Alphabetizing Song Titles

I agree and always include the article. I have more
trouble with Huey Lewis and the News going under "H" or
"L." Same goes for Steve Miller...should "he" go under
the M for his last name or is that the name of his band?
Hmmmmmm.

I label the songs differently than that. So for example

Everlasting Love (An)
Rose (The)
Little More Love (A)


Andy Gibb's title would be different than Carl Carlton's, which would simply be:

Everlasting Love

I have found that when I make playlists in iTunes, it ignores the "The" or "A" and alphabetizes it under the fisrt letter of the next word.

For my DJ computer I have always set up titles using the
"classic" method such as:

Midler, Bette - Rose, The

Gibb, Andy - Everlasting Love, An

Clark, Dave, Five - I Like It Like That

Petty, Tom, & The Heartbreakers - Free Fallin'

Whatever works for yourself is probably the best
solution, but I will admit if other people are looking at
your files it's best to let them know your method-of-
alphabetization because things can get confusing to the
lay person when one is dealing with acts like 'Marshall
Tucker Band' when there's no member in the band with that
name...

Andy

Scanner wrote: English teachers would likely cringe at even proposing this question...but, how do you alphabetize songs that begin with "A," "An," or "The?" Despite grammar rules, I have always included those articles as part of the titles. So, "A Little More Love" is under "A," not "L," on my song lists. This can help distinguish between two songs with the same title. Andy Gibb's "An Everlasting Love" is not the same song as Carl Carlton's "Everlasting Love." It also can better define what the song is about. If "The Rose" was just "Rose," is Bette Midler singing about a flower or someone named Rose? To me, song titles just seem incomplete without the article included. Curious whether I am the only "rebel" to do this!

I like tagging like this

James Taylor - Up On The Roof

I would not tag Taylor, James - Up On The Roof. I tag by billboard position # and don't put last name first.

I would tag The Beatles as Beatles. The word The is left off unless THE is essential to the name and not a group (The-Kid Laroi).

In the case of a group from 2000-2001 called Dream, you have to add the THE back in to the artist in the mid to late 2000's who calls himself The-Dream as well. So clearly Dream and The-Dream are needed to differentiate.

Latest is The-Kid Laroi. The in this case is not the name of his group but an individual name so it stays.

I also put Featuring rather than Feat its just the way I tag. That is just the way I do things.

Song title names are as they are. I don't shorten Rose when the title of the song is The Rose. Title of songs are what they are.

Edited by PopArchivist

When I first started organizing my songs in a database, I used the same
alphabetizing method that Joel Whitburn used in my old Billboard Top 100
book, probably from around 1988. That way I could kind of keep track of
what I had vs. what was on my wish list. So as far as artists go, it’s generally
the same as Andy a couple posts above. Song titles have just been straight
forward, however.

I’ve found over the years that this is what I’m used to, so really I don’t have
any plans to change it. I should add that when a group comes up like 1910
Fruitgum Co., I tell iTunes (in particular) to sort as Nineteen-Ten Fruitgum
Co., as that way it still appears under the N’s, but displays the proper group
name.

Jon O.