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Only months after their last release, the Prince estate is coming back with an expanded album for the end of the year: a rarities-packed edition of 3121.

Arriving December 11 from NPG and Sony Music, this 2CD/Blu-ray or 3LP/Blu-ray set pairs the original 2006 album with a bonus disc of 10 tracks from Prince’s storied vault (which are mostly unreleased and unheard) and a Blu-ray disc featuring a professionally shot performance from The Artist’s Per4ming Live 3121 residency in Las Vegas from 2007. (The audio of the same performance will be released on CD and vinyl for Record Store Day Black Friday.) The video disc also includes three original music videos from the period.

While the numerology of the album is hard to exactly pinpoint – “3121” was the number of a home Prince rented in Los Angeles at the time, and this, his 31st album, originally hit stores on March 21, 2006 – 3121 continued a major neoclassical period in the Minneapolis icon’s career. Following an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 and the subsequent release of Musciology (his highest-charting album in years, thanks to an innovative practice that gave a copy to all attendees of that year’s tour), the album continued Prince’s mission of organic, stripped-down R&B and funk from the period. Lead single “Te Amo Corazon” was a rarity in Prince’s catalogue, drawing from acoustic and Latin ideas. “Fury” was a fierce rocker, closing track “Get on the Boat” picked up the threads of James Brown-style bandleading Prince had gripped since the turn of the millennium, and “Black Sweat” built a bridge between the minimalist Minneapolis sound of the early-to-mid ’80s and the modern producers who cited it as a blueprint for their sound, from Pharrell Williams to Timbaland. (“Black Sweat” reached No. 60 on the Billboard Hot 100, the first new Prince single to do so since 1999 and the final one overall.)

Guests included New Power Generation stalwarts Sonny Thompson and Michael Bland holding down the rhythm section of the title track, percussion from longtime collaborator Sheila E. on “Get on the Boat,” and – perhaps most notably – Támar Davis as duet partner on “Beautiful, Loved and Blessed.” (Davis, a member of the female R&B troupe Girl’s Tyme before they morphed into Destiny’s Child, helped the album earn a total of five Grammy nominations, including Best R&B Album, Best R&B Song for “Sweat,” and Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for her collaboration.) Impressively, 3121 was Prince’s first release to debut atop the Billboard 200 chart, and his first to reach that peak since the soundtrack to Batman in 1989. Subsequent live performances included a residency at Las Vegas’ Rio Hotel and Casino (the set from the wee hours of January 20, 2007, included on video here, was recorded with the intent to edit into a documentary that never materialized) and – only weeks after that performance – a stunning appearance at the Super Bowl XLI halftime show, considered one of the greatest live appearances in football history.

With Prince as prolific as ever during this period, the bonus disc offers a further 10 tracks highlighting the closeness between 3121 and several other projects released around this time. “Streets of Panama” and “Elixer” were considered for early versions of the 3121 album, and the latter ended up developed for protegee Bria Valente on her 2009 album of the same name. Lead single “Time of Ur Life” has been speculated to have been slated for an unrealized project with The Time frontman Morris Day. (Several songs from the group’s catalogue are name checked, and a vintage Prince single is even incorporated.) The title “Glass Cutter” is familiar to subscribers of the late, great NPG Music Club, where it was offered for download in between the releases of Musicology and 3121. The acoustic take on “Love” – one of three stripped-down versions on the bonus disc – was also streamed online around the time of 3121‘s release.

The expanded 3121 caps one of the strangest and most controversial years in the decade since Prince’s passing. In August, the grab-bag compilation Timeless was released to muted critical response and eventual fan uproar after it was revealed that the track “Calabama” had posthumous horn overdubs despite the assurance of estate handlers that no such tactics were being taken. (This publication spiked a review of the album and considered not covering the Prince estate again – but relented for the sake of curious fans.) A digital EP a few weeks ago offered versions without the overdubs as well as two additional outtakes related to the track. At least one suggestion that tracks on this disc would be similarly altered from their original states has been floated; of course, we’ll report on further developments as they happen.

The new expanded editions of 3121 are available to order at the links below, with a release date of December 11. (As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.)

3121 (Expanded Edition) (NPG/Paisley Park, 2026)

2CD/Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
3LP/Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

CD 1/LP 1-2: Original album (released as NPG/Universal B0006296-02, 2006)

1. 3121
2. Lolita
3. Te Amo Corazn
4. Black Sweat
5. Incense and Candles
6. Love
7. Satisfied
8. Fury
9. The Word
10. Beautiful, Loved and Blessed
11. The Dance
12. Get on the Boat

CD 2/LP 3: Vault Tracks

1. Time of Ur Life
2. The Streets of Panama
3. Another Girl
4. The Word (Acoustic)
5. Elixer
6. Glass Cutter
7. Love (Acoustic)
8. U’re Such a Tease
9. Te Amo Corazon (Acoustic)
10. Girls in the Band

Alternate version of Track 5 later appeared on Bria Valente album Elixer (NPG (no cat. #), 2009)
Track 6 released as NPG Music Club stream/download, 2004/2005
Track 7 streamed on 3121.com “Jam of the Week,” 2007

Blu-ray: 3121 Live Las Vegas

1. 3121
2. Girls & Boys
3. Satisfied
4. Down by the Riverside
5. Purple Rain
6. Lolita
7. Black Sweat
8. Kiss
9. Shhh
10. Musicology/Prince and The Band
11. Pass the Peas
12. I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)
13. Love Changes
14. Somewhere Over the Rainbow/Nine Million Bicycles (Medley)
15. If I Was Your Girlfriend
16. Pink Cashmere
17. Cream
18. U Got the Look
19. Crazy
20. Get on the Boat
21. Play That Funky Music

All tracks recorded live at 3121, Rio Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, NV – 1/20/2007 (after midnight). Audio to be released as Record Store Day 2CD/3LP set

• Te Amo Corazon (promo video)
• Black Sweat (promo video)
• Fury (promo video)