Robbie Williams Named Album Icon for National Album Day 2026 as ‘Sing When You’re Winning’ Returns to Vinyl

Robbie Williams has been named an Album Icon for National Album Day 2026. The announcement comes with a concrete piece of catalogue business attached: Sing When You’re Winning, his 2000 solo album, will be reissued as a limited-edition 2LP red and blue vinyl set, the first time it has been pressed in that form in a quarter of a century. Pre-orders are open now.

The wider event returns on October 17th, with special events and limited releases planned around it. Williams joins PinkPantheress, Max Richter CBE and Melanie C as this year’s Album Icons, a group that cuts across orchestral composition, contemporary pop and solo careers built after group fame. The stated theme is iconic artists and their albums.

Williams’ inclusion rests on commercial weight rather than argument: Sing When You’re Winning is among his most successful records and carried singles including “Rock DJ”. In a statement, he said albums still matter to artists and that he was glad to take part in a day “celebrating the art of the album”, before noting the reissue of one of his own. A National Album Day spokesperson said Williams adds his voice to other artists advocating for the album format.

The framing is familiar. Vinyl reissues now function as both fan object and label economics, and heritage campaigns like this one depend on artists whose back catalogues can still move units. What National Album Day argues for, and what a red-and-blue double LP quietly demonstrates, is that the album survives partly as a physical proposition. Williams, with 25 years of distance from the record in question, is a useful case.