A year of US stamp releases, in order. Useful if you are hunting a particular issue, and interesting for what it shows about how the programme is put together.
January — the zodiac and the workhorses
Lunar New Year: Year of the Tiger, the third of the twelve animals in the Chinese lunar calendar. Alongside it, a new US Flags Forever issue, Love Flowers, the Edmonia Lewis commemorative, and a 4¢ Blueberries definitive.
Note the pairing — a cultural commemorative and a four-cent make-up stamp in the same month. That is the programme in miniature: the interesting issues and the plumbing.
February — the high denominations
Palace of Fine Arts at $26.95, matching the flat-rate Priority Mail Express envelope. Monument Valley at $8.95, matching flat-rate Priority Mail. Plus Butterfly Garden Flowers as a non-denominated 5¢ issue, in two designs.
These two are the practically useful ones: a single stamp that pays a flat-rate envelope, with no label and no arithmetic.
Monument Valley sits on the Utah–Arizona line, formed from material eroded off the ancient Rocky Mountains and laid down over hundreds of millions of years, then cut back into towers as the softer layers wore away faster than the hard ones.
March — flowers, mostly
Title IX (4 designs), Mountain Flora (4), African Daisy Global Forever (1), Tulip Forever (1), Sunflower Bouquet Two-Ounce (1), and Shel Silverstein.
Four floral issues in one month, including the two-ounce Sunflower Bouquet — which is the one to note if you were mailing invitations that spring.
April — barns and a painter
Flags on Barns, four designs at the Presort Standard rate, illustrated by Stephanie Bower with Antonio Alcalá as art director — painted flags on barns set in landscapes drawn from different seasons and regions. Also George Morrison, in five designs.
Worth knowing that Presort Standard issues exist: they are for prepared bulk mail rather than counter purchase.
May — the Shark Lady
Eugenie Clark (1922–2015), the marine biologist known as the Shark Lady, who spent a career changing how the public understood sharks and working to protect marine environments. The stamp is a digital collage combining a photograph of Clark with a lemon shark.
Also Women's Rowing (2 designs) and Mighty Mississippi — ten designs, one of the larger panes of the year.
June — a publisher and two high values
Katharine Graham (1917–2001) on a two-ounce stamp — the first woman to head a Fortune 500 company, as owner and president of the Washington Post Company and publisher of its newspaper. The stamp draws on an oil portrait from the 1970s, designed by Lynn Staley with Derry Noyes as art director.
Alongside it, Floral Geometry at $2 and $5 — the high-value definitives used to make up heavy postage.
July — a First Lady and a folk singer
Nancy Reagan — born Anne Frances Robbins on 6 July 1921 in New York City, married Ronald Reagan in 1952 while he was president of the Screen Actors Guild, and First Lady from January 1981 to January 1989. Her best-known initiative was the anti-drug campaign of that period.
Also Mariachi (5 designs) and Pete Seeger (1).
August — animals and a very large pane
National Marine Sanctuaries ran to 16 designs, marking fifty years of US marine protected areas and national monuments — places designated for ecological, cultural or historical significance.
Also Buzz Lightyear (4), Pony Cars (5), and an Elephants issue tied to the sanctuary at Hohenwald, Tennessee, the largest natural habitat for elephants in the country.
September — a telescope and the holidays
The James Webb Space Telescope issue, marking the largest and most complex telescope ever placed in space. Then the seasonal run began: Holiday Elves (4 designs), Virgin and Child (1), and Peanuts (10).
Note the timing — holiday stamps appear in September. By the time most people think about Christmas cards, these have been on sale for months and the popular designs are going.
Best deals on Forever stamps
Everything above is now retired from official sale. Commemoratives are printed once and withdrawn after roughly a year, so a specific 2022 design exists on the secondary market or nowhere.
They remain full postage. A Forever issue from 2022 carries a letter today at the current rate, which is what makes retired designs worth buying below face rather than merely collecting.
Where to buy
The USPS official store for current releases, or a verified surplus channel such as Forever Stamp Center for retired issues from this and earlier years.
The short version
2022 ran from a four-cent blueberry to a $26.95 flat-rate stamp, with sixteen marine sanctuaries and ten Peanuts designs in between. Holiday issues went on sale in September — which is the practical lesson in the whole calendar.
More on buying Forever stamps
- 👉 You Have to Be Dead to Get on a US Stamp
- 👉 Commercial Rates Are Roughly a Quarter Cheaper
- 👉 Five Women in One Year: The 1948 Stamps
USPS specialist based in Los Angeles with extensive experience in postal operations and customer service. Certified in mail management and trained at the USPS Business Mail Academy, she offers reliable guidance on Forever Stamps and practical mailing solutions.
