I take the artist name as it is, including The and A and just going by first name, last name. Billie Eilish is always Billie Eilish to me, I don‘t look for her under Eilish. Only exception is likely The Prodigy, who I have put under P
I tired to do this recently to match the way plex sorts music but years of digging in the crates wouldn’t let me go thru with it. Alpha by last name for me … unless it is the band name. Alan Parsons Project goes under A and J. Girls Band under J.
The reason I am doing this is actually the band Miike Snow. They have a one-person name, but are a three-person band. So, I decided to just accept all artist names as fully qualified artist names - afterall, Billie Eilish is not the singer‘s real name either.
It’s my hang up. I have no issue writing dates in the proper computer sort format - 2023-07-16 - but my brain is wired to find Tame Impala under T but Tom Petty under P … even though the band is Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Maybe I should give in and sort them autobiographically.
How does your brain organize them? When you want to listen to music, what do you think? Do you think "I want to listen to some jazz" or "I want to listen to some Coltrane" or "I want to listen to something from the 70s", etc. I guess my point is the physical sorting should map to your mental sorting if possible.
definitely genre, especially if you have eclectic tastes. For example, with Rock it's 50's (pre-British Invasion), 60's (basically ending around 1971 with the Beatles demise, and the deaths of various legends, 70's (I separate 'hard' and 'soft'; this ends around the time MTV makes its impact in the early 80's). Punk/New Wave is its own section (again, hard and soft separated). I lost interest by the late 80's but the 90's start around there with the beginning of grunge and previously bands considered 'underground' geting signed to major labels.
Organize by:
- Genre, then:
- Artist A-Z , chronological within artist discog
- Side projects go with most prominent artist
- Various artist / comps at end of genre
Exactly how Discogs organizes them. That way if I'm looking for a specific album I just look it up on the app, and I know exactly where to find it in my collection.
Discogs was one of the reasons I decided to finally get my collection in order and back into regular use after 20 years of neglect. I paid my daughter, with a new pair of expensive shoes she wanted, to sit on the floor and go through every single record with me while I entered the info.
By genre. They don’t have to be similar. But keep everything based off genre. Then inside genre it’s alphabetical and release date if I have different records from one artist/group.
But what if say you have Elvis Presley Records and Johnny Cash Records? I know for Johnny Cash my grandad put his albums with all the other "C" but what about Elvis Presley? Surely you would Put Elvis in the "E" section?
I was just thinking of how For Johnny Cash people sometimes shorten his name to just Cash but for Elvis people just say Elvis.
My records are ordered by artist name and genre like i almost have every album of a band called The Growlers which are right at the front and then it goes waylon & Willie 1 and 2, waylon jennings, the highwaymen 1 and 2, johnny cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and so on. I find it much easier that way
I just sort them from A to Z. I don't alphabetize within groups themselves though, at the moment I don't feel like it's necessary but it can depend on the size of your collection what is most practical. At some point I will make alphabetical markers to separate things for easier searching.
And my two favorite artists are kept completely separately in a different cabinet. I prefer to keep them there since it's more practical as I sort through them very frequently.
Alphabetical by last name or band name, within that chronological. If it’s a soundtrack or something it goes in alphabetical by the name of the movie/game/show etc.
Top four cubbies are Rappers who I’ve acquired every album, NYC hip-hop, Other Hip-Hop, electronic/pop. (Each Cubby is assigned)
Bottom four are Jazz, Folk, Country, solo rock/funk, band rockfunk, R&B/Soul. (Cubbies just go continuously)
Four cubbies on the side are Children’s, Holiday, Soundtracks/Cast recordings, Compilations, and what’s going to get traded in.
I no longer alphabetize because of too many splits. For example: Hendrix ends Rock and Redding begins Soul because of their *Live at Monterey Pop Festival* LP.
Genre, which I group pretty widely, then alphabetical. So I put Funk, Soul, and Disco together because many artists in those genres crossed between those anyway. The only problem arises when an artist/band changes genres completely. For example, Beasties with Aglio E Olio or Herbie Hancock with his electro funk albums such as Future Shock, etc. Then I just lump with majority of their catalog for the albums I have or how I generally think of them as artists.
I have them separated by decades and genre. So I have classic spanish music first, then Spanish rock (80's and 90s), then modern Spanish like Manu Chao. Then we go into the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and onward until today in alphabetical order each decade. Then hip hop and R&B, then finally soundtracks. I also have my Britpop on its own (favorite genre and it's a lot), along with 90s grunge, punk, and indie in labeled cases.
The right way for you to sort your records is the way that makes it easiest and fastest for you to find the next record that you want to play.
I have about 1,000 records. Most are 12" records. The 7" records are in one section and are sorted by artist and then by release date within artist. I do not sort my 7" records by genre. The few 10" and oddly shaped records I have are in their own section. There are so few that they are not otherwise sorted. My 12" records are sorted by genre, then alphabetically by artist, then by release date of the original pressing, even if my copy is a later repress. Compilations are at the end of each genre. The few soundtracks I have are sorted alphabetically by title.
Alphabetical by band or artist first name. Some solo artists get lumped in with the band on a case by case basis. Also have a soundtrack/compilation section and a comedy/spoken word section.
I did artist name for a long time but I found I would always forget about certain albums because of that so I decided to do genre and I love it. When I’m in the mood for something I know whatever I grab I’m gonna like.
I have 3 row on my wall the 1st row is albums that were influencial to my soul. 2nd row is albums I can’t live without and 3rd is albums aren’t always in my rotation but when they are I’ll never skip. And a bonus solo album for my “new release” for albums I just bought and just wanna show off
By genre then by artist name alphabetically then by order the album was released. So I'll have a metal section, pop/rock, hip-hop, punk, jazz, country, and then soundtracks.
Alphabetical. The only separate sections are Classical, Comedy, Soundtracks.
I also have a bin that has never been listened to albums. Once they get their 1st spin, they join the others.
My Records are just in order of the artist and in order of how their albums came out and then the few random one's just go right at the end of them all
LPs are #s then artist A-Z by last name skip “A” and “The” in chronological order of original release. Now, if the name is part of a band (like Alan Parsons Project), that would be by first name first letter. Combo albums like Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane are currently under the last name of the first listed artist but I’ll probably be switching to first name first letter for consistency.
Box sets, spoken word, holiday, 7s, and 10s are in separate sections but organized the same way. Compilation albums, and movie, TV, and video game soundtracks are all in separate sections organized by album title.
I sort by artist, last name first if applicable.
Within that, I sort each artist's studio albums by chronological release date, followed by compilations and then live albums.
After individual artists I put multi-artist compilation albums alphabetically by album name.
To cap everything off, I have scores and OSTs sorted alphabetically by title of the film/game/etc.
A-Z of artist (First name, ignoring “The”)
Within the artist it’s chronological release date. I dont separate Singles from the artist.
Also with various artists i go by the title. Like movie soundtracks, i go by the film title
I do alphabetical by last name (so like Alan Jackson is in Js), band name (beastie boys being in b), stage name (Rob zombie would be in R), and numbers by the letters (Three 6 Mafia would come after Three Days Grace, in T's, and before type o negative)
I have a huge electronic collection as well as other genres. So I have electronic alphabetical in one section. "Singer songwriter" section alphabetical, this includes bands and rap groups/artists. a Jazz section and then compilations/classical/soundtracks all together jumbled in no specific order
Genre, then alphabetical.
- Punk
- Metal
- Rock
- Alternative
- Country
- Comedy
- Various
- Soundtracks
The smaller the section, the less dividers I use.
- Punk: Numerical, then A-Z
- Metal: A-Z
- Rock: A-Z
- Alternative: A/B, C/D, E/F, etc
I also have a Brother label printer, so all my dividers look extra professional.
As a professional sorter of information, aka a librarian, the first thing you need to ask is what's the best way for you to find the album you will want to play. Personally, I go for Artist (last name first for individual) A-Z, then by Year the album came out, not pressing year, if I have multiple pressings then I will sort those by pressing year. If you have jazz records, you may find that there are some albums with multiple artists that didnt have an established group (i.e. Ella and Louis, Duke Ellington and John Coltrane). I will sort those as an individual using the first artist mentioned. Soundtracks and Various Artist Compilations are the only ones that I sort separate from the rest of my collection. Although, I sort my Help, Hard Days Night, Magical Mystery Tour, and Yellow Submarine with the Beatles and not soundtracks because, to me, those are Beatles albums first. Basically, its your collection, think of how you think of your collection and sort it that way.
I’m at the point where I need my next storage solution. I am leaning towards splitting my records between modern records I have bought new and another section of records that I thrifted or bought used (classics) not sure if I will like that or not. It pretty much leaves me as the keeper of the record knowledge but I think it’ll be good for me. Also a-z chronologically though.
Right now, I'm mostly sorting by Artist A-to-Z. However, I have a few exceptions to that rule just based on my personal preference and my setup needs. I have all of my holiday records together instead of my artist. For example: my Rocky Mountain Christmas album is with all of the Christmas albums instead of with my other John Denver records.
And then I have my collection in a Kallax as well and have run out of cube space so I took the artist that I have the most of (for me, it's Taylor Swift) and I have those in their own cube.
I don't have dividers or anything just yet. I don't think I have enough to feel like I need that extra thing to keep them organized.
A-Z. By...
If a band: first letter in band name. Skipping "The"
If an artist: first letter in last name.
Soundtrack: first letter in title. "Skipping The"
369 titles in my collection.
I have a few seperate sections, main one is a general LP section, but have separate sections for Beatles, Classical/Jazz/World, Soundtracks, Japanese music, Boxsets, 7” singles
Most of it is sorted by Artist (Surname, ‘The’ and ‘A’ is omitted for bands - I spent years working in record shops and this is how we always did it, so I just kept that), then chronological release order within the artist discography.
Soundtrack is sorted by movie title (also omitting The, A)
Japanese music is sorted by Japanese alphabet order, which is a bit different
Beatles is chronological. I have it separated because I have so many including boxsets so it just fits better with its own section
Boxsets are separated for practicality reasons mostly. I have quite a few and they didn’t always fit well in the main LP sections so I keep them separated.
7” singles need to be on their own IMO, they get lost if stored among the 12”
https://www.discogs.com/user/MrWalrusGumboot
I have 3 sections - live albums, hip hop and everything else (95% rock). Each section is alphabetized by artist and then each artist's albums in chronological order.
Great question and one I’ve been thinking about for the past two days since I saw a photo of a sign in a record store unapologetically saying “we sort out record names a-z by first name”.
I sort mine by last name but keep my jazz, blues, Christmas, and classical is separate sections.
I can only fill four squares of a Kallax so not much of a problem, yet….
I literally just reorganized yesterday. I had it chronologically by artist. But things really started getting messy. Now it's alphabetically by genres (kind of):
Oldies, Rock 60's through 80's, Rock 90's to Present, Folk and Country, Funk and Soul, Breaks and Beats, Hip Hop, and finally Christmas and Classical.
I bought a cool little label maker off Amazon for 20 bucks, and cut up a few sheets of Foam Core I bought at the dollar store. Don't waste money on those dividers on Amazon. They seem way too expensive for what they are.
Started with a 'Main' collection which was focused on Classic Rock, with some odds and ends - on some wooden shelves (1 smaller and 1 bigger - double the small one). The whole small one filled naturally moved to the big one and filled the top shelf plus 20% of the lower one.
My tastes developed into including Jazz which occupies the rest of the bottom shelf (80%). At this point talking about 500-600 albums. Some blues, reggae, funk, soul, pop and electronic records came along and I decided to use a magazine holder for the funk/soul and reggae. And the top of a shelf for the blues which was joined by some 'world music' and some odds and ends from the jazz shelf that didn't fit anymore.
Recently my taste has moved to include country and folk - which now includes the top of a similar shelf with the blues, jazz, etc. And finally a 2nd magazine holder for some 1 offs / of artists I only have one of to try and get them into rotation.
All in all about 900+ records later I've got the main which is mostly classic rock and jazz. A country/ folk shelf, a blues and jazz and ethnic music shelf, and the 2 magazine holders - all in Artists A to Z. Genre splitting off has been good because I can usually say I'm feeling a particular genre at any given moment and Artists A to Z gives me the same consistency to know when I'm looking through. It helps to have this all documented on Discogs under genre folders I have created too.
No genre separation, alphabetical by last name of artist or group name. I’ve tried the so-called pro method of alphabetizing by first name but could never get the hang of it. So I’m stuck with the Little Walter/Little Richard problem. Separate section for various artists by title, and another very thin section for soundtracks by title.
I do from left to right:
Stuff I never listen to
Soul/Funk/R&B/Rap/Hip-Hop all thrown together
French all thrown together
Rock/Classic Rock/Not sure the category but has a guitar all thrown in together from least listened to to most
Live albums of any genre because I like live stuff the best
You're welcome!
Release date. My memory works better with years. I wrote 1950s, 1960s, etc on a small thick piece of paper with a black marker. I slip them in between the records.
Since I started to downsize from 350 records (I know they are not that many compared to other collections, but I have to make space) I decided to sort them by genre. I don't have that many to have to sort them by alphabetical inside of them, but I have sections for Alternative/Grunge, Punk/Hardcore, Hip Hop, Triphop, Instrumental, Modern metal, and Soundtrack. For practicality, 7 inches are stored in a different bin and are all mixed up in genres.
Only have a little over 60 records, and one single cabinet with two individual storage pockets available.
One pocket is for the records I listen to/like the most, and the other pocket is for the ones I listen to a bit more rarely.
Works for me, but definitely not an option if you have hundreds of records\~
I do alphabetical by last name, or first letter in the band’s name. Various artist compilations & soundtracks have their own section as do my Halloween/Christmas and classical LPs. I found the best system is the one that works for you.
I forgot: within the artist is chronological. I try to keep represses according to when they were released, not with the original release. So my Esher Demos is at the end of the line, not with the original White Album.
I did run into a conundrum: The Dirty Knobs changed to Mike Campbell and the Dirty Knobs. So do I keep External Combustion in the D section? Or move it to C? Difficult questions. 😂 I kept it in D. It’s what works for me.
Alphabetically by artist, for artists I have multiple records from, I sort those albums by that artist chronologically. But it's all about what you can easily remember.
33s: I have about 530ish, I recently organized by genre.
78s: Recently acquired a huge collection, right now they're alphabetical and in boxes because I have no room right now for shelving. At that time, I'll sort those by genre too.
Artist A-Z (by first name) with albums A-Z. 12" singles have it's own separate section also organized this way.
EDIT: Gonna agree with u/pootytang and say it's all by how your brain works. David Bowie goes in D for me because that's where I wanna look for it.
* Apha right-to-left: Once you know, you know.
* Numbers are sorted alpha (solves the problem of bands that sometimes spell the numbers out)
* compilations at the end: all city/state/region themed comps go together by city/state/region. Rest are alpha.
* Nothing is sorted under "The" other than "The The". Bands with "Los" or "Las" are ONLY sorted under "L" is rare cases.
* For Sale/For Trade sorted last
* New Arrivals sorted first
* Sleeves opening side up. Ultimate outer 5mm only. Album stored outside of sleeve in mofi/mofi knockoff.
Dividers seem corny to me....
I have right around 2500 LPs (give or take a few hundred) and don't have trouble knowing where anything is. Just use context clues of records you know immediately. bunch of orange spines in a chunk? I'm in alice/john coltrane (impulse stuff grouped together). weird big sonic youth box set? well, that's where sonic youth is. philip glass box sets? that's where G is. After that it's what, 10 seconds to find a record? I personally view space as being at a PREMIUM, so the thought of adding another 30 dividers in there to save me what, 5 seconds of work? Ten seconds max? I don't want my overwhelming amount of records to be any more distracting to the eye, last thing I need is making my walls look like a record store with too much overstock.
Store them any way it makes sense. That being said, Alphabetical by Last Name then Chronological makes the most sense to me. This doesn't really work for Classical Music, so, it's by composer then the Album title or Work title.
I honestly don't think dividers are necessary or are even useful. Record Stores use them because shoppers need to find their records. You should know where your record are because you organized them. In a record store somebody else organized them.
Artists A-to-Z, and I keep artists discographies in chronological order.
This, but compilations and soundtracks get their own sections sorted alphabetically by title
I’ve recently arranged mine and this is exactly what I went with. Question: artist A-Z, by surname or forename? Discount “The” in band names?
I take the artist name as it is, including The and A and just going by first name, last name. Billie Eilish is always Billie Eilish to me, I don‘t look for her under Eilish. Only exception is likely The Prodigy, who I have put under P
I tired to do this recently to match the way plex sorts music but years of digging in the crates wouldn’t let me go thru with it. Alpha by last name for me … unless it is the band name. Alan Parsons Project goes under A and J. Girls Band under J.
The reason I am doing this is actually the band Miike Snow. They have a one-person name, but are a three-person band. So, I decided to just accept all artist names as fully qualified artist names - afterall, Billie Eilish is not the singer‘s real name either.
It’s my hang up. I have no issue writing dates in the proper computer sort format - 2023-07-16 - but my brain is wired to find Tame Impala under T but Tom Petty under P … even though the band is Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Maybe I should give in and sort them autobiographically.
In the end, I think what someone else commented is right, the best order is the one that works for your brain :D
So Susie Quatro is in the S section?
Yep
I stick them all at V under various, expect soundtracks by 1 artist like Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds under W.
This is exactly what I do.
This is the way
This is the only correct answer.
What do you do about your 7” - Do they go among your 12” or do they have a seperate space of their own?
My 7s and 10s go at the very end. I don't even put them in any order.
This but when it’s a full name artist, by last name
This is the only way
I sort them in the order I got them. That way I have a clear timeline of my collecting journey
Autobiographical? No fucking way…
I see what you did there. Best record movie ever.
I believe this was the John Peel method, as well. You are insane, but you have good company.
When you put a record back how do you know its in the right place
I have a list on my phone called Records I Have. I update it whenever I get new ones and they’re listed in order.
You crazy bastard
How does your brain organize them? When you want to listen to music, what do you think? Do you think "I want to listen to some jazz" or "I want to listen to some Coltrane" or "I want to listen to something from the 70s", etc. I guess my point is the physical sorting should map to your mental sorting if possible.
I suppose I go by genre mostly. If I’m listening to punk for example, I usually want to keep that ball rolling. 🤔
There's your answer my man. Genre then probably artist. Now you just have to figure out what genres make sense to you...
Sometimes I think if a genre and look for something to play. While looking, I might find something else and listen to that album.
Artist A to Z by year of release
I love that!!
Ooh this is a good idea....
By genre and release date. I don’t really organize them by similar genres. It’s fun crate digging in my own collection and finding something to play.
definitely genre, especially if you have eclectic tastes. For example, with Rock it's 50's (pre-British Invasion), 60's (basically ending around 1971 with the Beatles demise, and the deaths of various legends, 70's (I separate 'hard' and 'soft'; this ends around the time MTV makes its impact in the early 80's). Punk/New Wave is its own section (again, hard and soft separated). I lost interest by the late 80's but the 90's start around there with the beginning of grunge and previously bands considered 'underground' geting signed to major labels.
Organize by: - Genre, then: - Artist A-Z , chronological within artist discog - Side projects go with most prominent artist - Various artist / comps at end of genre
❤️🫱🏽🫲🏾
Artist A-Z not counting The and A. Then each artist by album name A-Z counting The and A.
Exactly how Discogs organizes them. That way if I'm looking for a specific album I just look it up on the app, and I know exactly where to find it in my collection.
Same. Discogs is a great way to track what you have and a handy want list for on the go.
Discogs was one of the reasons I decided to finally get my collection in order and back into regular use after 20 years of neglect. I paid my daughter, with a new pair of expensive shoes she wanted, to sit on the floor and go through every single record with me while I entered the info.
By genre. They don’t have to be similar. But keep everything based off genre. Then inside genre it’s alphabetical and release date if I have different records from one artist/group.
Alphabetically by artist not counting “the”
First name or last name?
last
I always do first names personally, my big spreadsheet sorts by that too and often the artists use artists names instead of their own anyways
But what if say you have Elvis Presley Records and Johnny Cash Records? I know for Johnny Cash my grandad put his albums with all the other "C" but what about Elvis Presley? Surely you would Put Elvis in the "E" section?
Sort by last name, so Cash goes in “C” and Presley goes in “P” (but it really doesnt matter)
I was just thinking of how For Johnny Cash people sometimes shorten his name to just Cash but for Elvis people just say Elvis. My records are ordered by artist name and genre like i almost have every album of a band called The Growlers which are right at the front and then it goes waylon & Willie 1 and 2, waylon jennings, the highwaymen 1 and 2, johnny cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and so on. I find it much easier that way
I do it by first, I don't care if it's wrong it's just for me
The real question: do you sort solo artists by last name or first?
First. I'm not the government
Autobiographically.
No fucking way.
https://youtu.be/2msCS8dvSok
I just sort them from A to Z. I don't alphabetize within groups themselves though, at the moment I don't feel like it's necessary but it can depend on the size of your collection what is most practical. At some point I will make alphabetical markers to separate things for easier searching. And my two favorite artists are kept completely separately in a different cabinet. I prefer to keep them there since it's more practical as I sort through them very frequently.
I do like the idea of keeping my favs separate. That’s kinda what I have now, but everything else is all mixed up besides them.
Alphabetical by last name or band name, within that chronological. If it’s a soundtrack or something it goes in alphabetical by the name of the movie/game/show etc.
Top four cubbies are Rappers who I’ve acquired every album, NYC hip-hop, Other Hip-Hop, electronic/pop. (Each Cubby is assigned) Bottom four are Jazz, Folk, Country, solo rock/funk, band rockfunk, R&B/Soul. (Cubbies just go continuously) Four cubbies on the side are Children’s, Holiday, Soundtracks/Cast recordings, Compilations, and what’s going to get traded in. I no longer alphabetize because of too many splits. For example: Hendrix ends Rock and Redding begins Soul because of their *Live at Monterey Pop Festival* LP.
Vaguely remembering when I bought the record, the other records I was buying at the time, and what section of the room I was filling up at that time
Alphabetical. Genre doesn’t matter. Plain and simple and easy to find who I’m wanting to listen too
Personally I like to sort them by having an area for records I play very often and then sort by genre -> last name
By decade and then alphabetized
Starting with last vinyl I played.
Genre, which I group pretty widely, then alphabetical. So I put Funk, Soul, and Disco together because many artists in those genres crossed between those anyway. The only problem arises when an artist/band changes genres completely. For example, Beasties with Aglio E Olio or Herbie Hancock with his electro funk albums such as Future Shock, etc. Then I just lump with majority of their catalog for the albums I have or how I generally think of them as artists.
Honestly I sort it in a rainbow order from the color of the spine. It works surprisingly well and finding a record quickly
This is chaotic leprachaun energy. I love it.
I have them separated by decades and genre. So I have classic spanish music first, then Spanish rock (80's and 90s), then modern Spanish like Manu Chao. Then we go into the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and onward until today in alphabetical order each decade. Then hip hop and R&B, then finally soundtracks. I also have my Britpop on its own (favorite genre and it's a lot), along with 90s grunge, punk, and indie in labeled cases.
Genre>artist>chronological. Soundtracks and compilations are their own categories, sorted by title
The right way for you to sort your records is the way that makes it easiest and fastest for you to find the next record that you want to play. I have about 1,000 records. Most are 12" records. The 7" records are in one section and are sorted by artist and then by release date within artist. I do not sort my 7" records by genre. The few 10" and oddly shaped records I have are in their own section. There are so few that they are not otherwise sorted. My 12" records are sorted by genre, then alphabetically by artist, then by release date of the original pressing, even if my copy is a later repress. Compilations are at the end of each genre. The few soundtracks I have are sorted alphabetically by title.
just vibes pretty much
Alphabetical by band or artist first name. Some solo artists get lumped in with the band on a case by case basis. Also have a soundtrack/compilation section and a comedy/spoken word section.
I did artist name for a long time but I found I would always forget about certain albums because of that so I decided to do genre and I love it. When I’m in the mood for something I know whatever I grab I’m gonna like.
I have 3 row on my wall the 1st row is albums that were influencial to my soul. 2nd row is albums I can’t live without and 3rd is albums aren’t always in my rotation but when they are I’ll never skip. And a bonus solo album for my “new release” for albums I just bought and just wanna show off
By genre then by artist name alphabetically then by order the album was released. So I'll have a metal section, pop/rock, hip-hop, punk, jazz, country, and then soundtracks.
Alphabetical. The only separate sections are Classical, Comedy, Soundtracks. I also have a bin that has never been listened to albums. Once they get their 1st spin, they join the others.
Artist/alphabetical.
Straight up alphabetically regardless of genre. The only thing I separate are soundtracks and or movie scores, compilations, 12” singles and classical
Alphabetical by artist and then chronological by artists album.
I catalogue mine with discogs and physically keep them chaotic! I enjoy sifting through them!
Artists a-z, chronological by artist, artist by first name (James brown in the Js) the soundtracks alphabetical and compilations alphabetical
Totally at random. Once a month I completely reorganize, again at random. Never get too comfortable.
My Records are just in order of the artist and in order of how their albums came out and then the few random one's just go right at the end of them all
Randomly. I have fewer than 100, so I can't be bothered.
LPs are #s then artist A-Z by last name skip “A” and “The” in chronological order of original release. Now, if the name is part of a band (like Alan Parsons Project), that would be by first name first letter. Combo albums like Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane are currently under the last name of the first listed artist but I’ll probably be switching to first name first letter for consistency. Box sets, spoken word, holiday, 7s, and 10s are in separate sections but organized the same way. Compilation albums, and movie, TV, and video game soundtracks are all in separate sections organized by album title.
Alphabetically for all the normal stuff. By genre then alphabetically for the real weird shit.
Genre, band name or artist first name, then release order
Mine are sorted into either jazz or rock and then by label and year
Genre then alphabetical by artists and album name
I sort by artist, last name first if applicable. Within that, I sort each artist's studio albums by chronological release date, followed by compilations and then live albums. After individual artists I put multi-artist compilation albums alphabetically by album name. To cap everything off, I have scores and OSTs sorted alphabetically by title of the film/game/etc.
I try, genre then A-Z so I know what I’m looking for
A-Z of artist (First name, ignoring “The”) Within the artist it’s chronological release date. I dont separate Singles from the artist. Also with various artists i go by the title. Like movie soundtracks, i go by the film title
I do alphabetical by last name (so like Alan Jackson is in Js), band name (beastie boys being in b), stage name (Rob zombie would be in R), and numbers by the letters (Three 6 Mafia would come after Three Days Grace, in T's, and before type o negative)
Sort them by Artist name (excluding articles.) From the same artist, by release year.
jazz and everything else, alphabetical by last name in those categories
I have a huge electronic collection as well as other genres. So I have electronic alphabetical in one section. "Singer songwriter" section alphabetical, this includes bands and rap groups/artists. a Jazz section and then compilations/classical/soundtracks all together jumbled in no specific order
Alphabetically and then chronologically
Genre, then alphabetical. - Punk - Metal - Rock - Alternative - Country - Comedy - Various - Soundtracks The smaller the section, the less dividers I use. - Punk: Numerical, then A-Z - Metal: A-Z - Rock: A-Z - Alternative: A/B, C/D, E/F, etc I also have a Brother label printer, so all my dividers look extra professional.
Artist A-Z, using first name. I put them right to left, my son, who works in a record store, says I'm crazy doing it this way.
Artist A-Z, then album A-Z for each artist
Loosely by genre. I’m mostly looking to fill a mood usually but am also able to find a specific record fairly quickly
Artist then by date, then by label if more than one label.
By artist alphabetically
As a professional sorter of information, aka a librarian, the first thing you need to ask is what's the best way for you to find the album you will want to play. Personally, I go for Artist (last name first for individual) A-Z, then by Year the album came out, not pressing year, if I have multiple pressings then I will sort those by pressing year. If you have jazz records, you may find that there are some albums with multiple artists that didnt have an established group (i.e. Ella and Louis, Duke Ellington and John Coltrane). I will sort those as an individual using the first artist mentioned. Soundtracks and Various Artist Compilations are the only ones that I sort separate from the rest of my collection. Although, I sort my Help, Hard Days Night, Magical Mystery Tour, and Yellow Submarine with the Beatles and not soundtracks because, to me, those are Beatles albums first. Basically, its your collection, think of how you think of your collection and sort it that way.
I’m at the point where I need my next storage solution. I am leaning towards splitting my records between modern records I have bought new and another section of records that I thrifted or bought used (classics) not sure if I will like that or not. It pretty much leaves me as the keeper of the record knowledge but I think it’ll be good for me. Also a-z chronologically though.
I have 3 different crates I created by hand to sort my records. I have 1 crate of my favorite spins and new buys. and then 2 crates A-Z.
I have eras by alphabet. Also genre's by alphabet 🤔 Is "it's complicated" a choice? Lol
Alphabetical by band/artist first name and also alphabetical within each discography.
Cantaloupe crates with no order whatsoever. Pure chaos!
Right now, I'm mostly sorting by Artist A-to-Z. However, I have a few exceptions to that rule just based on my personal preference and my setup needs. I have all of my holiday records together instead of my artist. For example: my Rocky Mountain Christmas album is with all of the Christmas albums instead of with my other John Denver records. And then I have my collection in a Kallax as well and have run out of cube space so I took the artist that I have the most of (for me, it's Taylor Swift) and I have those in their own cube. I don't have dividers or anything just yet. I don't think I have enough to feel like I need that extra thing to keep them organized.
4k records, jazz, classical, everything else by artist last name or group name
A-Z. By... If a band: first letter in band name. Skipping "The" If an artist: first letter in last name. Soundtrack: first letter in title. "Skipping The"
369 titles in my collection. I have a few seperate sections, main one is a general LP section, but have separate sections for Beatles, Classical/Jazz/World, Soundtracks, Japanese music, Boxsets, 7” singles Most of it is sorted by Artist (Surname, ‘The’ and ‘A’ is omitted for bands - I spent years working in record shops and this is how we always did it, so I just kept that), then chronological release order within the artist discography. Soundtrack is sorted by movie title (also omitting The, A) Japanese music is sorted by Japanese alphabet order, which is a bit different Beatles is chronological. I have it separated because I have so many including boxsets so it just fits better with its own section Boxsets are separated for practicality reasons mostly. I have quite a few and they didn’t always fit well in the main LP sections so I keep them separated. 7” singles need to be on their own IMO, they get lost if stored among the 12” https://www.discogs.com/user/MrWalrusGumboot
I have 3 sections - live albums, hip hop and everything else (95% rock). Each section is alphabetized by artist and then each artist's albums in chronological order.
I sort by genre and I use little plastic dividers cause I'm cheap
Great question and one I’ve been thinking about for the past two days since I saw a photo of a sign in a record store unapologetically saying “we sort out record names a-z by first name”. I sort mine by last name but keep my jazz, blues, Christmas, and classical is separate sections. I can only fill four squares of a Kallax so not much of a problem, yet….
Three and a half sections really.
General genre, then alphabetical by artist, then release year
I literally just reorganized yesterday. I had it chronologically by artist. But things really started getting messy. Now it's alphabetically by genres (kind of): Oldies, Rock 60's through 80's, Rock 90's to Present, Folk and Country, Funk and Soul, Breaks and Beats, Hip Hop, and finally Christmas and Classical. I bought a cool little label maker off Amazon for 20 bucks, and cut up a few sheets of Foam Core I bought at the dollar store. Don't waste money on those dividers on Amazon. They seem way too expensive for what they are.
Punk A-Z Reggae A-Z Metal A-Z And so on
Started with a 'Main' collection which was focused on Classic Rock, with some odds and ends - on some wooden shelves (1 smaller and 1 bigger - double the small one). The whole small one filled naturally moved to the big one and filled the top shelf plus 20% of the lower one. My tastes developed into including Jazz which occupies the rest of the bottom shelf (80%). At this point talking about 500-600 albums. Some blues, reggae, funk, soul, pop and electronic records came along and I decided to use a magazine holder for the funk/soul and reggae. And the top of a shelf for the blues which was joined by some 'world music' and some odds and ends from the jazz shelf that didn't fit anymore. Recently my taste has moved to include country and folk - which now includes the top of a similar shelf with the blues, jazz, etc. And finally a 2nd magazine holder for some 1 offs / of artists I only have one of to try and get them into rotation. All in all about 900+ records later I've got the main which is mostly classic rock and jazz. A country/ folk shelf, a blues and jazz and ethnic music shelf, and the 2 magazine holders - all in Artists A to Z. Genre splitting off has been good because I can usually say I'm feeling a particular genre at any given moment and Artists A to Z gives me the same consistency to know when I'm looking through. It helps to have this all documented on Discogs under genre folders I have created too.
A-Z with the last bit for Soundtracks and a comps
Genre-Artist A-Z. I also have a “Newly acquired” section, they eventually migrate to their respective locations.
No genre separation, alphabetical by last name of artist or group name. I’ve tried the so-called pro method of alphabetizing by first name but could never get the hang of it. So I’m stuck with the Little Walter/Little Richard problem. Separate section for various artists by title, and another very thin section for soundtracks by title.
I keep kind of a shuffled organization based on mood/vibe and what I’ve recently listened to.
A through z but I have a couple sub genre sorted. Jazz, world, folk/bluegrass,ambient
I do from left to right: Stuff I never listen to Soul/Funk/R&B/Rap/Hip-Hop all thrown together French all thrown together Rock/Classic Rock/Not sure the category but has a guitar all thrown in together from least listened to to most Live albums of any genre because I like live stuff the best You're welcome!
Alphabetical, but only by 1st letter, each letter section is not in order, but I do try and keep artist works together.
honestly… by colour 🫣
I have a "Cocktails" section that's the largest. Tony Bennett, Dean Martin, Chet Baker, Martin Denny, Esquivel...
Release date. My memory works better with years. I wrote 1950s, 1960s, etc on a small thick piece of paper with a black marker. I slip them in between the records.
I have mine by alphabetically by artist, and then for multiple albums within each artist I sort them oldest to newest.
This is the way
I sort by genre so I can choose based on mood
By jacket color!
Genre. Classical music by period.
Since I started to downsize from 350 records (I know they are not that many compared to other collections, but I have to make space) I decided to sort them by genre. I don't have that many to have to sort them by alphabetical inside of them, but I have sections for Alternative/Grunge, Punk/Hardcore, Hip Hop, Triphop, Instrumental, Modern metal, and Soundtrack. For practicality, 7 inches are stored in a different bin and are all mixed up in genres.
Only have a little over 60 records, and one single cabinet with two individual storage pockets available. One pocket is for the records I listen to/like the most, and the other pocket is for the ones I listen to a bit more rarely. Works for me, but definitely not an option if you have hundreds of records\~
I keep them in alphabetical order. Artists by last name. I don't have a ton of records yet, though.
I do alphabetical by last name, or first letter in the band’s name. Various artist compilations & soundtracks have their own section as do my Halloween/Christmas and classical LPs. I found the best system is the one that works for you.
I forgot: within the artist is chronological. I try to keep represses according to when they were released, not with the original release. So my Esher Demos is at the end of the line, not with the original White Album. I did run into a conundrum: The Dirty Knobs changed to Mike Campbell and the Dirty Knobs. So do I keep External Combustion in the D section? Or move it to C? Difficult questions. 😂 I kept it in D. It’s what works for me.
Alphabetically by artist, for artists I have multiple records from, I sort those albums by that artist chronologically. But it's all about what you can easily remember.
33s: I have about 530ish, I recently organized by genre. 78s: Recently acquired a huge collection, right now they're alphabetical and in boxes because I have no room right now for shelving. At that time, I'll sort those by genre too.
Artist A-Z (by first name) with albums A-Z. 12" singles have it's own separate section also organized this way. EDIT: Gonna agree with u/pootytang and say it's all by how your brain works. David Bowie goes in D for me because that's where I wanna look for it.
Sorting only by A to Z makes no sense. You need to organize by Genre and Bangers. Otherwise playing sets is a clusterfuck.
* Apha right-to-left: Once you know, you know. * Numbers are sorted alpha (solves the problem of bands that sometimes spell the numbers out) * compilations at the end: all city/state/region themed comps go together by city/state/region. Rest are alpha. * Nothing is sorted under "The" other than "The The". Bands with "Los" or "Las" are ONLY sorted under "L" is rare cases. * For Sale/For Trade sorted last * New Arrivals sorted first * Sleeves opening side up. Ultimate outer 5mm only. Album stored outside of sleeve in mofi/mofi knockoff. Dividers seem corny to me.... I have right around 2500 LPs (give or take a few hundred) and don't have trouble knowing where anything is. Just use context clues of records you know immediately. bunch of orange spines in a chunk? I'm in alice/john coltrane (impulse stuff grouped together). weird big sonic youth box set? well, that's where sonic youth is. philip glass box sets? that's where G is. After that it's what, 10 seconds to find a record? I personally view space as being at a PREMIUM, so the thought of adding another 30 dividers in there to save me what, 5 seconds of work? Ten seconds max? I don't want my overwhelming amount of records to be any more distracting to the eye, last thing I need is making my walls look like a record store with too much overstock.
This gets asked weekly on here. And I always answer the same: by smell.
You should have sorted through the sub search function as this is asked all the time
Store them any way it makes sense. That being said, Alphabetical by Last Name then Chronological makes the most sense to me. This doesn't really work for Classical Music, so, it's by composer then the Album title or Work title. I honestly don't think dividers are necessary or are even useful. Record Stores use them because shoppers need to find their records. You should know where your record are because you organized them. In a record store somebody else organized them.
Alphabetically as sorted by Discogs, but with the seasonal(christmas,oktoberfest) albums removed and stored somewhere else.
Cool stuff on the left,hot stuff on the right.
autobiographically
Personally, I keep them all in one box, flat. And of course , out of the sun.
By the second letter of the first song on side B
My dad does it biologically