Queen, Journey, and Alicia Keys' Music Joins National Recording Registry in Library of Congress

Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty; Rich Fury/Getty; Jim Spellman/WireImage Freddie Mercury, Alicia Keys, and Neal Schon

Queen, Journey, and Alicia Keys are among the latest artists whose work will be archived and preserved by the United States government.

On Wednesday, the Library of Congress unveiled the 25 songs, albums, and other important historical recordings that will be inducted into the National Recording Registry in 2022 and preserved for their significant contributions to American culture. The Registry was established in 2000, and the Library of Congress chooses 25 new titles to be archived annually.

This year, albums joining the National Recording Registry include Duke Ellington's Ellington at Newport (1956), Max Roach's We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite (1960), The Shirelles' Tonight's the Night (1961), Terry Riley's In C (1968), Linda Rondstadt's Canciones de Mi Padre (1987), Bonnie Raitt's Nick of Time (1989), A Tribe Called Quest's The Low End Theory (1991), Wu-Tang Clan's Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) [1993], Buena Vista Social Club (1997), and Keys' Songs in A Minor.

"I just think [Songs in A Minor] was so pure," Keys, 41, told the Library of Congress of her album's inclusion. "People hadn't quite seen a woman in Timberlands and cornrows and really straight 100% off of the streets of New York performing classical music and mixing it with soul music and R&B … And people could find themselves in it. And I love that."

"Canciones de Mi Padre is an album I've always wanted to make because of my Mexican heritage," Rondstadt, 75, said about the Grammy-winning album. "I love the musical traditions that came with it. I always thought they were world-class songs. And I thought they were songs that the music could transcend the language barrier."

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Singles being welcomed into the Registry for 2022 include James P. Johnson's "Harlem Strut" (1921), Ernest Tubb's "Walking the Floor Over You" (1941), The Soul Stirrers' "Jesus Gave Me Water" (1950), Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song" (1961), Andy Williams' "Moon River" (1962), The Disneyland Boys Choir's "It's a Small World" (1964), The Four Tops' "Reach Out, I'll Be There" (1966), Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" (1975), Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" (1981), and Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca" (1999).

"['Don't Stop Believin''], over the years, has become something that has a life of its own," Steve Perry, lead singer of Journey, told the Library of Congress. "It's about the people who've embraced it and found the lyrics to be something they can relate to and hold onto and sing."

"I believe that the energy of a movement is what dominates in that song [Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca"] about Latinos, the empowerment of Latinos," said Draco Rosa, who co-wrote the 1999 Grammy-winning hit. "Life is full of great suffering, and 'La Vida Loca' is the total opposite. Let's live it up, right?!"

In addition to songs and albums, the National Recording Registry also features historical recordings, from radio shows to public speeches. Non-musical recordings joining the Library of Congress this year are a complete collection of Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidential speeches from 1933-1945, writer Norman Corwin's "On a Note of Triumph" (May 8, 1945), a broadcast of baseball player Hank Aaron's 715th career home run (April 8, 1974), radio station WNYC's broadcasts for the day of 9/11 (Sept. 11, 2001), and an episode of the WTF with Marc Maron podcast featuring an interview with the late Robin Williams (April 26, 2010).