Wikipedia:WikiProject Albums/Album article style advice
The following guideline is for those who edit album articles under WikiProject Albums. It is intended only as a guide to assist in writing a well-developed article.
Top of the article
Wiki tags
In compliance with WP:LEAD, the area preceding the infobox of album articles is reserved for Wikipedia-related tags and templates when applicable. Hatenotes and disambiguation links should be the first component of the article; if the reader has arrived at an article by mistake, navigational aid should be the first thing they see. Maintenance and other template messages should be placed immediately proceeding hatnotes.
Infobox
After a single line break, with no additional spacing from either the top of the text box or a Wiki tag, is where the album infobox code belongs. To avoid unknowingly using an incomplete or improper album infobox, it is recommended to copy and paste directly from the template documentation linked above and not from another album article that may not be using the template correctly.
Lead
In the first sentence of the article, the title of the album should be bolded and italicized. If the article title is merely descriptive, and not the name of the work of art, do not use bold typeface (List of Metallica demos, Untitled Korn album). Also to be mentioned are the artist's nationality, the artist's genre, release date and record label—wikilink when possible. If the album has an extended subtitle that's not being used in the page name, or an alternatively used title, the lead is an appropriate place to mention this. It is generally accepted to chronologically number studio albums in discographies where this would be applicable (Nirvana's debut album, Bob Dylan's fourth studio album, etc.).
It's important to remain brief in the details here as further information should be found later in the article body. Depending on the article's length, it's recommended to write one-to-four paragraphs in the lead section. Try to summarize and capture the important details about the album that will catch the reader's attention.
Article body
The following is a list of possible sections that could be included in an album article. Because not all albums are the same, it would be difficult to create a uniform list of mandatory sections. Only create sections for which information is available. For example: if there is only enough information to write a single sentence regarding an album's title, consider merging with a relevant section such as artwork or lyrics. If there is enough information about an album's title to write a well-sourced detailed piece using multiple paragraphs, then it may be worth designating it's own section. Feel free to express your creativity and ignore all of the rules at any time you wish!
Background
It should not be assumed that the reader is familiar with the artist's history and/or previously released albums. If it's necessary to put these items into context for the reader to further his understanding of later content in the article, a background section is suggested. This section should discuss previous occasions in the artist's history and important events that had an impact on the album. For a band or musical ensemble, this could include the gaining and loss of group members or a notable changing of record labels. What did the artist do between this album and the last? Did the artist create a solo project that may have impacted the recording of this album? See Adore (The Smashing Pumpkins album) and In Utero (album).
Recording, production
Who is the producer? What other works of art is this producer know for? Keep the list of other works short, as the producer will likely have his own article with a more complete list. Has the producer previously worked with this artist before? Where was the album produced, and how long did it take to record? Where there any unique or standout recording techniques used during production (such as Phil Spector and his famed use of an echo chamber)? Was the cost of recording especially high or low?
Release, promotion, marketing
The date an album was leaked onto the Internet is not notable unless it results in some other action that is notable, such as being directly responded to by the musical artist or their management, or the leak itself receiving broad media coverage. Do not add leak dates to articles unless a notable consequence of the leak can be properly sourced to the same regular, reliable media sources that would be expected for any other content in the album's article. A website which announces album leaks but contains no other content, such as diditleak.co.uk, is not an appropriate source under the requirements of WP:RS.
Singles
Artwork, packaging
Touring
Concert tours are rarely notable enough to warrant stand-alone articles (see WP:NMG#Concert tours). Instead, information about notable tours and festivals should be incorporated into either the artist's page, or the album article for which the tour is supporting. Do not list all dates here, instead mention the range of dates (ex. June–September 1992). Aspects of concerts to be mentioned could include: financial and commercial success, other bands on the tour, stage set-up (lights, props, backdrop, etc.) and notable on-stage guest appearances.
Musical style, writing, composition
Lyrics, content, theme, concept
Critical reception
A section should be dedicated to an overview of the critical reception of the album, as documented by reliable secondary sources such as reviews, books, or reputable articles that discuss the album. Be sure to note minority opinions as well, properly cited. Also, the way that the album affected the cultural consciousness of a society or culture should be included to further establish notability.
Professional reviews may include only reviews written by professional music journalists or DJs, or found within any online or print publication having a (paid or volunteer) editorial and writing staff (which excludes personal blogs). The standard for inclusion always is that the review meet Wikipedia's guideline for reliable sources and that the source be independent of the artist, record company, etc. A list of some sources of professional reviews is available at WP:ALBUM/REVSIT. Due to their proliferation and dubious value, lists (e.g. Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Punk Rock Albums of the Early 1980s) may not be included.
The bulk of the information should be in prose format, though the text may be supplemented with the {{Album ratings}} template, as a summary of professional reviews in table form. The template is not to be a substitute for a section in paragraph form, since a review can not be accurately boiled down to a simple rating out of five stars, or a phrase like "unfavorable". If an article is lacking a reception section in prose, but the information is presented in table format, the {{Album ratings prose}} maintenance template can be used to tag the section for expansion.
Include no more than ten reviews in table form. When choosing which reviews to include, consider the notability of the review source and keeping a neutral point of view. For older albums, try to include not just contemporary but also some more recent reviews.
Accolades
Accolades are prestigious awards given to an album by publications and associations. This could include an album of the year award or some other kind of recognition. Care should be taken when adding accolades. Some album of the year lists are given alphabetically, in which case the numerical ranking will have no true value, and others are compiled by user submissions instead of the publication's staff members.
Track listing
A track listing should generally be formatted as a numbered list.
- "Complete song title" (John Doe, Brian Smith) – 4:23
- First verse: Name of rapper
- Second verse: Name of rapper
- Samples: Name of sample source (preferably including artist, song, and album)
- "Complete song title" (Doe, Kelly Kalamazoo) – 3:24
- "Complete song title" (Doe, Kalamazoo, Smith, David Whitman) – 2:34
In more complicated situations, a table or the {{Track listing}} template may be a better choice. If a table is used, it should be formatted using class="wikitable", using column headings "#", "Title" and "Length" for the track number, the track title and the track length, respectively (see Help:Table).
Track names should be in quotes in the track listing and in the rest of the article. A track that is a medley of multiple songs should be inside one set of quotes, like this: "Song 1/Song 2". Untitled tracks should be listed as Untitled (without quotes). If a track has an article of its own, the track name should link to that article.
Note the standard method of attributing songwriters—write (and link) the full name the first time it appears, and then just give the last name (unless the first initial or entire first name is necessary to disambiguate it, as in the Gallagher brothers of Oasis, or Brad and Brett Warren of The Warren Brothers). If all songs were written by the same person or team, this can be stated at the top as "All songs were written by Gordon Gano." If several songs were written by the same person or team, this can be stated as "All songs were written by Gordon Gano, except where noted."
Track lengths should be included for each track. Use a spaced en dash (–) rather than a hyphen (-) as a dividing horizontal punctuation mark before the track length. (Note that they may both look the same in the edit box.) You can insert it from the special character list below the edit box (see Help:Special characters) or copy and paste it from here. You can also add it by writing – HTML entity to the edit box (like this "–") but this makes the code less readable. If you think that this is too difficult, you can still use a hyphen, and hope that someone is going to change it into a dash. This holds true both in "Track listing" and "Personnel" sections. See also Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Dashes.
Particularly for hip hop albums, it is helpful to list which members of a group (or guests) rap on which verses as well as mentioning sampling sources.
The track listing should be under a primary heading named "Track listing". If there are significantly different track listings for different editions, these can be listed under sub-headings. If the album was released primarily on CD and spans multiple discs, these should be listed separately under sub-headings named "Disc one", "Disc two" and so on. Albums originally released primarily on vinyl or cassette should similarly list the tracks of each side separately under sub-headings named "Side one" and "Side two".
Track listing examples
The following examples all show the track listing for Before These Crowded Streets by Dave Matthews Band, using each of the methods discussed above.
| Numbered/nested list | |
|---|---|
| |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Guest musician(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Pantala Naga Pampa" | Dave Matthews | 0:40 | |
| 2. | "Rapunzel" | Matthews, Stefan Lessard, Carter Beauford | Butch Taylor | 6:00 |
| 3. | "The Last Stop" | Matthews, Lessard | Béla Fleck | 6:57 |
| 4. | "Don't Drink the Water" | Matthews | Alanis Morissette, Fleck | 7:01 |
| 5. | "Stay (Wasting Time)" | Matthews, Lessard, LeRoi Moore | Tawatha Agee, Cindy Myzell, Brenda White King | 5:35 |
| 6. | "Halloween" | Matthews | Morissette, John D'earth, Kronos Quartet | 5:07 |
| 7. | "The Stone" | Matthews | D'earth, Kronos Quartet | 7:28 |
| 8. | "Crush" | Matthews | Taylor | 8:09 |
| 9. | "The Dreaming Tree" | Matthews, Lessard | Greg Howard | 8:48 |
| 10. | "Pig" | Matthews, Lessard, Beauford, Moore, Boyd Tinsley | 6:57 | |
| 11. | "Spoon" | Matthews | Morissette, Fleck | 7:33 |
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Personnel
A personnel section should be included under a primary heading "Personnel" and should generally be formatted as a bulleted list of names and forms of participation, with spaced en dashes between the two (see track listing section). The names should always be linked if an article exists. The forms of participation (for example instruments) should be written in lowercase, delimited by commas, and linked on the first occurrence only. Remember to pipe the links if needed, for example "percussion" to percussion instrument and "keyboard" to keyboard instrument.
- Johnny Poe – guitar
- Sally Morris – glockenspiel, guitar, organ, kazoo
- Mike Dee – producer
Charts
If an album has successfully charted on any country's top albums charts, such as the U.S. Billboard 200 or the UK Albums Chart, a section should be made displaying the chart information. If an album charts in only one or two countries, a table may not be necessary.
WP:GOODCHARTS is a list compiled of charting information that can be referenced. Each ranking should have an associated reference to the chart it is taken from or the searchable archive where the information can be obtained.
Certifications
An album that achieves a certain amount of sales or shipments to retailers within a country receives an award in the form of a certification. An album's certification can be worked into the body of the article, or a table can be created if an album has achieved multiple certifications.
Release history
Albums are often released on different dates, on different labels, and on different formats in different regions. This information can be included in a table. Note that the infobox should only include the first release date and label.
| Region | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | November 22, 1968 | Apple Records | mono double LP | PMC 7067-8 |
| stereo double LP | PCS 7067-8 | |||
| United States | November 25, 1968 | Apple, Capitol Records | double LP | SWBO 101 |
| Worldwide reissue | July 20, 1987 | Apple, Parlophone, EMI | double CD | CDP 7 46443-4 2 |
| Japan | March 11, 1998 | Toshiba-EMI | double CD | TOCP 51119-20 |
| January 21, 2004 | Toshiba-EMI | remastered LP | TOJP 60139-40 |
Bottom of the article
References
Placing a {{References}} template at the bottom of the article will collect all of the inline citations that have been placed within <ref> </ref> tags. It is recommended to use citation templates that automatically format the reference correctly. In situations where print media such as books and magazines are heavily used, a shortened footnotes reference system is suggested. In situations where too many large citations makes editing a difficult task, a list-defined reference system will collect the bulk of the reference coding at the bottom of the article.
Take care in identifying reliable sources that are added to articles. User generated websites and other wiki-type websites such as Discogs or Rate Your Music should never be used as sources. Social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter should rarely be used. If the information on sites such as these is truly noteworthy, established publications will likely write about it. For a suggested list of good sources for album articles, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Albums/Sources.
External links
Album articles may contain an external links section of links to relevant external resources about the album. Links to resources about the artist rather than the album do not need to be included here, as these should be linked from the artist's article instead. Links to individual reviews shouldn't be included here; instead, add prose describing the reviews to a "Reception" section and link the reviews in citations. Appropriate links may include links to chords or lyrics for the tracks on the album. Note however that lyrics may be protected by copyright, and external resources that reprint lyrics may be violating that copyright, in which case they should not be linked.
If the artist already has a navbox, add it after the external links section but before the list of categories. If the artist has a significant collection of releases and/or related articles, and does not yet have an existing navbox, the documentation for creating this template is in the above link. Because this tool is a navigational aid, it is not recommended to add releases that do not have existing articles.
Categories
For album articles, there are three "top-level" categories: Category:Albums by artist, Category:Albums by year and Category:Albums by genre. Each album page should be placed into two categories, Category:<Artist name> albums and Category:<year> albums, which should be sub-categories of the respective top-level category. For consistency, the artist name should be the same as the title of their article (in terms of punctuation, "&"/"and", use of "The", etc.).
For example, Reign in Blood by Slayer was released in 1986 so it has the categories Category:Slayer albums and Category:1986 albums. To add it to these categories, you would place the following code at the bottom of the article:
[[Category:Slayer albums]] [[Category:1986 albums]]
Category:Slayer albums is a sub-category of Category:Albums by artist, Category:Albums by American artists, which is a sub-category of Category:Albums by artist nationality and Category:Thrash metal albums, which is a sub-category of Category:Albums by genre. Category:1986 albums is a sub-category of Category:Albums by year.
Previous discussions have formed the consensus that a category for an artist's albums should be created even if they have only released one album (irrespective of whether they are likely to release more in the future). Please ensure that every category you create belongs to at least one other category, otherwise, it cannot be navigated to and will be listed at Special:Uncategorizedcategories.
Be sure that the categories are sorted properly. Use the {{DEFAULTSORT:}} magic word to control the alphabetization on the category page. For example:
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinks, The}}
[[Category:The Kinks albums]]
[[Category:1964 albums]]
Note that albums should be alphabetized using the first letter of the title, while artists should be alphabetized as last name, first name.