PERRLA/Guides/APA 7/Album

How to Cite an Album in APA 7

An APA 7 album reference lists the recording artist, the year in parentheses, the album title in italics and sentence case, the description [Album] in square brackets, and the record label. The in-text citation is the artist's name and the year: (Logic, 2017). For a classical album or a reissue, add the year the work was first published at the end, and give both years in the citation: (R.E.M., 1992/2017).

The format

Artist, A. A. (Year). Title of the album [Album]. Label.

PERRLA APA Experts · Updated October 21, 2026
Checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition. Every example is formatted by PERRLA's reference engine.

First, the easy way: PERRLA

Choose Music, then An album or stand-alone piece. Under How was the piece performed?, pick Recorded by the original artist for a regular album, and put the singer or band in the Artist or Group Artist role. A singer known by one name, like Logic, goes in the Last name box. Type the album title in Album or Work Title, the year in Copyright Year, and each label under Label/Publisher Name, using Add publisher for each one after the first. If you type the title in title case, PERRLA points it out and offers Fix it for me to switch it to sentence case.

For a classical album or a reissue, pick Performed by someone else; not the original artist instead. That kind adds the Original Publication Year box. For classical music, add the composer as the Artist, then the soloist as a Performer or the orchestra or ensemble as a Group Performer. PERRLA names them in the brackets: [Album recorded by G. Gould]. For a deluxe or anniversary edition, type the edition in Special Edition, and PERRLA puts it inside the brackets after Album.

Leave URL or Platform blank unless the album is only available in one place online, like an artist's own SoundCloud page. PERRLA adds [Album], the italics, and the semicolons between labels. PERRLA's reference search reads single tracks from Spotify, but not whole albums, so enter an album by hand.

Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same reference by hand.

The parts of the reference

1. Artist

Start with the recording artist or group. A person goes in as last name and initials. A band, a one-name artist, or a stage name goes in exactly as the artist writes it, followed by a period.

Logic.

R.E.M.

For a classical album, the composer is the author: Bach, J. S. The orchestra, ensemble, or soloist moves into the brackets after the title.

2. Year

Put the year the album you listened to was released in parentheses, followed by a period. For a reissue or a new recording of a classical work, that's the year of the version you used, not the year of the original.

(2017).

3. Album title and [Album]

Write the album title in italics and sentence case: capitalize the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns. Follow it with the word Album in square brackets, not italic, then a period.

Automatic for the people [Album].

Add who recorded a classical work inside the brackets: [Album recorded by The Hague Philharmonic Orchestra]. Add a version detail after a semicolon when it matters which version you heard: [Album; 25th anniversary edition].

4. Label

End with the record label. When the album lists more than one, separate them with semicolons, in the order the album gives them.

Def Jam Recordings; Visionary Music Group.

Find the label on the back cover, in the liner notes, or in the copyright line (℗) at the bottom of the album's page in Spotify or Apple Music. Spotify and Apple Music themselves are not labels, and APA doesn't name the service you listened on.

5. Original publication date (classical and reissues)

For a classical album, or a reissue of an older album, end the reference with the year the work first came out, in parentheses, with no period after it. The in-text citation then gives both years, earliest first, with a slash between them.

(Original work published 1992)

A regular album the artist released once doesn't get this part.

Examples

An album by a one-name artist, with two labels

Logic's 2017 album Everybody, which includes 1-800-273-8255, the song named for the old National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number. Logic goes in as written, and the album's two labels are separated by a semicolon.

  • Parenthetical citation(Logic, 2017)
  • Narrative citationLogic (2017)

An album by a band

R.E.M.'s 1992 album Automatic for the People, released by Warner Bros. Records. The band name keeps its periods, and the title drops to sentence case.

  • Parenthetical citation(R.E.M., 1992)
  • Narrative citationR.E.M. (1992)

A reissue or anniversary edition

The same album's 2017 25th anniversary edition from Craft Recordings, which adds a second disc. Because it's a reissue, the reference gives the edition in the brackets and the 1992 original at the end, and the citation gives both years.

  • Parenthetical citation(R.E.M., 1992/2017)
  • Narrative citationR.E.M. (1992/2017)

A classical album

Glenn Gould's 1956 debut recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations, first published in 1741. Bach is the author, the year is the recording's release year, and the original year goes at the end. APA names the performer inside the brackets: [Album recorded by G. Gould].

  • Parenthetical citation(Bach, 1741/1956)
  • Narrative citationBach (1741/1956)

In-text citations

An APA 7 in-text citation for an album gives the recording artist and the year, the same as the start of the reference.

  • A person or one-name artist: (Logic, 2017) or Logic (2017)
  • A band: the name as the band writes it: (R.E.M., 1992) or R.E.M. (1992)
  • A reissue: the original year and the reissue year, earliest first, with a slash: (R.E.M., 1992/2017)
  • Classical music: the composer, then the year the work was first published and the year of the recording: (Bach, 1741/1956) or Bach (1741/1956)
  • One track or a moment on the album: if you're writing about one song, cite the song instead of the album. To point to a moment in a track, add the timestamp where it starts, in minutes and seconds.

Name the performer in your sentence when the performance is your point, and cite the composer: Glenn Gould recorded the variations for his first album (Bach, 1741/1956).

Common mistakes

  • R.E.M. (1992). Automatic for the People. Warner Bros. Records.R.E.M. (1992). Automatic for the people [Album]. Warner Bros. Records.APA adds [Album] after the title so readers know what kind of work it is, and puts the title in sentence case even though the cover uses title case.
  • Logic. (2017). Everybody [Album]. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/album/...Logic. (2017). Everybody [Album]. Def Jam Recordings; Visionary Music Group.The source of an album is its label. APA leaves out the streaming service and its link unless that's the only place the album exists.
  • Gould, G. (1956). The Goldberg variations [Album]. Columbia Masterworks.Bach, J. S. (1956). The Goldberg variations [Album recorded by G. Gould]. Columbia Masterworks. (Original work published 1741)For classical music, the composer is the author. The performer goes inside the brackets, and the year Bach's work was first published goes at the end.
  • R.E.M. (1992). Automatic for the people [Album]. Craft Recordings.R.E.M. (2017). Automatic for the people [Album; 25th anniversary edition]. Craft Recordings. (Original work published 1992)A reissue gets the year of the version you heard, with the original year at the end. Mixing the original year with the reissue's label describes an album that doesn't exist.

Quick checklist

  • The recording artist or group, or the composer for classical music
  • The release year of the version you heard, in parentheses
  • Album title in italics and sentence case, followed by [Album]
  • Performer or edition inside the brackets only when it matters
  • Each record label, separated by semicolons, and no streaming service
  • Classical or reissue: (Original work published Year) at the end, and both years in the citation

Questions students ask

Is an album title italicized in APA?

Yes. The album title goes in italics and sentence case, and the [Album] description after it doesn't. A song title is the opposite: plain text, with the album it's on in italics after the word On.

Should I cite the album or the song?

Cite the song when you're writing about one track, and the album when you're writing about the record as a whole or several of its tracks. A song reference names the album it's on, so readers can still find it.

How do I cite a remastered or deluxe album?

Cite the version you heard, with its own year and label, and add the year the album first came out at the end: (Original work published 1992). Name the version in the reference, either inside the brackets after Album, as in [Album; 25th anniversary edition], or in parentheses after the title, the way APA Style's own example shows (Remastered). Both years go in the in-text citation.

How do I cite an album I streamed on Spotify or Apple Music?

The same way as a CD or vinyl record: artist, year, title, [Album], and label. APA doesn't name the streaming service or add its link, because the album is on many services. Add a URL only when the album is available in just one place, like an artist's own SoundCloud or Bandcamp page.

What if the album has no title?

First check the artist's discography: some albums people call untitled, like the Beatles' White Album, have a real title. If an album truly has none, use a short description in square brackets in place of the title, not in italics, then [Album]: Led Zeppelin. (1971). [Untitled fourth album] [Album]. Atlantic.

Rules checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.), Sections 8.15, 8.28, 9.8, 9.19, 9.21, 9.22, 9.29, 9.41, and 10.13 (Example 91), and the APA Style blog posts on music album references, untitled music album references, and single song or track references. Artist, year, edition, and labels verified on October 21, 2026, against Discogs release records for Everybody (US CD), Automatic for the People (1992 original and the 2017 25th Anniversary Edition), and Glenn Gould's 1956 The Goldberg Variations (Columbia Masterworks ML 5060); the 1741 first publication of the Goldberg Variations against IMSLP.

PERRLA builds the album reference with [Album], the italics, every label, and the original year for classical albums and reissues.

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