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is a series of books with its first installation in 2003, and is published by Bloomsbury Publishing since 2010. The books are about albums from various musical genres. As of 2025, 196 books have been published in the main series. Six additional series have been published, all of them specific to a region except for one about music genres.

History and overview

Each book of is about a single album. The series title refers to the rotation speed of a vinyl LP, revolutions per minute.
Originally published by Continuum, the series was founded by editor David Barker in 2003. At the time, Continuum published a series of short books on literature called Continuum Contemporaries. One-time series editor Ally-Jane Grossan described Barker as "an obsessive music fan who thought, 'This is a really cool idea, why don't we apply this to albums. PopMatters wrote that the range consists of "obscure classics to more usual suspects by the Beach Boys, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones".
In 2010, Continuum was bought out by Bloomsbury Publishing, which continues to publish the series. Following a leave, Barker was replaced by Grossan in January 2013. Leah Babb-Rosenfeld has been the editor of the series since 2016.
Several independent books have been spun off of the series. The first, Carl Wilson's 2007 entry on Celine Dion's Let's Talk About Love, was expanded for a 2014 Bloomsbury reissue with material not specifically pertaining to the Dion album and retitled Let's Talk About Love: Why Other People Have Such Bad Taste. Joe Bonomo, at the invitation of Barker, expanded his proposal on Jerry Lee Lewis's Live at the Star Club, Hamburg album into a full-length book about Lewis, the album, and his career titled Jerry Lee Lewis: Lost and Found, published by Continuum in 2009. A rejected proposal from writer Brett Milano for an entry on Game Theory's 1987 album Lolita Nation was instead expanded by Milano into a biography on the band's leader Scott Miller; that project, titled Don't All Thank Me at Once: The Lost Genius of Scott Miller, was released by 125 Books in 2015.
In August 2017, Bloomsbury announced the launch of Global, an extension of the series to popular music from around the world. The first two sub-series launched were Brazil, edited by Jason Stanyek, and Japan, edited by Noriko Manabe. The first book for Brazil was Caetano Veloso's A Foreign Sound by Barbara Browning. The first books for Japan were Supercell ft. Hatsune Miku by Keisuke Yamada and Yoko Kanno's Cowboy Bebop Soundtrack by Rose Bridges.

Published titles

, 196 books have been published in the main series.

Anthologies

Forthcoming titles

Main series

With release dateAntics by Gabriel T. Saxon-Ruiz, on the album by Interpol Inflammable Material by Kevin C. Dunn, on the album by Stiff Little Fingers So Tonight That I Might See by Anthony Gomez III, on the album by Mazzy Star Violent Femmes by Nic Brown, on the album by Violent Femmes Blonde by Yousef Srour, on the album by Frank Ocean Believe by Lior Phillips, on the album by Cher Disintegration by Andi Harriman, on the album by The Cure Plastic Beach by Ihor Junyk, on the album by Gorillaz I'm Your Baby Tonight by Brandon Tensley, on the album by Whitney Houston "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D by Justin Remer, on the album by "Weird Al" Yankovic Dust Bowl Ballads by Allison C. Meier, on the album by Woody Guthrie
Without release dateTragic Kingdom by Rhae Lynn Barnes, on the album by No Doubt I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning by Holden Seidlitz, on the album by Bright Eyes What's the 411? by Ricky Tucker, on the album by Mary J. Blige Lyburnum Wits End Liberation Fly by Zak Fusciello, on the album by Moss Icon I Want You by Derrais Carter, on the album by Marvin Gaye Timeless by Martyn Deykers, on the album by Goldie Tin Drum by Agata Pyzik, on the album by Japan Nightbirds by Craig Seymour, on the album by Labelle

33⅓ Japan

33⅓ Europe

1964/1985 Affinità-divergenze fra il compagno Togliatti e noi – Del conseguimento della maggiore età by Giacomo Botta, on the album by CCCP Februar, on the album by Silly Phaedra by Dan Bynre-Smith, on the album by Tangerine Dream

33⅓ Oceania

Currents by Alister Newstead, on the album by Tame Impala The Happy Prince by John Tebbutt, on the album by The La De Das

33⅓ Africa

Graceland by Kalvin Schmidt-Rimpler Dinh, on the album by Paul Simon

Genre: A 33⅓ Series