Top Ten Records and Library

Top Ten Records and Library has been part of Jefferson Boulevard in Oak Cliff since 1956, making it one of the rare American record shops with a history stretching across generations. In the interview, the team talks about preservation, Dallas music history, and the records that still make people stop and look twice.

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Interview with Top Ten Records and Library

Top Ten Records has been on Jefferson Boulevard since the mid-1950s — that's a run almost no shop in the country can claim. In your own words, what has kept the shop where it is for so long, and what does the store's identity look like today versus, say, 30 years ago?

I think what has kept Top Ten here for so long is that it has always belonged to Jefferson. Top Ten opened in 1956, and while the neighborhood, the music industry and even the way people discover and buy music have completely changed, the store has remained part of the fabric of this community.

Thirty years ago, Top Ten was primarily a neighborhood record store. Today, we’re a nonprofit, so preservation has become a much bigger part of our identity. We’re still selling records, but we’re also preserving the history of the shop, creating space for local artists and musicians, hosting community programming and finding ways to make sure the culture that has existed along Jefferson Boulevard isn’t lost as Oak Cliff continues to change.

Oak Cliff and specifically Jefferson Boulevard have their own long story — the Texas Theatre a couple of blocks down, the Bishop Arts revival, the neighborhood's shifts. For someone visiting Top Ten for the first time, what should they be seeing around you on Jefferson?

Jefferson is one of those streets where we always tell people not to just come to Top Ten and leave. Make an afternoon out of it. A lot of what makes Jefferson special is the businesses that have been here serving the neighborhood and the culture you experience just walking the boulevard.

For food, some of our favorites are El Padrino Loncheria, El Rincón, Gonzalez and, of course, Charco Broiler. Definitely stop into YuYu, and if you want a Mexican snack or something sweet, go to La Bonita Michoacana and get a mangonada.

The Texas Theatre is just a couple of blocks away, too. What we love about Jefferson is that it still feels like Jefferson. There are restaurants, shops and neighborhood institutions here that tell you much more about Oak Cliff than you would understand from only visiting the newer parts of the neighborhood. Come see us, buy a record, then walk the boulevard, eat something and spend some time here.

A shop that's been around that long ends up meaning something different to different generations of customers. Who's actually walking in today — how has that changed in the last ten years, and what surprises you about the current crowd?

One of the most interesting things about Top Ten today is how many different generations can walk through the door. We still have people who remember the store from decades ago, people from the neighborhood, serious record collectors and DJs, but now we’re also seeing younger people discovering vinyl and physical media for the first time.

Our programming has widened that audience too. We have musicians, artists, photographers, filmmakers, DJs and young people coming into the space for reasons that may start with something other than buying a record.

That’s probably what surprises me most. A record store that opened in 1956 could very easily exist primarily as nostalgia, but Top Ten doesn’t feel like that. Young people are giving the space a new life while still being surrounded by all of this history.

Dallas has a lot of record-store history — Bill's, Good Records, Josey — but Top Ten predates most of them. What do you get to see about the Dallas music scene from the front of a shop that's been there through all of it?

Top Ten has had a front-row seat to Dallas music history because it has survived so many different versions of the industry. It existed when the neighborhood record store was one of the places where people actually discovered music. It lived through CDs, big-box retailers, downloads, streaming and then the resurgence of vinyl.

And because we’ve stayed on Jefferson, you also see a side of Dallas music culture that isn’t always represented when people talk about the city’s music history. Dallas music isn’t just one genre or one scene. There’s Tejano and conjunto, soul, funk, blues, jazz, rock, punk, hip-hop, country and so much more that has moved through this city and through neighborhoods like Oak Cliff.

Stores have opened and closed, scenes have changed, and the way people consume music has completely transformed. Top Ten is still here. That gives us an unusual responsibility now: we’re not only participating in Dallas music culture, we’re helping preserve evidence of what came before us.

On the buying side: what genres do you actively look for right now, and what have you had to say no to more often lately?

We tend to gravitate toward the classics and legendary music. We don’t carry a ton of brand-new releases, and that’s okay. Top Ten has never really been the kind of store where you walk in knowing exactly what you’re going to find.

A lot of our inventory comes through consigners and donations, so it’s constantly changing. We’re a place where you have to take your time, dig through the bins and see what you discover. Because of the way our collection comes together, we end up with a lot of unique records, different genres and things you might not see sitting together somewhere else.

That’s part of the Top Ten experience. You have to dig a little. The good stuff is in there.

What quietly turns out to be worth more than sellers usually expect at Top Ten — a genre or era they'd almost leave behind that you're always happy to see?

Tejano is definitely one. People don’t always realize how collectible some of those records and pieces of music history can be, and we’re always excited when they come through the door, especially because of where we are and the community Top Ten has been part of for so long.

We’re also always happy to see the legends: Selena, Michael Jackson, Prince, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, artists like that. Sometimes people look at a stack of older records and assume that because the music has been around forever, everyone already has it. But there’s a reason people are still looking for those records generation after generation.

For us, it’s not always about finding the rarest or most expensive record. We’re interested in music that people still have an emotional connection to, and sometimes the things a seller almost leaves behind are exactly the things someone else is going to be excited to find in our bins.

And the reverse — what do sellers most often walk in overvaluing, convinced they've got the retirement fund?

The biggest thing we see is people looking at eBay and seeing a record listed for a few hundred dollars and assuming that’s what their copy is worth. But just because something is listed at that price doesn’t mean it’s actually selling for that price. Sometimes those listings have been sitting there forever.

We completely understand why people feel strongly about the value of their collections. These records may have been with them for decades, and there’s often a lot of personal history attached to them. But sentimental value and market value are two different things.

Ultimately, the market is set by what people are actually buying right now and what they’re willing to pay for it. A record can be rare, old or listed online for hundreds of dollars, but that doesn’t automatically mean there’s a buyer for it at that price.

In a shop with your history, there has to be at least one collection or find that stands out — something that came through the door and made everyone stop. What's a story like that you'd tell?

We’ve definitely had a few that made us stop. We once had a Jackson 5 record come through from when Michael Jackson was still a child, and we’ve had Diana Ross records come through that were really special to see.

But that’s also what’s fun about Top Ten: the finds can come from completely different corners of music. We had a copy of Viper’s You’ll Cowards Don’t Even Smoke Crack come through that sold for around $200.

Right now, we actually have a really rare Selena record that we’re holding onto because we plan to auction it. That’s probably one of the pieces we’re most excited about at the moment.

Those are the moments that make digging through Top Ten fun. You really don’t know what’s going to come through the door. One day it can be Jackson 5 or Diana Ross, another day Viper, and then suddenly you’re holding a rare Selena record.

Last updated: 2026-09-18

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