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Part of the article about Janet:

Janet Jackson's clarion call for action and healing in Rhythm Nation 1814 now joins other groundbreaking sounds of history and culture among the latest titles inducted into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress, including Louis Armstrong's "When The Saints Go Marching In," LaBelle's "Lady Marmalada," Nas' Illmatic, Kool & The Gang's "Celebration," and Kermit The Frog's "Rainbow Connection."

Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden today named 25 recordings as audio treasures worthy of preservation for all time based on their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation's recorded sound heritage.

The recordings most recently selected for the National Recording Registry bring the number of titles on the registry to 575, representing a small portion of the national library's vast recording sound collection of nearly 4 million items.

The specific part about Rhythm Nation 1814:

Despite her record label’s wishes, Janet Jackson resisted the urge to release another album like her previous “Control” in favor of an album with more socially-conscious lyrics. On “Rhythm Nation 1814,” Jackson explores issues of race, homelessness and school violence among other topics. Musically, the album continued the productive relationship Jackson had enjoyed on “Control” with producers James “Jimmy Jam” Harris and Terry Lewis. The duo relied on drum machines and samples of street sounds, breaking glass and trash can lids to create several brief interludes between the songs that lent the album a unified feel. Jackson’s impeccable vocal timing also helped the producers build up dense multi-layered vocal mixes of the funky “Alright” and other songs on the LP. Despite such cutting edge touches, Jackson did deliver dance songs like the lively “Escapade,” but also on display were ballads like “Someday is Tonight” and even the guitar-driven rocker “Black Cat.” Even the tunes with a serious call for racial healing and political unity like “Rhythm Nation” featured catchy beats, proving that dance music and a social message are not mutually exclusive.

The whole list with descriptions and article are behind the source link.

National Recording Registry Selections for 2020

1. Edison’s “St. Louis tinfoil” recording (1878)
2. “Nikolina” — Hjalmar Peterson (1917) (single)
3. “Smyrneikos Balos” — Marika Papagika (1928) (single)
4. “When the Saints Go Marching In” — Louis Armstrong & his Orchestra (1938) (single)
5. Christmas Eve Broadcast--Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill (December 24, 1941)
6. “The Guiding Light” — Nov. 22, 1945
7. “Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues” — Odetta (1957) (album)
8. “Lord, Keep Me Day by Day” — Albertina Walker and the Caravans (1959) (single)
9. Roger Maris hits his 61st homerun (October 1, 1961)
10. “Aida” — Leontyne Price, et.al. (1962) (album)
11. “Once a Day” — Connie Smith (1964) (single)
12. “Born Under a Bad Sign” — Albert King (1967) (album)
13. “Free to Be…You & Me” — Marlo Thomas and Friends (1972) (album)
14. “The Harder They Come” — Jimmy Cliff (1972) (album)
15. “Lady Marmalade” — Labelle (1974) (single)
16. “Late for the Sky” — Jackson Browne (1974) (album)
17. “Bright Size Life” — Pat Metheny (1976) (album)
18. “The Rainbow Connection” — Kermit the Frog (1979) (single)
19. “Celebration” — Kool & the Gang (1980) (single)
20. “Richard Strauss: Four Last Songs” — Jessye Norman (1983) (album)
21. “Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814” — Janet Jackson (1989) (album)
22. “Partners” — Flaco Jiménez (1992) (album)
23. “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”/”What A Wonderful World” — Israel Kamakawiwo’ole (1993) (single)
24. “Illmatic” — Nas (1994) (album)
25. “This American Life: The Giant Pool of Money” (May 9, 2008)

MotownSubdivision said:

MotownSubdivision said:

Well deserved!

Hooray

purplepolitician said:

As good a time as any to say that I can listen to "Alright" (album version) on a loop for forever . Have been jamming it a lot lately .

I remember a Brit friend searching for a mix of that song, that he finally found. It was some remix where it went into this ethereal loop and had birds chirping in it. I don't know, off hand, the particular remix but it's a trip to hear.