This is a
WikiProject, an area for focused collaboration among Wikipedians. New participants are welcome; please feel free to participate!
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WikiProject Songs is a project intended to improve articles on songs. The goal is to make the song articles provide basic information in a quick and easy-to-read fashion. This project is based on WikiProject Albums, and uses similar templates. Both are part of WikiProject Music.
Most songs do not merit an article and should redirect to another relevant article, such as for a prominent album or for the artist who wrote or prominently performed the song. Songs that have been ranked on national or significant music charts, that have won significant awards or honors or that have been performed independently by several notable artists, bands or groups are probably notable. A separate article is only appropriate when there is enough verifiable material to warrant a reasonably detailed article; permanent stubs should be merged to articles about an artist or album.
Albums and songs that have been nominated for deletion are listed at Wikipedia:WikiProject Deletion sorting/Albums and songs.
The title of an article about a song should be the song's title itself without quotation marks, for example, Paranoid Android. If there is another article with that title, use the format '<song name> (song)', for example, " Wonderwall (song)". If there is more than one song article with a title then disambiguate by putting the artist name in the title to make '<song name> (<artist name> song)', for example " Because (Beatles song)". The possessive case is not to be used either: thus, "Beatles song," and not, "Beatles' song".
If the song is in a foreign language and titled using the Latin alphabet, then, unless the song is commonly known by a translated name in the English-speaking world, the original foreign title should be used. This may require using accented letters which are not used in English. Examples: " Ein bißchen Frieden", " Je n'ai que mon âme", " Fångad av en stormvind".
If the single title does not use the Latin alphabet, the article name should be the transliterated form of the title using Latin characters. Examples: " Kaihōku" instead of 解放区 or "Liberated District", " Ya Soshla S Uma" not "Я сошла с ума" or "I've Lost My Mind", " Sanso Gateun Neo (Love Like Oxygen)" instead of "산소 같은 너 (Love Like Oxygen)" or "You're Like Oxygen (Love Like Oxygen)".
When creating any music articles remember that song and single titles go in quotation marks "like this" and album titles are italicised like this. The song title should be in boldface in the first sentence and in infobox chronologies, but the surrounding quotation marks should not be in boldface.
When linking to song articles, use piping to conceal the disambiguation terms, for example use the syntax "[[Because (The Beatles song)|Because]]", to make the link simply appear as " Because".
Also, although piping is normally discouraged on disambiguation pages, song and album titles are an exception:
Several infoboxes are available for song articles. The most frequently used is Template:Infobox song. Other more specialized infoboxes are available, such as Template:Infobox musical composition (also used for hymns), Template:Infobox anthem, and Template:Infobox song contest entry (for Eurovision Song Contest entries). Please see those template description/documentation pages for their proper use.
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 (with citations, of course). Because the entire article is about the song, it is recommended that there be no section headers with titles such as "Song information" or "About the song".
Stick to factual material. Do not include "original research" such as opinions about a song, or interpretations of the lyrics or even statements about what the song is "about", unless they can be provided in the form of quotes that can be cited from sources with some authoritative insight (such as the songwriter or a notable performer). Other websites are available for people who want to give subjective interpretations of songs.
A separate section for listing the tracks of various single releases should not be added to articles as a standard practice. Instead, they should only be added when they are the subject of extensive commentary in the article. For example, a separate track listing section is unnecessary to list a B-side that is only briefly mentioned in the article. However, in more complex situations, such as when multiple formats/tracks/remixes are discussed in the article, they may be justified.
Do not include the song's entire lyrics or embed the song's music video in the article unless you are certain they are in the public domain. Quotations of the work within the analytical framework can fall into the fair use provisions within US copyright law (and to a lesser extent fair dealing and related concepts within other jurisdictions). However, how much of a song you can quote is open to interpretation, but you should avoid copyright paranoia. Examples of works still under copyright can be found at Category:FA-Class song articles and should be used as guidelines. Lyrics and music videos that are in the public domain may be entered at Wikisource. Links to external websites that provide lyrics belong in the "External links" section.
Per Wikipedia policy, please do not link to websites that are in violation of the artist's own copyright. See Wikipedia:Copyrights#Linking to copyrighted works. If there is a question regarding the licensing or accuracy of the information, including songwriter credits, please do not add a link. See Wikipedia:External links#Links normally to be avoided.
When linking to a music video on YouTube use only the videos that have been uploaded by the musician(s), the record companies, or
Vevo. The official Billboard.com YouTube channel can also be used. Links can be incorporated into the infobox (via |misc=
using {{
External music video}}) or the external links of the article using {{
YouTube}}. Though the list of musician channels varies, a list of the acceptable record labels and distributors is presented below:
Songs that are popular enough to appear on prominent record charts should have a "Chart performance" section. This section describes the song's history on the record charts and usually includes a table showing the song's peak chart positions. For help researching a song's chart history see the chart listings section below. For more information about displaying chart information in table format, see the Music Project's guidelines for chart tables.
Articles about songs should contain information on important musical characteristics such as:
Only cover versions/renditions important enough to have gained attention in their own right should be added to song articles. When a song has been recorded or performed by more than one artist, a particular artist's rendition should be included in the song's article (or perhaps in a separate article; see below), but only if at least one of the following applies:
Per WP:NSONG, cover songs can be addressed in separate articles, provided that the article on the cover can be reasonably detailed based on facts independent of the original. However, cover versions/renditions that are important enough to have gained attention in their own right should also be addressed in the article about the original, even if it is not significant enough for a standalone article. For lists of recordings by date, use an instance of {{ Timeline-event}} for each entry; see WP:DATELIST.
Songs are heard and referenced in movies, TV shows, commercials, during political campaigns and at sporting events; songs are widely adopted in popular culture but not every instance is noteworthy. The use of a song is only worthy of noting in its respective article when it:
Taking care to not synthesize or infer that sources are discussing the use of the song; if the above criteria are met, next consider the value of the information for the readers' knowledge and understanding of the subject, and if the article about a song could be considered incomplete without the addition. If the use of the song is noteworthy and informative:
In any event, the uses of the song should not be given undue weight, and verifiability and notability do not dictate that the details should be included.
A fair example of the noteworthy use of a song in other media is of Lou Reed's song " Perfect Day" being used in an episode of Fear the Walking Dead.
A tragic example of what happens when these guidelines are not respected can be seen in the "In popular culture" section of the article about "Happy Together" by the Turtles.
Follow the guidelines at WP:External links
Material that can be linked include:
As per WP:MUSICSTREAM songs streamed on a licensed website (such as Radio3Net) or hosted on an official website, such as an official Myspace page or a band's or record company's own website, may have a link placed in the External links section according to Wikipedia guidelines. There should be a note regarding the media used (" Adobe Flash"), and that it may not be available in all regions ("streamed copy where licensed"). Care should be taken that the site is hosting the music legally; that it does not meet any of the criteria for links to be avoided; that, as a minimum, the site is accessible by the main English regions North America, UK and Australia; and that the link is formatted appropriately. Suggested formats are:
It is recommended that "<!-- This is a licensed stream for the song, which is allowed under Wikipedia polices -->
" is placed beside the link, and that a comment is made in the edit summary such as "External links: [[WP:ELYES]]#2; [[WP:MUSICSTREAM]]"
Per WP:CATEGORY, a song may be categorized by a characteristic (such as producer, composer, record-label, etc.) only if it is a defining characteristic of the song (i.e. reliable, secondary sources commonly and consistently define the song as having the characteristic—not just mention it in passing or for completeness).
Song articles should be placed into the following categories whenever applicable:
For example, " Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)" by the Temptations was written in 1969 and released in 1971 as a single, so it is in Category:The Temptations songs, Category:1969 songs and Category:1971 singles, Category:Gordy Records singles, Category:Songs written by Barrett Strong, Category:Songs written by Norman Whitfield while Category:The Temptations songs is in Category:Songs by artist, Category:American soul songs, Category:American funk songs and Category:American rhythm and blues songs. "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)" is also in the category Category:The Rolling Stones songs because the the Rolling Stones recorded a notable version which is referred to in the article.
Notes:
If the article is a stub, please use one of the following stub templates at the bottom of the page:
The following is 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.
The full list can be seen at Category:FA-Class song articles
Songs Unassessed | |||||||
|
Please add
Template:WikiProject Songs to the song article's talk page. An assessment of the article's quality may be included by specifying one of the following codes: |class=X
, where X
(for a
stub), Start
, C
, B
, A
, GA
or FA
(see
Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Assessment for explanation of terms). Note that the parameter and values are case sensitive.
The rating by importance is not currently implemented, as the project is currently rating articles based on their class for use by the Version 1.0 team and others, including this project itself. Importance is a parameter of potential use to the project itself, possibly in determining which articles are top contenders for future collaboration. However, as the specific importance of articles varies between projects, it is less of a priority right now than determining the quality of the articles which fall within the scope of this project.
Song pages by quality | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Quality | |||||||
Total | |||||||
FA | 140 | ||||||
FL | 335 | ||||||
GA | 2,765 | ||||||
B | 1,093 | ||||||
C | 6,401 | ||||||
Start | 30,121 | ||||||
Stub | 41,944 | ||||||
List | 3,406 | ||||||
Category | 25,655 | ||||||
Disambig | 412 | ||||||
File | 65,680 | ||||||
Project | 30 | ||||||
Redirect | 48,804 | ||||||
Template | 643 | ||||||
NA | 40 | ||||||
Assessed | 227,469 | ||||||
Unassessed | 64 | ||||||
Total | 227,533 | ||||||
WikiWork factors ( ?) | ω = 436,682 | Ω = 5.30 |
To add yourself as a member, put the userbox labeled {{ User WikiProject Songs}} on your user page.
This user is a participant in WikiProject Songs. |
To see who has joined the project, see Category:WikiProject Songs participants.
List of notable songs: an editable list created as part of the Missing encyclopedic articles WikiProject.
Requested Articles; an editable list of requested song articles, to fulfil or add your own.
Check the reliability of the chart for a specific country through WP:CHARTS. Some sources include:
Watch the 1500 most popular song pages!
Did you know
Articles for deletion
Proposed deletions
Categories for discussion
Redirects for discussion
Files for discussion
Miscellany for deletion
Featured article candidates
Featured list candidates
Good article nominees
Good topic candidates
Good article reassessments
Peer reviews
Requested moves
Articles to be merged
Articles to be split
Articles for creation