Founded in 1947 as a music distributor for Decca Records in North and Latin American territories, London Records, also known as London Recordings, became known for its stereophonic recordings of classical music. Decca also used the London Records imprint to distribute releases by American labels in the UK, including Chess, Atlantic and Motown.

In the US, London Records was best known for its distribution of records by the Rolling Stones released before 1971.

Polygram acquired Decca’s British interests in 1979. London Records became a semi-independent label, operated by Roger Ames. Ames moved to Warner Music Group in the 1990s, taking London Records with him. Warner Music acquired the London back catalogue from 1979 onwards, along with the London Records name and trademark. Decca retained ownership of the pre-1979 London Records back catalogue.

The London Records label name was used by Warner Music for the UK-based artists acquired from Decca, including artists who recorded with the independent record label Factory Records, in particular Happy Mondays and New Order.

Universal Music Group acquired Polygram in 1998 and took ownership of the pre-1979 London Records back catalogue, which is managed by Polydor Records in the UK and Mercury Records in the US.

In 2010, Universal Music reclaimed ownership of the London Records trademark, licensing it back to Warner Music for use on reissues of recordings from the post-1979 London back catalogue under the Warner Records 90 imprint. The Warner Records 90 imprint reissued most of the post-1979 London Records artist roster plus a few titles from Warner Music’s ownership of the London Records label from 1998 onwards.

Universal Music Group reclaimed and relaunched the London Records name in 2011, and Warner Music ceased using the name and brand identity for its Warner Records 90 releases. London Records became a subsidiary of Capitol Records in 2013 and now trades as an independent label.