Vinyl fans flock to UK record stops for Record Store Day 2022

Vinyl lovers have been flocking to independent record shops across the UK today (April 23) for Record Store Day 2022.

As part of RSD’s 15th anniversary, hundreds of exclusive physical releases – including vinyl, CD and cassette – were made available at over 260 participating indie retailers nationwide.

Fans can get their hands on special records from the likes of Blur, Taylor Swift, Elvis, U2, Bring Me The Horizon, Sam Fender and Blondie.

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Many celebrated managing to bag ‘The Lakes’ 7″ by Swift, who is the global ambassador of Record Store Day 2022.

“Still can’t believe this happened but I’m so glad to have another addition to my Taylor Swift collection, especially one of my favourite tracks for my first RSD!” one customer wrote on Twitter.

Another Swift fan shared a picture of their clear vinyl of ‘The Lakes’, captioning it: “Three hours later and she’s finally mine.”

Elsewhere, a third Twitter used said: “SO SO HAPPY !!!!!! I GOT IT!! after waking up at 4am for record store day I now own ‘The Lakes’ on vinyl and it is so beautiful.” You can see those tweets below.

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Vinyl enthusiasts also snapped up Sam Fender’s 7″ record ‘Alright/The Kitchen (Live)’. “Absolute Stunner white pressing,” one fan said of their purchase.

Other hauls included Holly Humberstone‘s ‘The Walls Are Way Too Thin’ picture disc, Glass Animals‘ ‘I Don’t Wanna Talk (I Just Wanna Dance)’ 12″, David Bowie‘s ‘Toy’ and ‘Brilliant Adventure’ EPs, and a special pressing of The Cure‘s ‘Pornography’.

You can see more reactions and images from Record Store Day UK in the posts below.

Meanwhile, The Rock Box Record Store in Camberley, Surrey said that they saw the “biggest line we’ve ever had” as RSD ’22 customers queued up outside the shop this morning.

Crash Records in Leeds shared a video of “early risers” lining up from the early hours while Banquet Records in Kingston, London posted footage of vinyl fans camping outside from 11:30pm last night (April 22).

Brighton’s Resident reported “great vibes” as they sold “tons of excellent records [to] lovely music lovers” this lunchtime. You can see those posts below.

Upon being appointed the first-ever RSD global ambassador back in January, Taylor Swift said she was “very proud” to take on the role.

“The places where we go to browse and explore and discover music new and old have always been sacred to me,” she explained.

“Record stores are so important because they help to perpetuate and foster music-loving as a passion. They create settings for live events. They employ people who adore music thoroughly and purely.”

Swift went on to acknowledge the “rough few years” that independent record shops have faced as a result of the COVID pandemic, adding: ‘We need to support these small businesses more now than ever to make sure they can stay alive, stay eccentric, and stay individual.”