Iron Maiden, Wolf Alice and More Lead National Album Day

National Album Day returns in the UK on Saturday October 18, with this year’s edition celebrating rock music.

What is it?

• National Album Day was launched in 2018 to celebrate and promote the art of the album.

• It is organized by BPI – the UK association of record companies and independent labels – and ERA, the digital entertainment and retail association behind Record Store Day in the UK.

• It’s presented in association with BBC Radio 2.

The 2025 champions:

• Wolf Alice, Iron Maiden, Architects and Nova Twins have been revealed as album champions for this year’s event.

• The acts will help to promote National Album Day and will soon unveil a series of related activities.

• Previous album champions include Kylie Minogue, Lewis Capaldi, Mark Ronson, Elbow, Paloma Faith, to name a few.

Special activities:

• Past National Album Day activities have included listening events with album platforms such as Classic Album Sundays and Pitchback Playback; live performances; in-store artist appearances and more.

• Special National Album Day products will also be released, with those announced so far including a sky blue vinyl reissue of UFO’s 1974 album Phenomenon, 50th anniversary reissues of Bill Wyman’s Stone Alone, Status Quo’s On The Level, T.Rex’s Bolan’s Zip Gun, and more.

What they said:

• Ellie Rowsell (Wolf Alice): “We are very happy to be part of National Album Day this year. Albums are so important to us – it’s one of the most romantic parts of being an artist/musician/band. You get to create a little world, a piece of theater, a snapshot of time, tell a story, spread a message or none of those things at all; there’s no formula, there’s no rules and that’s why it’s so exciting. Between the four of us, we never stop discussing what our faves are, what makes a good one, what we want ours to be like etc. I hope the romance of the album never dies and we’re so grateful for things like National Album Day.”

• Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden): “Albums matter. They always have, not just to Maiden but to all of the band members that have done solo projects – none of them have just toured – they have always recorded and released product too – especially me! The rush of first seeing the vinyl or the CD or back in the day the cassette for the first time never leaves you, and it’s great that fans are coming full circle to enjoy the totemistic experience that was lost for a while in this digital era.”