Album Sundays YouTube and Facebook channels in collaboration with ERA and Record Store Day UK.
Throughout the week leading up to National Album Day, Classic Album Sundays will host the ‘Albums for Escape’ video series in which artists reveal the albums that transport them into another world. This will be hosted on Classic Album Sundays’, BPI’s, Record Store Day UK’s and ERA’s social media channels and featured artists include Nitin Sawhney, KT Tunstall, Groove Armada, Róisín Murphy, Jessie Ware and NAD ambassadors Billy Ocean and Blossoms. On NAD itself, Classic Album Sundays will present Kathy Sledge: Music for Isolation at 8pm on their YouTube and Facebook channels in which Kathy will discuss the albums that have brought her comfort during a challenging time with regards to the pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests.
Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess will be hosting a very special series of his Tim’s Twitter Listening Parties for National Album Day - starting with Ultravox on Monday 5th October at 8pm, Dire Straits on Wednesday 7th at 8pm, Bonnie Tyler on Thursday 8th at 8pm, and on the day itself (Saturday 10th) hosting listening parties with Toyah Willcox (3pm), Marillion (5.30pm), Matthew Wilder (7pm), Blossoms (8pm) and La Roux (9pm). Follow @LISTENING_PARTY, @AlbumDayUK and #TimsTwitterListeningParty to keep up to date!
The BPI and Official Charts Company have partnered once again to host a NAD themed Let’s Talk About Music - the online event which discusses music and the impact it's had on our lives. On Tuesday 6th October the special guest will be long-time Prince collaborator Susan Rogers who will be in conversation with OCC CEO Martin Talbot talking about the making of Prince’s iconic Eighties album Sign O’ The Times. To register for a free admission please see link here.
The Record Club, the fortnightly video series hosted by National Album Day along with Record Store Day and Official Charts Company, which brings music fans together (virtually!) to delve deep into the biggest new album releases and discuss the inspirations, lyrics and artwork will be hosting a NAD-special on Wednesday 7th October at 6.30pm with Groove Armada.
Over on National Album Day socials @AlbumDayUK, we’re asking people to get involved on social media and share the album that provides escapism and lifts spirits. It could be the album that has got them through lockdown or a record they turn to and turn on to take themselves elsewhere. Alongside an image of the album, we’re asking the audience to share the story about why that specific album is important to them using #MyAlbumEscape and tagging National Album Day at @AlbumDayUK on October 10th.
In traditional National Music Day style, official National Album Day Ambassadors will be our guides to a musically-rich decade that witnessed exciting new genres such as new wave, hip hop, electronica and indie come to the fore and shape our musical heritage to this day. Global soul legend Billy Ocean, Manchester’s indie pop finest Blossoms, T’Pau vocalist and musician Carol Decker, DJ, producer and founder of Soul II Soul Jazzie B, iconic pop father and daughter Kim & Marty Wilde, ‘Bulletproof’ chanteuse La Roux, ABC founder and frontman Martin Fry, post-punk icons The Psychedelic Furs, chart-topping singer-songwriter Shakin’ Stevens, post-punk singer and actress Toyah Willcox and country-pop twin sisters Ward Thomas - who will be marking National Album Day and the release of their brand new album Invitation with an exclusive global live stream headline performance from London's historic Theatre Royal Haymarket on 10th October, featuring a cover of an 80s song in keeping with the theme! Fans can watch the live stream at 8pm BST with tickets priced at £12.
Music retailers all across the UK including hundreds of independent record stores, HMV (who have reintroduced classic 80s retro branding), the major supermarkets – Asda, Morrisons Tesco and Sainsbury’s – are supporting the event as well as digital services including Amazon, Spotify, Google and many more! This year’s 80s themed National Album Day creates the perfect opportunity to revisit some of the decade's greatest artists, and on Friday 9th October an exciting array of reissues, limited vinyl and box sets will be available as part of the National Album Day celebrations, including: Sade ‘This Far’ - a six album vinyl box set featuring all of their studio albums to date, an Ultravox 40th anniversary deluxe box set of ‘Vienna’, Tears for Fears deluxe multi-format box set for ‘The Seeds of Love’, Dire Straits CD & vinyl box set ‘Dire Straits - The Studio Albums 1978-1991’, a 40th anniversary picture vinyl of Iron Maiden’s debut album, vinyl reissues from Duran Duran, Paul Simon, Stone Roses, Bonnie Tyler and Marillion, coloured vinyl releases from Phil Collins, Cyndi Lauper, Europe and Meat Loaf, and picture discs for the iconic film soundtracks for 80s cinema hits Top Gun and Footloose.
A new "Must See Movies 80s" video promotion is also confirmed to celebrate this year's National Album Day with supermarkets and retailers including Asda, Morrisons, Amazon, HMV and Tesco stocking a range of classic 80s film titles including Big, Blade Runner, Cocktail, Dirty Dancing, ET, Ghost, Ghostbusters, The Goonies, Labyrinth, The Lost Boys, Purple Rain, Robocop, Stand By Me, Top Gun and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
We are excited to announce that renowned audio brand Bowers & Wilkins has come on board as official audio partner of National Album Day, to celebrate the art of making music and help champion recorded music and the album format, whilst highlighting the importance of a higher-quality listening experience for music fans.
See a full list of product available here.
With the album already at the fore of the UK music calendar, following the 2020 Hyundai Mercury Prize ‘Albums of the Year’ and the Record Store Day Drops, National Album Day creates another opportunity to engage with the much-loved format. Based on Official Charts data 154 million albums or their equivalent were purchased, downloaded or streamed in 2019 – up 7.7 per cent on the previous year, and even during the first six months of a Covid-hit 2020, album equivalent sales have risen by 6.8 per cent. The format does particularly well on vinyl – with over 4.3 million LP sales in 2019 following 12 years of consecutive growth – and even the humble cassette, the quintessential 80s format, is now finding favour again, with over 130,000 projected sales for this year – the highest sales since 2003.
In the past two years, National Album Day has been supported by a diverse range of artists and musicians including Lewis Capaldi, Mark Ronson, Elbow, Paloma Faith, Alice Cooper, Novelist, Tom Odell, Mahalia and Orbital among many others, and has hosted a variety of events and activities including Classic Album Sunday and Tape Notes events, in-store artist appearances, record store promotions, and two Network Rail exhibitions in major cities across the UK.
Keep track of the National Album Day website for the latest news, events and exclusive Album Day activities.