2025 Inductees to Frequent Rewind's Musical Honors

 
Every year, starting in January:


























  • 20 songs & sheet music pieces (including 5 themes/scores/compositions)
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • 10 albums (with an additional 5 compilations and 5 soundtracks/cast recordings)
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • 10 musical artists & performers (with an additional 2 musical composers/conductors)
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • 5 songwriters & lyricists
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • 3 producers, arrangers, & engineers
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • 3 session musicians & vocalists
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • 3 record labels & executives
    
    
    


















are inducted into Frequent Rewind’s Musical Honors, acknowledging notable musical texts & figures in the realm of the recorded

















music period.


































There are also an additional two special yearly awards:



















  • The “Outstanding Preservation & Historical Documentation Award” category selects one organization or document 
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    that preserves musical history
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • The “Pre-Recorded Era Celebratory Award” highlights pivotal figures before the recorded music period

Records & Sheet Music

Billie Jean (1982) – Michael Jackson

Good Rockin’ Tonight (1948) – Wynonie Harris

I Feel Love (1977) – Donna Summer

I Pagliacci – Vesti la giubba (1902) – Enrico Caruso

I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry (1949) – Hank Williams

Johnny B. Goode (1958) – Chuck Berry

Maple Leaf Rag (1899) – Scott Joplin

The Message (1982) – Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five

Move On Up a Little Higher (1947) – Mahalia Jackson

Over the Rainbow (1939) – Judy Garland

Oye Como Va (1962) – Tito Puente

Rock Around the Clock (1954) – Bill Haley & His Comets

The Saint Louis Blues (1914) – W.C. Handy

Smells Like Teen Spirit (1991) – Nirvana

Strange Fruit (1939) – Billie Holiday

The Stars and Stripes Forever (1897) – John Philip Sousa

This Land Is Your Land (1945) – Woody Guthrie

West End Blues (1928) – Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five

White Christmas (1942) – Bing Crosby

Yesterday (1965) – The Beatles

Themes/Scores/Compositions

4’33” (1952) – John Cage

Peter Gunn (1959) – Henry Mancini

Rhapsody in Blue (1924) – George Gershwin

Star Wars (Main Title) (1977) – John Williams

The Rite of Spring (1913) – Igor Stravinsky

Albums

Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook (1956) – Ella Fitzgerald

Elvis Presley (1956) – Elvis Presley

In the Wee Small Hours (1955) – Frank Sinatra

Kind of Blue (1959) – Miles Davis

Live at the Apollo (1963) – James Brown

Mariah Carey (1990) – Mariah Carey

Miriam Makeba (1960) – Miriam Makeba

Pet Sounds (1966) – The Beach Boys

Siembra (1978) – Willie Colón & Rubén Blades

Run-D.M.C. (1984) – Run-D.M.C.

Compilations

The Best Best of Fela Kuti (1999) – Fela Kuti

The Essential Bessie Smith (1997) – Bessie Smith

From Spirituals To Swing – The Legendary 1938 & 1939 Carnegie Hall Concerts Produced By John Hammond (1999, Vanguard) – various

Greatest Hits (1998) – 2Pac

The Rough Guide To… (music anthology series by Rough Guides Ltd.)

Soundtracks/Cast Recordings

The Bodyguard (1992) – Whitney Houston/various

The Harder They Come (1972) – various

Purple Rain (1984) – Prince & the Revolution

Saturday Night Fever (1977) – various

West Side Story (1957) – original Broadway cast of West Side Story

Artists & Performers

Al Jolson

Asha Bhosle

Bob Dylan

Celia Cruz

Duke Ellington

Johnny Cash

Kraftwerk

Lead Belly

Madonna

Ray Charles

Musical Composers & Conductors

Charles Ives

Percy Faith

Songwriters & Lyricists

Bob Marley

Irving Berlin

Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller

Thomas A. Dorsey

Willie Dixon

Producers, Arrangers, & Engineers

John Henry Hammond

Phil Spector

Quincy Jones

Session Musicians & Vocalists

Benny Goodman

The Sweet Inspirations

Record Labels & Executives

Atlantic Records

Berry Gordy, Jr.

Victor

Pre-Recorded Era Celebratory Award

Stephen Foster

Outstanding Preservation & Historical Documentation Award

Cylinder Preservation & Digitization Project, Dept. of Special Collections, University of California, Santa Barbara