RCA Records Vinyl, CDs & Cassettes

RCA traces its roots to 1900, making it the second-oldest record label in American history, right behind Columbia. That kind of longevity is hard to fully reckon with, but it means the catalog carries music from virtually every era of recorded sound, spanning more than a century of American popular culture in a single label's history.

The early decades were built on the Victor Talking Machine Company's catalog, the classical recordings, the early jazz and blues, and the popular music of the first half of the twentieth century. Then Elvis Presley arrived in 1956, and RCA's place in rock and roll history was cemented with Heartbreak Hotel and everything that followed. Sam Cooke recorded some of his most enduring work here. So did Nina Simone, Harry Belafonte, and a generation of artists who defined mid-century American music.

The label kept evolving. David Bowie built his commercial peak at RCA through the Ziggy Stardust era and beyond, one of the most creatively fertile stretches in rock history. The Kinks. Hall and Oates. Eurythmics. Into the Nineties and beyond, RCA remained one of the industry's major homes, signing Dave Matthews Band, Foo Fighters, Kings of Leon, Alicia Keys, and a new generation of artists who found a label with the infrastructure to match their ambitions.

Now part of Sony Music Entertainment, RCA carries a catalog wide enough that whatever you're looking for, there's a reasonable chance it lived here at some point.