New vinyl October 2026: 8 records for your collection

October brought a rich mix. On one side anniversary editions of records absolutely everyone knows, on the other new albums from the bands being talked about most right now. There is Thriller in red and black marble, a twenty-year-old Back To Black, a forty-year-old Turbo as a picture disc, and brand new material out of Dublin and Buenos Aires. Eight records, eight reasons to check the new LP arrivals this month.

The best-selling album of all time returns in an edition that looks as good as it sounds. The red and black marble vinyl suits a record from 1982 surprisingly well, because that colour combination is exactly what people associate with Michael Jackson from that era. Nine tracks, seven of which became singles: Billie Jean, Beat It, Thriller and Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'. If you own a turntable and this is the record missing from the shelf, a better moment will not come along.

Back To Black came out in 2006 and two years later took five Grammy awards. It is now 20 years old and gets a triple-LP edition on fully clear vinyl, a lovely contrast for an album with that cover. Amy Winehouse only released two albums in her lifetime, and it was this second one that defined the whole wave of British soul that followed. Rehab, You Know I'm No Good, Love Is A Losing Game. Three records also means bonus material, so this is more than the original poured into a colour.

If someone tells you Fleetwood Mac have the best compilation of any major seventies band, it is hard to argue. Go Your Own Way, Dreams, Everywhere, Little Lies, The Chain. This deluxe edition on two records is the perfect way in for anyone who knows Fleetwood Mac from the radio and wants them at home without buying the whole discography at once. Two records also mean more room than the original single-LP selection, so there is space for what once had to be left off.

Turbo from 1986 is still the most divisive Judas Priest album. The band brought guitar synthesizers onto it, the metal faithful raged, and today that same faithful rate it among the most entertaining things Priest ever did. Forty years on it arrives as a picture disc, printed directly onto the vinyl, in a 140 g limited edition. Turbo Lover sounds completely different off a turntable than off a stream. And if you are heading to one of their shows, there is no better way to get in the mood.

Mac Miller released The Divine Feminine in 2016, and it was the album that proved he was far more than a rapper from Pittsburgh. Jazz arrangements, live instruments and a guest list worth pausing over: Anderson .Paak, Kendrick Lamar and Ariana Grande. Since his death in 2018 his whole discography has become something fans look after, and this tenth-anniversary edition on three records in apple red, fruit punch and black ice is the most beautiful treatment the album has had so far.

Dubliners Fontaines D.C. are currently among the most closely watched bands in Europe, and Dopamine Chamber is their new album following the success of Romance. The singles Marianne and Tongue, released over the summer and at the end of September, suggest the band is carrying on its shift from raw post-punk towards something at once more melodic and darker. A blue marble vinyl in a limited edition is precisely the sort of record that becomes hard to find a few months down the line.

If the name CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso means nothing to you, go and watch their Tiny Desk for NPR. That is what turned the Argentinian duo into names people talk about well beyond Latin America. They mix trap, funk, rock and a horn section, and they do it with a sense of humour that is rare in the genre. Free Spirits is their new album and comes on bone coloured vinyl. It is also the one record in this selection where you genuinely do not know what to expect, and that is exactly why it deserves your attention.

Hans Zimmer wrote the music for Interstellar, Gladiator, Inception and Dune, and this double album is a selection of the best known pieces in symphonic form. The vinyl also carries laser-etched artwork, a detail you appreciate even when the record is not playing. 180 grams means a heavy pressing and steadier tracking, which counts for more with orchestral music and its wide dynamic range than almost anywhere else. If film music is your thing, there is a whole soundtracks section for it.

Eight records are a selection, not the whole of October. Dozens more titles arrive every month, among them reissues of classics, limited colour pressings, picture discs and complete box sets, and with limited editions the rule is that once they sell out they do not come back. The full overview is in new LP arrivals, the limited runs separately under limited editions, and if you still have nothing to play them on, have a look at turntables.