Taylor Swift Is Record Store Day's First Global Ambassador

After being divided into two smaller drop dates in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Record Store Day will return to its traditional springtime date this year (April 23). To celebrate the event’s 15th anniversary, Taylor Swift has been announced as the event’s first-ever Global Ambassador.

At first glance, a pop superstar like Swift might seem like an odd choice for an event meant to encourage people to support their independent record stores. But Swift has released several Record Store Day exclusives in the past, and the success of her albums on vinyl — like Evermore, which broke the record for one-week album sales on vinyl in the U.S. last May — has encouraged a new generation of fans to get interested in the format. She also has gone out of her way to help independent record stores weather the storm of the pandemic, donating money to help keep Nashville institution Grimey’s afloat.

“I’m very proud to be this year’s Global Ambassador for Record Store Day. The places where we go to browse and explore and discover music new and old have always been sacred to me,” Swift said in a statement. “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. Those people and shops have had a rough few years and we need to support these small businesses more now than ever to make sure they can stay alive, stay eccentric, and stay individual.”

“It’s been a true joy for me to watch vinyl sales grow in the past few years,” she added, “and we, the artists, have the fans to thank for this pleasant surprise.”

As this year’s Global Ambassador, Swift will put out a special RSD 2022 release on vinyl, though specific details on what exactly that release will look like have yet to be announced.

“We’re pretty picky about the people we invite to ‘wear the sash’, and we always want to make sure those Ambassadors genuinely love record stores and are creative about ways to celebrate them,” Record Store Day co-founder Carrie Colliton said. “But mostly it’s a title we want people to have fun with, and we know that our RSD 2022 Ambassador loves having fun, loves music, and loves record stores. For our 15th Record Store Day, and for our first Global Ambassador, we’re teaming up with a woman who does all that and just happens to be one of the biggest artists on the planet.”