National Recording Registry inducts sounds of Elton John, Chicago, Amy Winehouse, others for Class of 2025

Twenty-five recordings have been selected for preservation by the entity

Elton John’s monumental album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Chicago’s debut Chicago Transit Authority, the original cast recording of Broadway’s Hamilton, Mary J. Blige’s My Life, Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black, Microsoft’s reboot chime, and the soundtrack to the Minecraft video game phenomenon 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 has 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 2025 class of inductees includes Tracy Chapman’s self-titled debut album, Celine Dion’s 1997 single “My Heart Will Go On” from the blockbuster film Titanic, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans’ classic “Happy Trails,” Miles Davis’ jazz fusion album Bitches Brew, Charley Pride’s groundbreaking “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin,’” Vicente Fernandez’s enduring ranchera song “El Rey,” Freddy Fender’s breakthrough song “Before the Next Teardrop Falls” and the Steve Miller Band’s “Fly Like an Eagle.”

“These are the sounds of America – our wide-ranging history and culture. The National Recording Registry is our evolving nation’s playlist,” Hayden states. “The Library of Congress is proud and honored to select these audio treasures worthy of preservation, including iconic music across a variety of genres, field recordings, sports history and even the sounds of our daily lives with technology.”

More than 2,600 nominations were made by the public this year for recordings to consider for the registry. Chicago Transit Authority finished No. 1 in the public nominations this year. Other selected recordings in the top ten of public nominations include “Happy Trails,” Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and My Life by Blige.

The recordings selected for the National Recording Registry this year bring the number of titles on the registry to 675, representing a small portion of the national library’s vast recorded sound collection of nearly four million items.

Elton John, the 2024 winner of the Library’s Gershwin Prize for Popular Song with his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin, reflect on their 1973 album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

“Nobody really knows what a hit record is. I’m not a formula writer. I didn’t think ‘Bennie and the Jets’ was a hit. I didn’t think ‘Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me’ was a hit. And that’s what makes writing so special,” John told the Library. “You do not know what you’re coming up with and how special it might become.”

Mary J. Blige recalls her 1994 soulful hip-hop album My Life, “My favorite lyric from the ‘My Life’ album is ‘Life can be only what you make of it.'”

The latest selections named to the registry span from 1913 to 2015. Ten of this year’s selections are from the 1970s. The earliest recording on the list is the long-beloved Hawaiian song “Aloha ‘Oe,” recorded in 1913 by the Hawaiian Quintette. The original Broadway recording of Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda and the cast from 2015 becomes the newest recording to join the registry.

The 2025 selections span the sounds of folk, jazz, country, pop, comedy, sports, Latin, dance, R&B, tech, choral and musical theater. The recording from Minecraft is only the second video game soundtrack to join the registry, following the theme from Super Mario Brothers, selected in 2023.

“This year’s National Recording Registry list is an honor roll of superb American popular music from the wide-ranging repertoire of our great nation, from Hawaii to Nashville, from iconic jazz tracks to smash Broadway musicals, from Latin superstars to global pop sensations – a parade of indelible recordings spanning more than a century,” states National Recording Preservation Board Chair Robbin Ahrold.

NPR’s “1A” will feature selections in the series The Sounds of America about this year’s National Recording Registry, including interviews with Hayden and several featured artists in the weeks ahead.

The public can submit nominations throughout the year on the Library’s website. Nominations for next year will be accepted until October 1, 2025.

Recordings Selected for the National Recording Registry in 2025 (chronological order):

• “Aloha ‘Oe” – Hawaiian Quintette (1913) (single)
• “Sweet Georgia Brown” – Brother Bones & His Shadows (1949) (single)
• “Happy Trails” – Roy Rogers and Dale Evans (1952) (single)
• Radio Broadcast of Game 7 of the 1960 World Series – Chuck Thompson (1960)
• Harry Urata Field Recordings (1960-1980)
• “Hello Dummy!”– Don Rickles (1968) (album)
• “Chicago Transit Authority” – Chicago (1969) (album)
• “Bitches Brew” – Miles Davis (1970) (album)
• “Kiss An Angel Good Mornin’” – Charley Pride (1971) (single)
• “I Am Woman” – Helen Reddy (1972) (single)
• “El Rey” – Vicente Fernandez (1973) (single)
• “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” – Elton John (1973) (album)
• “Before the Next Teardrop Falls” – Freddy Fender (1975) (single)
• “I’ve Got the Music in Me” – Thelma Houston & Pressure Cooker (1975) (album)
• “The Kӧln Concert” – Keith Jarrett (1975) (album)
• “Fly Like an Eagle” – Steve Miller Band (1976) (album)
• Nimrod Workman Collection (1973-1994)
• “Tracy Chapman” – Tracy Chapman (1988) (album)
• “My Life” – Mary J. Blige (1994) (album)
• Microsoft Windows Reboot Chime – Brian Eno (1995)
• “My Heart Will Go On” – Celine Dion (1997) (single)
• “Our American Journey” – Chanticleer (2002) (album)
• “Back to Black” – Amy Winehouse (2006) (album)
• “Minecraft: Volume Alpha” – Daniel Rosenfeld (2011) (album)
• “Hamilton” – Original Broadway Cast Album (2015) (album)