On this page
Updated . Example details checked against Lemonade, Parkwood Entertainment, 2016.
The APA format
Pattern
Artist. (Year). Song title [Song]. On Album title. Label. URL
- Artist as the author, the way the recording credits them (APA 7, 10.13).
- [Song] in brackets after the title, in sentence case, with names kept capitalized.
- On introduces the album, in italics.
- Label as the publisher. Separate two labels with a semicolon.
- Streaming links are optional; add one only if it helps readers find the recording.
A real example
Reference entry
Beyoncé. (2016). Formation [Song]. On Lemonade. Parkwood Entertainment.
In-text citation
(Beyoncé, 2016)
When details are missing
- A whole album: Artist. (Year). Album title [Album]. Label.
- A single with no album: leave out the “On” part.
- A quoted lyric: a time stamp: (Beyoncé, 2016, 2:31).
Common mistakes
- Italic song title. Only the album is italic.
- Spotify or Apple Music as the label. The label released the recording; the app only plays it.
- Quoting long stretches of lyrics. Song lyrics are protected; quote a line or two and cite the time.
Or let Format do it.
Choose Song or album and fill in the artist, title, album, label and year. Format writes the References entry and the in-text citation in APA 7, exactly as shown above, and builds the References page when you export to Word or PDF. MLA and APA are free.
Questions
Classical recordings?
The composer leads, with the performer in brackets after the title.
Year of which version?
The recording you listened to.
I read the lyrics on a website. What do I cite?
The song, if you quote what you heard; the lyrics page, as a web page, if you quote its text.
More citation guides
The same source in other styles
Similar sources in APA
Every source kind is on the APA page, and every style is on How to cite.