Sesame Street discography



From its earliest planning stages, Sesame Street was designed to be a show that would use music and singing as a part of the material being taught. So it was only natural to release the musical content on records, not only to reinforce the curriculum lessons for children when they weren't watching the show, but also because Sesame Street music is enjoyable just for its own sake.

The first few albums were released through Columbia Records and Warner Brothers Records, both major labels with many years of experience. These were deluxe albums, issued in colorful gatefold covers, usually with bonus material such as posters, lyric booklets, and photos and drawings of the show's characters. This arrangement lasted for the first five years of the show.

In 1974, Sesame Street created its own series of records, on an independent label, with a custom record label logo of the Sesame Street sign. These albums were manufactured by Children's Records of America from 1974 to 1976, and by Distinguished Productions from 1977 to 1984. Over 70 titles were produced over the ten-year run of the label. The catalog included reissues of all of the previous Columbia and Warner Brothers albums, although in less lavish packages than their original editions. At first, titles were only issued on vinyl, but over the years, they were also produced on cassettes and 8-track tapes.

The Sesame Street Records label was shut down around 1984. Titles began to appear on Golden Music, which was the music division of Golden Books. A mix of new titles appeared, along with reissues of older titles. During this period, the very first Sesame Street CDs were produced, beginning with CD tributes to Jim Henson and Joe Raposo. Golden's license lasted until 1994.

In 1995, Sony Wonder began issuing a new series of titles. This was looked on with interest by some Sesame collectors, since Sony owns the back catalog of Columbia Records, who put out the very first Sesame Street LP in 1970. While that album has not yet been reissued on CD in its entirety, the second Columbia album, The Muppet Alphabet Album, was reissued as Sing the Alphabet. However, one section of dialogue was cut which referred to turning the record over, which wouldn't make any sense to CD listeners.

The Sony Wonder years culminated with Songs from the Street, an elaborate three-CD boxed set full of classic and rare tracks both from records and from live performances on the show. It was the first time Sesame Street had received the "boxed set" treatment.

In 2007, Genius Products announced that they would soon begin producing Sesame Street titles.