The National Recording Registry has inducted the Super Mario Bros. theme into the Library of Congress, making it the first videogame song stored in the US national library. Koji Kondo’s theme launched with the original Super Mario Bros. for NES in 1985.
Kondo, talking about the National Recording Registry’s decision, said, “having this music preserved alongside so many other classic songs is such a great honor… It’s actually a little bit difficult to believe.”
Alongside the Super Mario Bros. theme, the National Recording Registry also picked Madonna’s Like a Virgin, John Lennon’s Imagine, and John Denver’s Country Roads. You can check out the full list below, plus a video of the iconic theme.
Here’s the National Recording Registry’s 2023 picks for the Library of Congress:
- The Very First Mariachi Recordings — Cuarteto Coculense (1908-1909)
- St. Louis Blues — Handy’s Memphis Blues Band (1922)
- Sugar Foot Stomp — Fletcher Henderson (1926)
- Dorothy Thompson: Commentary and Analysis of the European Situation for NBC Radio (Aug. 23-Sept. 6, 1939)
- Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Around — The Fairfield Four (1947)
- Sherry — The Four Seasons (1962)
- What the World Needs Now is Love — Jackie DeShannon (1965)
- Wang Dang Doodle — Koko Taylor (1966)
- Ode to Billie Joe — Bobbie Gentry (1967)
- Déjà Vu — Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (1970)
- Imagine — John Lennon (1971)
- Stairway to Heaven — Led Zeppelin (1971)
- Take Me Home, Country Roads — John Denver (1971)
- Margaritaville — Jimmy Buffett (1977)
- Flashdance…What a Feeling — Irene Cara (1983)
- Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) — Eurythmics (1983)
- Synchronicity — The Police (1983)
- Like a Virgin — Madonna (1984)
- Black Codes (From the Underground) — Wynton Marsalis (1985)
- Super Mario Bros. theme — Koji Kondo, composer (1985)
- All Hail the Queen — Queen Latifah (1989)
- All I Want for Christmas is You — Mariah Carey (1994)
- Pale Blue Dot — Carl Sagan (1994)
- Gasolina — Daddy Yankee (2004)
- Concerto for Clarinet and Chamber Orchestra — Northwest Chamber Orchestra, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, composer (2012)
For more beyond the Super Mario Bros. theme’s Library of Congress selection, check out our Mario and Luigi costumes, Mario characters, and Mario figures guides for more stuff on everyone’s second favourite Italian man.
