Ed Lansink
Owning a large record collection is a dream for many vinyl enthusiasts, but organizing vinyl records can quickly become a nightmare without a strategy.
In this definitive guide, I’ll share with you my best advice on how to organize vinyl as a keen record collector, including a few tips from my own experience.
It can be quite a fun process getting stuck into it, especially if you have some direction to take away the guesswork.
Chances are – you find yourself with more records than you planned, and you’ve forgotten where you placed your favorite Black Keys or Pink Floyd album.
The thing is, it is not always easy to organize your vinyl record stash; it’s even harder to maintain a beautifully organized vinyl collection if you play them a lot. Unlike digital files, records don’t organize themself. Having a collection of records where you can find what you want easily is important, particularly if you have a larger stash.
Trust me, there’s nothing worse than that moment when you want to listen to a particular album, but you just can’t find it.
Having a tidy collection can be the difference between stress and relaxation. Proper vinyl organization also helps you to prevent accidentally buying duplicates, particularly when/if you catch the vinyl bug and end up buying regularly.
If you maintain some good habits with your vinyl records, then you can organize your records in order with little effort.
Before we get into specific organization techniques, here are a few general tips that help!
I was one of those people for a long time. I used to refer to it as “organized chaos,” and I’d have to take a mental note of the last place I put each record. It can work, although I would often forget where an album was and then have to spend 20 minutes looking for it.
In some respects, this may be called the “order of last played.” Naturally, the vinyl records you listen to more often end up at the front of the stack. I “managed” my collection this way for a long time owing to my hectic schedule, although as my collection grew, it became too inconvenient, and I had to change.
If you choose this path, you’re declaring that you want chaos in your life. While it may work for some people, it is likely not a long-term solution as your collection grows. If you have a room full of unsorted vinyl records, it quickly becomes a nightmare.
Needless to say, I stopped this ‘strategy’ (if you could call it that) many years ago.
Best for: New collectors with small collections who enjoy “the random life.” Or anarchists.
This method is, of course, one of the most commonly used by any record store you visit.
Organizing a vast collection into smaller, easier-to-manage groupings based on the genre is an easy and effective method for organizing your music.
It’s critical to make your genres as diverse as possible to save storage space on your shelf.
For example, you could condense house, techno, trance, tech house, deep house, etc., into ‘House & Techno.’
Or punk rock, math rock, progressive rock, alternative rock, and indie rock into ‘Rock.’ Make a separate category for your country, hip-hop, or electronica recordings if you have many of them.
Everyone’s collection is different, and this will need a lot of input on your end to decide how best to organize your records.
Storage options, shelving systems, and accessibility will also factor into this. If you have the option for many subcompartments, you can organize across more styles. I aim for 6 main subsections.
Best for: Collectors with broad tastes and DJs.
Another method to categorize vinyl albums is by their atmosphere or feel.
There are many different ways to organize vinyl records, and each one is unique; however, this genuinely seems like the most logical one for a casual music listener.
A music collection sorted in this fashion makes finding the right track for your mood easily accessible.
Let’s look at Norah Jones as an example here. Jazz is a natural fit for her style. However, it may also be categorized as “easy listening,” “chilled,” or “relaxing.” The same is true for other jazz music artists like Miles Davis.
How you choose your moods will be best left up to you and your preferences. But I’d recommend you organize something like – Relaxed, Energized, Aggressive, Romantic, and Old-school. Although sort it any way you would find it easiest to search through.
Considering how your vinyl records make you feel, or what situations they sound best in, may take some time – but it’s worth it. It also requires a bit more thinking than other methods, but you may find this is a fun and interesting task.
You can even take it a step further by organizing the moods alphabetically.
Best for: Casual listeners, Those with a large array of genres.
The simplest and most effective approach to arranging your vinyl records is to alphabetize them. It’s the way most libraries are arranged.
If you don’t want to organize your music like a madman, then alphabetically is the approach for you. Whether you choose the band name or the first or last name of the artist is up to you, but choose whichever feels most natural.
Because you’ll be mixing artist and band names, I find it easier to use the first letter of the band’s first word and the first letter of an artist’s surname. So Depeche Mode would be next to Bob Dylan on my record shelf.
For example, sorting by first name – Kanye West would be next to Kings of Leon, not Bill Withers (who would be next to the Black Keys).
This is a great way to organize records, although if you only have a small selection, it might be overkill.
There are two choices here, organized by artist name/band name or by album title.
Using alphabetic vinyl record dividers is an excellent way to make this system even easier to navigate!
Best for: People who know their records inside and out, meticulous organizers, and large collections.
This is another great way to organize your vinyl record collection without needing advanced knowledge or memory.
With this technique, you simply organize the music by the album title alphabetically. This makes it super easy to find and play any record you want to listen to.
For example, ‘Appetite for Destruction’ would be followed by ‘Back in Black,’ then ‘Combat Rock,’ and so on.
This can be an especially good option for people who have a lot of albums from the same artist. Although, you may want to keep albums from bands together, in which case organizing by band name is easier.
This also works well as a sub-system when sorting by genre.
Best for: People with loads of classic albums.
This system sorts vinyl records based on the order in which you bought them. This is quite fun and highlights your journey of discovery through bands and records.
Although I wouldn’t organize my stash this way, I know that a lot of collectors identify with the personal memories attached to each album or single record. Modern streaming services don’t give you the same feeling of a personal journey and traveling the route of life.
High Fidelity pioneered this technique. If you haven’t seen the movie, watch the video below.
Best for: People with a great memory.
There are, however, a few ways on the list that are a bit more esoteric as we go along. Many collectors like to organize their collection chronologically – by year of release. This creates a kind of timeline effect, with new vinyl records at one end and old ones at the other.
Many rock albums from the 1960s and 1970s don’t sound right next to ones released years later, even though they are in the same genre. So it can help to create a nice cohesiveness across the shelf. Sort of like a vinyl time machine.
Best for: Those who love old classics as well as new music. Vinyl Record Historians.
Organizing your vinyl library by the color of the cover is a popular practice among #shelfie aficionados throughout the globe.
Whilst this creates a nice visual effect, it isn’t the most practical method. Also, many albums have black or white spines, which makes it more confusing. If you want to make your vinyl room look nice, it’s great. But you will have to search harder to find specific records, so I’d personally avoid this organizing with this technique to save time.
Best for: #aesthetic
Organizing by record values or the price you paid for them is another good alternative.
I think there is an element of this that happens subconsciously. You could split your vinyl records between cheap second-hand ones and more expensive new ones and even have a section for the high-value pieces. This may be especially helpful if you intend to sell records to buy new ones.
Best for: Expensive record collections.
This also probably happens automatically in many cases, but you can organize your vinyl records in the order you last played them. As you pull a vinyl from the collection, place it at the front of the stack after you finish listening.
This way, you create a “recently played” system. I also recommend using this alongside a more advanced method. Have a small section of recently played records to grab your favorite albums quickly.
Best for: Keeping a healthy rotation, small collections.
You may want to sort records by their level of quality and condition. This can be sorted using the vinyl grading system.
Keep your mint records together, followed by near mint, very good, good, poor, etc. This may be especially helpful if you have multiple vinyl records of the same album. For instance, one record may be poor, and the other mint.
You can learn more about the Goldmine Record Grading system here → Record grading 101.
Best for: Vinyl sellers and quality fanatics.
Mixing multiple methods of organizing can also be super helpful.
Think of it as simultaneously using a Macro- and Micro-system.
For example, divide records into boxes based on the genre of the music. Then alphabetically sort the records within each genre.
If you have a bunch of albums for each band/artist, I’d recommend sorting the overall collection alphabetically by name, then sub-sorting each band’s discography by year of release.
Other than the organization system, there are a few other factors to consider when storing your records to ensure you preserve their quality as best possible.
This is just a short outline, but for more information, check out my full guide → How to store vinyl records.
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I'm a passionate vinyl collector, analog fan, and lifetime enthusiast of most things audio.
On VinyliQ I help fellow vinyl collectors enjoy their hobby to the max, sharing my knowledge about and passion for vinyl.