PERRLA/Guides/MLA 9/Album

How to Cite an Album in MLA 9

An MLA 9 Works Cited entry for an album gives the artist (last name first for a person), the album title in italics, the record label, and the year: Logic. Everybody. Def Jam Recordings / Visionary Music Group, 2017. The in-text citation is the artist's name: (Logic). For a classical album, start with the composer and name the performer after the title: Performance by Glenn Gould.

The format

Last Name, First Name (or Band Name). Title of the Album. Record Label, Year.

PERRLA MLA Experts · Updated October 29, 2026
Checked against the MLA Handbook, 9th 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 in the Artist role or the band in the 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 the format matters to your paper, type it in Music Medium (CD, vinyl LP), and PERRLA adds it at the end of the entry.

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, and PERRLA puts that year right after the album title. For classical music, add the composer as the Artist, then the soloist as a Performer or the orchestra or ensemble as a Group Performer, and PERRLA writes Performance by and their names. For a deluxe or anniversary edition, type the edition in Special Edition the way MLA writes it, with ed. for edition (25th anniversary ed.). PERRLA prints that box exactly as you type it.

Leave URL or Platform blank: MLA doesn't need the app you streamed on. PERRLA adds the italics, the title case, and the slashes 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 works cited entry by hand.

The parts of the works cited entry

1. Artist

Start with the singer or band. A person goes in last name first, with the full first name. A band, a one-name artist, or a stage name goes in exactly as the artist writes it. End with a period.

Logic.

R.E.M.

MLA lets you start with whoever your paper is about. For a classical album, that's usually the composer: Bach, Johann Sebastian. The soloist or orchestra moves after the title.

2. Album title

An album is a whole work, so its title goes in italics, in title case, followed by a period.

Automatic for the People.

A song on the album is the opposite: it goes in quotation marks, with the album in italics after it. If you're writing about one track, cite the song instead.

3. Original date (optional)

For a reissue or a new recording of an older work, you can give the year it first came out right after the album title, followed by a period.

1992.

A regular album the artist released once skips this part.

4. Performer or edition

When the composer leads the entry, name the performer next, after the label Performance by. A special version of the album, like an anniversary or deluxe edition, also goes here, with edition shortened to ed. Each ends with a comma.

Performance by Glenn Gould,

25th anniversary ed.,

5. Label and year

The record label is the publisher. When the album lists more than one, separate them with a slash, with a space on each side. End with the year the version you heard came out, then a period.

Def Jam Recordings / Visionary Music Group, 2017.

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.

6. Format (optional)

If the format matters to your paper, say a vinyl pressing or a CD with extra tracks, add it at the very end as its own sentence.

CD.

An album you streamed doesn't need the app's name.

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 slash.

  • In-text citation(Logic)
  • Narrative citationOn Everybody, Logic …

An album by a band, on CD

R.E.M.'s 1992 album Automatic for the People, released by Warner Bros. Records, as heard on the original CD. The band name keeps its periods, and the optional format goes at the very end.

  • In-text citation(R.E.M.)
  • Narrative citationOn Automatic for the People, R.E.M. …

A reissue or anniversary edition

The same album's 2017 25th anniversary edition from Craft Recordings, which adds a second disc. The 1992 original date follows the title, and the edition comes before the reissue's label and year.

  • In-text citation(R.E.M.)
  • Narrative citationThe anniversary edition of R.E.M.'s Automatic for the People …

A classical album

Glenn Gould's 1956 debut recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations, first published in 1741. Bach leads the entry, the 1741 date follows the title, and Gould comes next with Performance by.

  • In-text citation(Bach)
  • Narrative citationIn Gould's recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations, …

In-text citations

An MLA 9 in-text citation for an album is the first thing in its Works Cited entry, usually the artist's name. Albums have no page numbers, so the name alone is enough.

  • A person or one-name artist: (Logic)
  • A band: the name as the band writes it: (R.E.M.)
  • A reissue: the same as the original, the artist's name: (R.E.M.). If you cite both versions, they share a title, so add the title, shortened as PERRLA shortens it, and, in square brackets, the first detail that differs: (R.E.M., Automatic [25th anniversary ed.]).
  • Classical music: whoever leads the entry, usually the composer: (Bach)
  • One track or a moment on the album: if you're writing about one song, cite the song instead. To point to a moment in it, add the time stamp in hours, minutes, and seconds: (Cash 00:02:05).
  • Name in your sentence: when nothing is left to put in parentheses, leave them off: On Everybody, Logic …

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

Common mistakes

  • Logic. (2017). Everybody [Album]. Def Jam Recordings; Visionary Music Group.Logic. Everybody. Def Jam Recordings / Visionary Music Group, 2017.That's APA. MLA drops the [Album] label, moves the year to the end, and separates two labels with a slash.
  • R.E.M. "Automatic for the People." Warner Bros. Records, 1992.R.E.M. Automatic for the People. Warner Bros. Records, 1992.An album is a whole work, so its title goes in italics. Quotation marks are for a song on the album.
  • Logic. Everybody. Spotify, 2017.Logic. Everybody. Def Jam Recordings / Visionary Music Group, 2017.The publisher of an album is its record label, not the app you streamed it on.
  • R.E.M. Automatic for the People. Craft Recordings, 1992.R.E.M. Automatic for the People. 1992. 25th anniversary ed., Craft Recordings, 2017.Mixing the original year with the reissue's label describes an album that doesn't exist. Give the reissue's own label and year, with the original year after the title.
  • Gould, Glenn. The Goldberg Variations. Columbia Masterworks, 1956.Bach, Johann Sebastian. The Goldberg Variations. 1741. Performance by Glenn Gould, Columbia Masterworks, 1956.Starting with Gould tells readers he wrote the music. If your paper is about the piece, start with the composer and credit the performer. If it's about Gould's playing, start with Gould, performer.

Quick checklist

  • The singer or band, or the composer for classical music
  • Album title in italics and title case
  • Original year after the title, for a reissue or a classical work
  • Performance by and the performer, or the edition, when it matters
  • Each record label, separated by slashes, then the year
  • The format at the end only if it matters, and no streaming app

Questions students ask

Is an album title italicized in MLA?

Yes. An album is a whole work, so its title goes in italics and title case, in your Works Cited entry and in your sentences. A song on the album goes in quotation marks, with the album in italics after it.

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 entry names the album it's on, so readers can still find the album.

How do I cite a remastered or deluxe album in MLA?

Cite the version you heard, with its own label and year. Name the version after the title, with edition shortened to ed. (deluxe ed., 25th anniversary ed.), and add the year the album first came out right after the title if you want readers to know it's a reissue.

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

The same way as a CD or vinyl record: artist, title, label, and year. The MLA Style Center says the app you used doesn't need to be named. If you do want to name it, add the service's name in italics and the album's link at the end of the entry, as a second container.

Who goes first for a classical album, the composer or the performer?

Whoever your paper is about. Writing about Bach's music? Start with Bach and add Performance by Glenn Gould after the title. Writing about Gould's playing? Start with Gould, Glenn, performer, and name Bach after the title with by. Either way, the in-text citation matches the first name in the entry.

Rules checked against the MLA Handbook (9th ed.), chapter 5 (the core elements: the Contributor element with labels like performance by, the Version element, publishers, and the optional original date and format), sections 6.3–6.30 (in-text citations), and appendix 2 (musical recordings), and the MLA Style Center's posts on album formats, a movie score recording, songs downloaded from iTunes (version and original date), song lyrics, lyrics heard in a musical (slashes between companies), and works by one author with the same title. Example sources are the ones verified for the APA 7 page, re-checked October 29, 2026, through the Discogs API: Everybody (Def Jam Recordings / Visionary Music Group, 2017), Automatic for the People (Warner Bros. Records CD, 1992, and the Craft Recordings 25th Anniversary Edition, 2017), and Glenn Gould's The Goldberg Variations (Columbia Masterworks ML 5060, 1956); the 1741 first publication of the Goldberg Variations against IMSLP.

PERRLA builds the album entry with the italics, every label, the performer, and the original year for classical albums and reissues.

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