Beyoncé and Taylor Swift Join National Recording Registry

Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, two of the world’s reigning pop superstars, have never recorded together, but their voices will soon sit side by side in the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry.

Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” and Swift’s “1989” album, along with nearly two dozen other works, have been selected to join the registry this year, the Library of Congress announced on Thursday. Created by an act of Congress in 2000, the registry aims to preserve “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” recordings that are at least 10 years old.

The library received more than 3,000 nominations from the public for this year’s inductees. Accompanying Beyoncé’s hit single from 2008 and Swift’s album from 2014 (which includes the popular songs “Shake It Off” and “Black Space”) is an eclectic mix of recordings. The library also selected the original cast album of the Broadway musical “Chicago” from 1975; the grunge band Weezer’s debut album from 1994; and a radio broadcast of sportscasters discussing the title bout between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in 1971.

Before making its final decision, the library considers the nominations from the public, as well as suggestions from the National Recording Preservation Board, an advisory group. Weezer was among the most nominated this year, according to a news release from the Library of Congress.

Other recordings that were selected include Gladys Knight and the Pips’s R&B classic “Midnight Train to Georgia,” Ray Charles’s album “Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music” and “Put Your Head on My Shoulder,” the 1959 ballad by Paul Anka that frequently accompanies romantic scenes in television and film.

The oldest work to be chosen, “Cocktails for Two,” by Spike Jones and His City Slickers, dates to 1944. Swift’s album is the youngest.

With this new class, the registry now includes 700 titles. Beyond the registry, the library has a recorded sound collection of nearly four million items.

“Music and recorded sound are essential, wonderful parts of our daily lives and our national heritage,” Robert R. Newlen, the acting Librarian of Congress, said in a statement.

“Go Rest High on That Mountain,” the ballad that Vince Gill wrote after his older brother died, also made the cut. In an interview with the Library of Congress, Gill said that while he had been writing songs for more than a half-century, this one was “hands down” the one he wanted to be remembered for. “What this song has gone on to do for other people is what makes it special to me,” he added.

Robbin Ahrold, the chair of the National Recording Preservation Board, said in a statement that the sweep and diversity of the new class “beautifully captures the scope of the American experience” as the nation approaches its 250th anniversary.

Here are the 25 new additions to the registry, in chronological order:

• “Cocktails for Two” by Spike Jones and His City Slickers (1944) (single)

• “Mambo No. 5” by Pérez Prado (1950) (single)

• “Teardrops From My Eyes” by Ruth Brown (1950) (single)

• “Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)” by Kaye Ballard (1954) (single)

• “Put Your Head on My Shoulder” by Paul Anka (1959) (single)

• “The Blues and the Abstract Truth” by Oliver Nelson (1961) (album)

• “Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music” by Ray Charles (1962) (album)

• “Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)” by the Byrds (1965) (single)

• “Amen, Brother” by the Winstons (1969) (single)

• “Feliz Navidad” by José Feliciano (1970) (single)

• “The Fight of the Century: Ali vs. Frazier” (March 8, 1971) (broadcast)

• “Midnight Train to Georgia” by Gladys Knight and the Pips (1973) (single)

• “Chicago” Original Cast Album (1975) (album)

• “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” by the Charlie Daniels Band (1979) (single)

• “Beauty and the Beat” by the Go-Go’s (1981) (album)

• “Texas Flood” by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble (1983) (album)

• “I Feel For You” by Chaka Khan (1984) (single)

• “Your Love” by Jamie Principle (1986) / Jamie Principle / Frankie Knuckles (1987) (singles)

• “Rumor Has It” by Reba McEntire (1990) (album)

• “The Wheel” by Rosanne Cash (1993) (album)

• “Doom” soundtrack by Bobby Prince, composer (1993)

• “Go Rest High on That Mountain” by Vince Gill (1994) (single)

• “Weezer (The Blue Album)” by Weezer (1994) (album)

• “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” by Beyoncé (2008) (single)

• “1989” by Taylor Swift (2014) (album)

Derrick Bryson Taylor is a Times reporter covering breaking news in culture and the arts.

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