Wikipedia:WikiProject Songs

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Working off the Albums project, and using a similar template, let's start this up. The goal is to make the song pages give the basic information in a quick and easy-to-read fashion. A lot of this project has been lifted directly from the Albums project.

This project is not yet fully defined. Feel free to add stuff to make things clearer.

Contents

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Notability

There are currently no specific guidelines for the notability of songs. It is currently being discussed at Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Music/Notability_and_Music_Guidelines/Songs. Feel free to make comments there.

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Articles listed at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion

See also Wikipedia:Centralized discussion/Lists of songs.
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Articles at featured article candidates

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Naming conventions

When creating any music articles remember that song titles go in quotation marks "like this" and album titles are italicised like this.

Song articles should be named after the song, without quotation marks, for example, "Paranoid Android". If there is another article with that name use the format '<song name> (song)', for example, "Country House (song)". If there is more than one song with a title then disambiguate by putting the artist name in the title to make '<song name> (<artist name> song)', for example "Because (The Beatles song)".

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Categories

Similarly to the Albums project:

For single articles, there are two "top-level" categories: Category:Singles by artist and Category:Singles by year. Each album page is then placed into two categories, "Category:<Artist name> singles" and "Category:<year> singles", which are then placed as sub-categories into the respective top-level category. For consistency, the artist name should be the same as the title of their article (in terms of punctuation, "&"/"and", use of "The", etc.) minus any disambiguating terms of course.

For example, "Country House" by Blur was released in 1995, so it has the categories Category:Blur singles and Category:1995 singles. Category:Blur singles is a sub-category of Category:Singles by artist and Category:Blur songs. Category:1995 singles is a sub-category of Category:Singles by year.

Commercially released songs that are not singles are categorised similarly; "Category:<year> songs" and "Category:<Artist name> songs".

Note: If a song is by an artist that has had only a couple of noteworthy songs don't create a category for them; just categorise by year (and genre if relevant).

In the case of unreleased songs categorise by the year the song was written and/or the type of song.

Please do not just dump all song articles in Category:Songs. That's no help to anyone. Look through its subcategories and put it in one or more of them.

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Infobox

Click edit to the right to view the source of this singles table to copy to other single articles. Again, similarly to the Albums project, you can use the Infobox Single for the songs. 

{{Infobox Single |
| Name           = 
| Cover          = 
| Artist         = 
| from Album     = 
| B-side         = 
| Released       = 
| Format         = 
| Recorded       = 
| Genre          = 
| Length         = mm:ss
| Label          = 
| Writer         = 
| Producer       = 
| Certification  = 
| Chart position = 
| Last single    = 
| This single    = 
| Next single    = 
}}
  • Any field in brackets (such as [Writer]) is optional, and can be omitted if desired.
  • "This single" is optional. When left blank it'll display arrows.

Template:Infobox Single

For album tracks, use {{Song infobox}}.

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Single cover

Again, similarly to the Albums project:

Upload a copy of the single cover (under fair use - use the tag "{{albumcover}}"). Ideally the image should be 200px wide. It can be added in the table with the code below

<Image Name>.jpg
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Details

Try to fill in as many of the details as you can. The Released date should refer to the earliest known date. Similarly, Record label should refer to the label the single/album was originally released on. Where significantly different versions have been released (featuring alternate track listings) e.g. US vs UK, the later release date and/or record label should be mentioned in the article. Recorded should include details on where and when the song was recorded. If you can't find out some details, leave the section blank or with "???" to make it easier for someone else to fill in later.

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Chart positions

The chart positions included should probably be for the artist's home chart, charts in English speaking countries and charts in which the single reached the Top 40. For USA chart entries, use the Billboard Hot 100 which is the most comprehensive USA chart. Other US chart positions may be included, indented. Charts should be listed in order of the single's position. For example:

Note the usage of bullets in the code. 

* #1 <small>([[Italy]], [[UK Singles Chart]])</small>

To render correctly, there must be a space between the asterisk (*) and the pound sign (#).

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Chronology

The chronology section should link to the previous single on the left and the next single on the right.

  • For first singles the left box (the "Last single=" field) should be left blank.
  • For latest singles, the right box (the "Next single=" field) should be left blank, or with a " . . . ".
  • For final singles, the right box (the "Next single=" field) should be left blank.

Wikipedia's date style guidelines recommend that years should not be linked within the chronology section.

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Infobox examples

Here are some examples of articles using the infoboxes:

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Article content

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Main body

Write a description of the song. Write the basics first (this is often the information contained in the infobox). Then write about the music and lyrics, its influences and its effect on culture.

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Single track listings

If this song is a single include track listings for the single's different formats.

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Lyrics

Please do not include the song's entire lyrics in the article unless you are certain they are in the public domain. Most lyrics will be copyrighted so we cannot legally put them in an article. It may be acceptable to use small portions of a song's lyrics in the main body to illustrate a point. Lyrics that are in the public domain may be entered at Wikisource. Links to external websites that provide lyrics belong in the "External links" section.

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Charts

For displaying chart information in table format, see the Music Project's guidelines for chart tables.

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External links

Include such things stated below on the external links:

  • chords
  • lyrics
  • parodies
  • tabs/sheet music
  • anything else relevant
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Models

The following are a list of featured articles on songs and singles. These are articles that the community as a whole have judged as being some of the best articles on Wikipedia. They can serve as excellent examples for articles on singles and songs.

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See also

List of notable songs: an editable list created as part of the Missing encyclopedic articles WikiProject

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Resources

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Chart Listings

  • allmusic.com has a complete list of all charting singles on Billboard charts including Hot 100 and other singles charts (ie; R&B, country) in its articles for the artist and the album.
  • top40-charts.com has an extensive database of charts from 2000 onwards but beware of the popups.
  • ARIA has end-of-year Australian charts from 1989 onwards and a list of certifications at the end of each year for singles and albums (platinum and gold).
  • Oz Music Charts has a list of #1 hits in the US, UK and Australia dating back to the 1950's.
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