Template:Infobox album
 | The design and content of all music-related infoboxes should follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy, infobox style guideline and music style guideline. While this document may clarify details of their specific application to the infobox, it is primarily concerned with explaining usage and not with matters of Wikipedia policy and style. |
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The standard infobox for album articles is the {{Infobox album}} template. The box to the right is an example. You can click on "View source" and copy-and-paste the markup to a different article, replacing its information with info on the album you choose to write about.
The infobox code should be placed at the top of the article.
Code
Most articles should only need the following fields (for the full list of fields see advanced usage). Do not remove fields from this list when the value is unknown; in that case the values should be left blank. Please note that the field names are case-sensitive.
{{Infobox album <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Albums -->
| Name =
| Type =
| Artist =
| Cover =
| Alt =
| Released = <!-- {{Start date|||}} -->
| Recorded =
| Genre =
| Length = <!-- {{Duration|m=|s=}} -->
| Label =
| Producer =
| Last album =
| This album =
| Next album =
}}
Details
Try to fill in as many of the details as you can. If some details are unknown, leave the section blank. Wikilink wherever appropriate, but make sure you check your links and disambiguate accordingly.
Name
The album's title should be specified using text (not a logo), which will be automatically italicized.
Template:Anchors Type
The Type field refers to the general type of album. Enter a code from the following chart. The type will appear with the appropriate color and wikilink. Don't use codes "single" and "song"; there are specific infoboxes {{Infobox single}} and {{Infobox song}} available for those (see WP:SONG for further information). If the type is unknown, leave the field blank.
| Code | Display |
|---|---|
| studio | Studio album by artist |
| demo | Demo album by artist |
| EP | EP by artist |
| single album | Single album by artist |
| live | Live album by artist |
| greatest | Greatest hits album by artist |
| remix | Remix album by artist |
| box | Box set by artist |
| compilation | Compilation album by artist |
| mixtape | Mixtape by artist |
| soundtrack | Soundtrack album by artist |
| film | Film score by artist |
| cast | Cast recording by artist |
| video | Video by artist |
| other | other by artist |
Cover
An image of the official front cover of the original version of the album (or a reissue, if no original cover can be found) should be included at Cover. Album cover artwork may be scanned, or downloaded from another site such as Allmusic or Amazon.com. Note that whether you scan one yourself or copy it from another site, when uploading an image, you must tag it properly and follow fair use guidelines. Whenever possible, prefer a version without stickers (like Parental Advice, "As seen on TV", etc.) to display the artwork as intended by the artist. If you cannot find a cover image, just leave this field blank.
- Upload a copy of the album cover (under fair use). The image will display in the infobox in its real size, capped by the value of the user's "Thumbnail size" parameter in his or her appearance preferences. The width of the image should usually be 220–300px; for a square image, 300 is ideal. To satisfy fair use criteria, the total number of pixels in any copyrighted image (i.e. the width in px × the height in px) should not exceed 100,000.
- On the image description page, use the {{Non-free album cover}} image copyright tag. Selecting "Album or single cover" from the pulldown list on the image upload page will accomplish this.
- Add detailed fair use rationale for each use of the image. You can also use the {{Non-free use rationale album cover}} template.
- Fill the template's Cover field with the name of your file (the full image syntax is not required here—just the file name with the extension).
- Remove the request-photo or request-image template from the talk page of the article.
If nothing is entered into this field, the article will be added to the tracking category Category:Album infoboxes lacking a cover. The article will also be added to the category if one of the following values is used: ???, Nocover.png, nocover.png. Setting the field to the value blank will leave the cover area empty without categorizing the article into the above category. This is useful if the cover does not exist, for example the album was not released yet, or the cover cannot be added due to other limitations.
Alt
Alt text for the album cover, for visually impaired readers. See WP:ALT.
Released
Original album release date, formatted according to the Manual of Style for dates ("December 14, 2003" or "14 December 2003" depending on the article style, without the quotation marks). The {{Start date}} template may be used here. If the day is unknown, indicate only month and year ("December 2003"); if the month is unknown indicate only the year ("2003"). Only the earliest known date that the album was released should be specified; later release dates (incl. re-issues) can be mentioned in a Release history section.
Recorded
Details on when (and where - deprecated - see below) the album was recorded should be included.
Venue
Place where a live album was recorded.
Studio
Place where a studio album was recorded (or a live album was overdubbed or had post-production).
Genre
The one or more music genres that the album reflects, delimited by a comma should be listed here. Genres should be linked (piped linked where needed), for example, "Rock, pop" should link to rock music and pop music respectively. Note that most genres aren't proper nouns, and shouldn't be capitalized, but the first word in the list should be.
Length
The length of the album should be specified in minutes and seconds, even if it is longer than one hour, for example 74:23. Use {{Duration}}, for example {{Duration|m=74|s=23}}. It may be helpful to include a source in a comment, such as <!--CD liner notes-->.
Several albums have been released with bonus tracks or multiple track listings. In this case, just list the length of the original release. In the case of albums which are released with multiple track listings simultaneously, only list the most common length or that of the standard edition of the album.
Label
Only the record label that the album was originally released on should be specified. Where significantly different versions have been released (featuring alternative track listings) e.g. in the US vs UK, the later release date or record label should be mentioned in the article, for example in a Release history section. Drop words like "Records" from the end of the label's name (e.g. use [[Universal Records|Universal]] rather than [[Universal Records]]).
Producer
The name of the producer should be linked to the corresponding article. If there is more than one producer, the names can be delimited by commas or Template:Tp.
Professional reviews
Template:Further
Formerly, a Reviews field was included in this template. Professional reviews may no longer be included in the infobox, but should be described in paragraph form in a "Reception" section. See Wikipedia:WikiProject Albums/Article body#Critical reception. The template {{Album ratings}} can be used to illustrate review scores in this section.
Chronology
This group of fields establishes a timeline of an artist's releases. In general, all albums and EPs should be placed in a single, chronological chain in order of release date (singles have a separate infobox, and thus a separate chain). Exceptions may be appropriate for artists with very complex discographies which may warrant more than one chain. If the previous or next release has a Wikipedia article, link the title to the corresponding article. Take care to maintain the integrity of chains, so that when release "A" points to "B" as the next release, "B" points back to "A" as the previous release.
All album titles should be italicized. The year of release for each should be listed in parentheses, separated from the album title by <br /> or <br>. Wikipedia's date style guidelines recommend that years should not be linked within the chronology section. Cover images should not be included in the chronology, as that would not be fair use.
No more than one album should be included in any of the three slots in the chronology. Some albums can be part of more than one chain, using an "additional chronologies" section. Albums released on the same day should be listed separately, ordered using the standard ordering of those albums, or alphabetically if no such standard exists.
Last album field specifies the previous album in the chain. If the current album is the first album in a chain, this field should be blank.
This album field specifies the album for the current article, and should be in boldface.
Next album field specifies the next album in the chain. If the current album is the last album in a chain, this field should be blank. At least one of the two fields, previous or next, must have a value filled in, for the chronology to display.
Advanced usage
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In special situations, additional fields may be applicable. Unused fields may be either left blank, or deleted.
| Italic title =
| Name =
| Type =
| Longtype =
| Artist =
| Cover =
| Border =
| Alt =
| Caption =
| Released =
| Recorded =
| Venue =
| Studio =
| Genre =
| Length =
| Language = <!-- Do not use for English albums by English-speaking artists -->
| Label =
| Director =
| Producer =
| Compiler =
| Chronology =
| Last album =
| This album =
| Next album =
| Misc =
}}
Italic title
Per the Article titles policy, titles that are rendered in italics in running prose are also displayed in italics in the page title. By default, the infobox achieves this automatically for album articles. If the page title is not the album title, as when only a section is devoted to an album, and in unusual cases where the title would not be italicized in running prose, such as untitled Korn album, set this parameter to "no" to prevent the page title from being italicized.
Longtype
This field can be used if you wish to include information such as the title of the film that an album is the soundtrack to, or the name of the artist that a tribute album is in honor of. The text in this field appears between the type and the word "by".
Border
Choosing "yes" here will insert a 1px grey border around the cover image. This is useful for instances where the image and the background will blend together.
Caption
If the album has been issued with different front covers, which version the image refers to should be noted here.
Language
This field should identify what language(s) are used in the lyrics of the album. Do not forget to disambiguate and pipe link when necessary. For example, if an album's lyrics are in English and French, you would use [[English language|English]], [[French language|French]]. Do not use this field for albums entirely in the English language, by English-speaking artists.
Director
This field is only applicable to video albums. The name of the director should be linked to the corresponding article. If there is more than one director, the names should be delimited by commas.
Compiler
This field is only applicable to compilation albums of any kind where the person or entity responsible for selecting the album's track listing is known.
Chronology
This field can be used when the album belongs to an overall series that is not adequately described by the artist's name alone; in these situations, the text entered in this field replaces the artist name that would normally be displayed preceding "chronology". Examples include series of compilation albums compiled by different people, and series of soundtracks (which are often "various artists" collections).
Misc
A number of templates exist that can be inserted in the Misc field, including {{Extra album cover}}, {{Extra chronology}}, {{Singles}} and {{Audiosample}}. If you use any of these templates, don't forget to add a second set of closing brackets for the nested template. However, please ensure if you add additional non-free images, that the use complies with the non-free content criteria.
Template:Extra chronology
Additional chronologies are generally useful for split albums, collaborative albums, and series of albums.
{{Infobox album <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Albums -->
...
| Misc = {{Extra chronology
| Artist =
| Type =
| Last album =
| This album =
| Next album =
}}
}}
The Artist field should be the artist that this additional chronology reflects, for example one of the artists on a split album. The Type field should contain the same type as the rest of the infobox. The format of the other fields is the same as the standard chronology (see above).
Template:Extra album cover
If the album has been released with different album covers, they can be added to the infobox using this template. However, per WP:NFCC#3 use of non-free content is to be minimal, and not to be used if one item can convey equivalent significant information. An alternative cover that is significantly different from the original and is widely distributed and/or replaces the original has generally been held to pass this criterion. Also, an alternative cover that is the subject of specific (sourced) critical commentary passes the criteria for inclusion. Covers that are essentially similar, despite differences in colouring, poses, text, etc, should not be included.
{{Infobox album <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Albums -->
...
| Misc = {{Extra album cover
| Upper caption =
| Type =
| Cover =
| Alt =
| Lower caption =
| Border = <!-- optional parameter, type "yes" here to add a 1px border to the cover image -->
}}
}}
The Upper caption field allows an optional header to be inserted and Lower caption allows for an optional explanatory label. For alternative covers the upper caption should be "Alternative cover" and the lower caption should mention where that cover was used (int'l release, re-release, censored original, etc.). As with the {{Extra chronology}} template, the Type field should contain the same type as the rest of the infobox.
Template:Singles
The {{Singles}} template may be used as a miscellaneous addition to the infobox providing concise information about songs on the album that were released as singles during the marketing and promotion of the album. Promotional activity for extremely popular albums may continue for a long time, and songs from the album may be released as singles a year or more after the album's initial release. For example, songs from the album Thriller were released as singles for more than a year after the release of the album, and such singles are considered to be from the album.
- Do not include singles that were added as bonus tracks on a re-release of an album.
- For songs that appear on more than one album, list the song as a single only for the album(s) where the single was released as part of the marketing and promotion of that album. Examples:
- If a song is originally released as a single during the marketing and promotion of an album on which it also appears, and is subsequently included on a compilation album, list the song as a single only for the original album and not for the compilation album.
- If a song is originally released as an album track only, but is subsequently released as a single to promote the release of a compilation album, include the song as a single only for the compilation album.
For complex release scenarios where it may not be obvious that a single was released as part of the marketing and promotion of the album on which it appears, seek consensus on the talk page for the album.
The output includes the name of the single and its release date, and the list should be in sequence by release date. You may list up to twelve (12) singles per album. This infobox should be placed in the "Misc" field as shown below, using the field cases also shown below. Any unused fields may be left out. Further usage information can be found on the template page.
{{Infobox album <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Albums -->
...
| Misc = {{Singles
| Name =
| Type =
| Single 1 =
| Single 1 date =
| Single 2 =
| Single 2 date =
| Single 3 =
| Single 3 date =
| Single 4 =
| Single 4 date =
}}
}}
- Name
- The name of the album.
- Type
- The album type (as specified above in the section "Type").
- Single #
- The name of the single. Should be wikilinked to the single's article, if applicable.
- Single # date
- The date of single release. Should be entered in wikidate format. If the full date is unknown, just use "Month Year" or "Year". Do not use the {{Start date}} template in this field.
Note that all fields are already properly formatted, so italics or quotation marks need not be entered in fields.
Microformats
TemplateData
TemplateData for Infobox album
<templatedata> {
"description": "The standard infobox for album articles.",
"params": {
"Name": {
"label": "Name",
"description": "Name of the album.",
"type": "string",
"required": false
},
"Type": {
"label": "Type",
"description": "One of: 'studio', 'demo', 'ep', 'live', 'greatest' (for greatest hits), 'remix', 'box' (for box sets), 'compilation', 'mixtape', 'soundtrack', 'film', 'cast', 'video', 'other'. Determines the colour used for the infobox.",
"type": "string",
"required": false
},
"Artist": {
"label": "Artist",
"description": "Name of the artist, should be linked, e.g. Nirvana.",
"type": "string",
"required": false
},
"Cover": {
"label": "Cover",
"description": "An image of the official front cover of the original version of the album. The image should normally have a Template:Non-free album cover image copyright tag and rational on the image description page.",
"type": "string",
"required": false
},
"Alt": {
"label": "Alt",
"description": "Alt text for the album cover, for visually impaired readers.",
"type": "string",
"required": false
},
"Released": {
"label": "Released",
"description": "Original album release date. e.g. 'December 14, 2003' or '14 December 2003' depending on the article style.",
"type": "string",
"required": false
},
"Recorded": {
"label": "Recorded",
"description": "Details on where and when the album was recorded.",
"type": "string",
"required": false
},
"Venue": {
"label": "Venue",
"description": "Place where a live album was recorded.",
"type": "string",
"required": false
},
"Studio": {
"label": "Studio",
"description": "Place where a studio album was recorded.",
"type": "string",
"required": false
},
"Genre": {
"label": "Genre",
"description": "One or more music genres that the album reflects, delimited by a comma and linked to corresponding articles.",
"type": "string",
"required": false
},
"Length": {
"label": "Length",
"description": "The length of the album in minutes and seconds, e.g. 74:23.",
"type": "string",
"required": false
},
"Label": {
"label": "Label",
"description": "The record label that the album was originally released on.",
"type": "string",
"required": false
},
"Producer": {
"label": "Producer",
"description": "The name of the Producer, e.g. 'George Martin'. The names can be delimited by commas or "type": "string",
"required": false
},
"Italic title": {
"label": "Italic title",
"description": "By default the infobox causes the page title to be in italics. Set this to 'no' to leave the page title in normal style.",
"type": "string",
"required": false
},
"Border": {
"label": "Border",
"description": "Setting to 'yes' here will insert a 1px grey border around the cover image.",
"type": "string",
"required": false
},
"Caption": {
"label": "Caption",
"description": "If the album has been issued with different front covers, which version the image refers to should be noted here.",
"type": "string",
"required": false
},
"Longtype": {
"label": "Longtype",
"description": "Can be used if you wish to include information such as the title of the film that an album is the soundtrack to, or the name of the artist that a tribute album is in honor of.",
"type": "string",
"required": false
},
"Language": {
"label": "Language",
"description": "What language or languages are used in the lyrics of the album, e.g. 'French'.",
"type": "string",
"required": false
},
"Director": {
"label": "Director",
"description": "For video albums. The name of the director.",
"type": "string",
"required": false
},
"Compiler": {
"label": "Compiler",
"description": "Only for compilations. The person or entity responsible for selecting the album's track.",
"type": "string",
"required": false
},
"Last album": {
"label": "Last album",
"description": "The previous album. Name in italics and date e.g.: From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah
(1996)",
"type": "string",
"required": false
},
"This album": {
"label": "This album",
"description": "This album for the chronology, bold and italic. e.g. Nirvana
(2002)",
"type": "string",
"required": false
},
"Next album": {
"label": "Next album",
"description": "The next album. Name in italics and date e.g.: With the Lights Out
(2004)",
"type": "string",
"required": false
},
"Chronology": {
"label": "Chronology",
"description": "Name used as heading for Chronology. Default is the artist's name.",
"type": "string",
"required": false
},
"Misc": {
"label": "Misc",
"description": "Other details can include templates
"type": "string",
"required": false
}
}
} </templatedata>
See also
Hidden tracking/maintenance categories: