Rockstar announced Grand Theft Auto VI: The Album on 17 September, an official soundtrack album made with Atlantic Records that releases on 19 November alongside the game. It carries 34 original tracks, six of which are streaming today, and it goes on vinyl and CD the same day with pre-orders open at gtavi-thealbum.com. This is the answer to the Spotify billboards and the seven artist posts we covered this morning.
The six singles, as Rockstar lists them
Rockstar’s Newswire post names the first six singles, live on all major streaming services from today: Yung Lean, “That’s It” featuring Future and Metro Boomin; Travis Scott, “RHYNO”, produced by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of Daft Punk; CA7RIEL and Paco Amoroso, PinkPantheress, Fred again.. and Etienne de Crécy, “Sexy Magic”; Morgan Wallen, “Last Thing You Need”; Rauw Alejandro, “Macacoa 2000”; and Keith Richards, “Bright Lights, Big City”.
That list settles Tuesday’s posts. The seven artists who tagged Rockstar on 15 September (Scott, Future, Metro Boomin, Wallen, PinkPantheress, Richards and Yung Lean) are all on these six tracks; Rauw Alejandro and the Sexy Magic co-credits were not part of that first wave.
34 tracks, all original, described as “genre-defying”
Rockstar says the album has “34 original tracks that capture the electric energy of Grand Theft Auto VI’s world of Vice City and Leonida” from “a genre-defying roster”. The remaining 28 tracks and their artists are not named. The post ends by promising more on “the dynamic score, the next evolution of in-game radio, and more”, which is the first time Rockstar has referred to the game’s score and radio as separate things from the album.
Vinyl at $49.98, limited edition at $124.98, CD at $19.98
The official store lists three editions: a limited-edition vinyl at $124.98, a standard vinyl at $49.98 and a CD at $19.98. Three exclusives are only sold at gtavi-thealbum.com: a liquid-filled vinyl, a splatter-edition vinyl and a CD jewel case. Rockstar also names retailer colourways with their own art at Blood Records, Best Buy, Walmart, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target, Urban Outfitters and independent shops. Physical copies ship on 19 November; digital pre-save is open now.
What the Spotify billboards were for
Spotify’s billboards in Los Angeles, New York and Miami, which it posted photographs of on 16 September, carry the same Vice City artwork with no text. Spotify is not named in Rockstar’s announcement, which credits Atlantic Records as the partner, so the billboards are a streaming platform promoting a pre-save rather than an exclusive. Rockstar’s post says the album is on “all major music streaming services”.
Spotify’s Grand Theft Auto Official Playlist is live with 27 songs: the six singles, then 21 licensed tracks from the trailers and An Extended Look, among them Tom Petty’s “Love Is A Long Road”, the Pointer Sisters’ “Hot Together”, Wang Chung’s “Everybody Have Fun Tonight”, Phil Collins’ “Against All Odds”, Depeche Mode’s “People Are People” and Celia Cruz’s “Besito De Coco”. Those 21 are not on The Album; they are the licensed side of the game’s music, which Rockstar has said it will detail separately.
The PlayTheory take
This is the first GTA VI product with a price on it other than the game, and the first hard fact about its music: 34 original songs is a first for the series, and it sits alongside licensed catalogue rather than replacing it: the 21 trailer tracks on Spotify’s playlist are the radio side, and Rockstar has said the score and the radio get their own announcements. The Rumour Ledger moves the Spotify item from Likely to Confirmed on the soundtrack tie-in, with the exclusivity question closed: there is none. Pre-orders for the game itself are covered on the GTA VI hub, and the editions and prices explainer stays the place for the $79.99 and $99.99 figures.