Reference Desk

What is Record Store Day Black Friday?

Comparison of a Black Friday sale with Record Store Day Black Friday, both on Friday 27 November 2026: prices come down against not discounted; volume against a fixed number of pressings; general retail against independent shops only. First held November 2010. — Record Store Day Black Friday shares the date with the sales, 27 November in 2026, but runs the opposite way: nothing is discounted and a fixed number of pressings goes only to participating independent shops.Illustration: LinkToLooks

Record Store Day Black Friday is the November edition of Record Store Day, launched in November 2010. It is held every Black Friday — 27 November in 2026 — and its exclusive pressings go only to participating independent record shops.

The facts, in one table

Question	Answer
What it is	The November edition of Record Store Day, with its own list of exclusive pressings
First held	November 2010, introduced in the same year Record Store Day reached about 1,400 participating independent stores
When it falls	Every Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving
Date in 2026	Friday 27 November 2026 (Thanksgiving falls on Thursday 26 November)
Where the records go	Only to shops participating in the event; not to general retail
The other edition	Record Store Day itself, on a Saturday in April, typically the third
Parent event founded	2008; the first Record Store Day ran on 19 April 2008
Median ask, leftover RSD pressings in US stock (14 September 2026)	$24.99 at Rough Trade across 9, $28.49 at FYE across 6

An open ring-bound planner at a week page with weekday headings and no dates, a pair of black glasses lying across it. — Photo: Jess Watters, CC0 1.0, via StockSnap

How it differs from Black Friday itself

Black Friday, the retail event, is a discount day: prices come down to move volume. Record Store Day Black Friday is the opposite mechanism inside the same date. Nothing is discounted; a fixed number of specially pressed records is distributed to independent shops, and the scarcity is the point. Two events, one Friday, opposite logic.

That distinction matters practically. If you are waiting for a Record Store Day release to get cheaper on Cyber Monday, it will not, because it was never priced as a promotion. What can happen is the reverse: titles that sell out on the day appear on resale at a premium the following week.

What the leftovers cost, measured today

Across 29 live US listings naming Record Store Day on 14 September 2026, the 15 that are actual RSD-pressed records at record shops run from $14.99 to $54.99, with Rough Trade at a median of $24.99 across 9 titles and FYE at $28.49 across 6. That is ordinary new-record pricing. Method: every listing matching the phrase in a US affiliate product feed was pulled, deduplicated, and split by whether the seller is a record retailer or a peer-to-peer marketplace.

Half of everything carrying the name is not a record at all — it is event merchandise on resale: shop tees, tote bags, promo shirts. That is where the name reliably carries a premium, because a 2014 store tee cannot be reissued.

No 2026 Record Store Day Black Friday release list, participating-store list or pressing quantity is published in any source we can read today. Nothing on this page predicts what will be released in November 2026.

Last verified 14 September 2026 against 29 live US listings naming Record Store Day in the CJ product feed, read to a depth of 30 pages of 100 rows per keyword. The pooled median across retailers that this page carried in September has been withdrawn rather than updated: the leading shop’s share of that pool moves seven points across our last three read depths, so the pooled figure tracks how deep we read rather than what the market asks. The two shops are quoted separately instead. Two rows whose titles merely name Record Store Day in the title of a book are excluded. The event history and cadence are from the Wikipedia article on Record Store Day and are unchanged. Peer-to-peer asks of $500 or more are excluded as seller placeholders, as are repdigit asks such as $999 and $9,999. Asking prices are what sellers want on this date; they are not sold prices.

Record Store Day Black Friday, asked plainly

When is Record Store Day Black Friday 2026?

Friday 27 November 2026. Record Store Day Black Friday is always held on Black Friday, which is the day after Thanksgiving; Thanksgiving 2026 falls on Thursday 26 November.

Is Record Store Day Black Friday the same as Record Store Day?

It is the second of the two annual editions. Record Store Day proper is held on a Saturday in April, typically the third. Record Store Day Black Friday launched in November 2010 as a smaller November edition with its own release list.

Where can you buy Record Store Day Black Friday releases?

Only at participating independent record shops. Records pressed for Record Store Day are distributed exclusively to shops taking part in the event, which is why they do not appear at general retailers on the day.

Are Record Store Day Black Friday records worth money?

The ones that sell out are. The ones that do not are priced like ordinary records: the 15 RSD pressings still in stock at US record shops today run from $14.99 to $54.99, a $24.99 median at Rough Trade and $28.49 at FYE.

Has the 2026 Black Friday release list been published?

Not in any source we can read as of 1 September 2026. Release lists are published closer to the date, and we will not reprint a previous year's list as though it were this year's.

Sources

Wikipedia, Record Store Day — the 2008 founding, the April and Black Friday cadence, distribution only to participating shops, the roughly 1,400 stores in 2010 and the November 2010 launch of Black Friday Record Store Day.
Wikipedia, Black Friday (shopping) — Black Friday as the day after Thanksgiving, used for the 2026 date.
CJ Affiliate product feeds, US advertisers, queried 1 September 2026 — the price statistics above.