10 Ways to Organize Your Vinyl Records

Why not just organize by band/ artist name then genre and then color code !? Keep it simple like I do lol

I'll organize my records as per the band managers middle name before I am organizing it by release date

I love by label then by catalog number, especially if you have a lot of releases from particular labels. Visually the spines all look the same. It also forces you to remember which label a release was on, and it helps you discover how the sound changed on a label over time.

I got only a small collection, around 120 rn. I started kinda autobiographically (without thinking of the film^^), it was basically the ordar in that i bought the records. After getting a new turntable i decided to reorganize and thought about sorting by genre, but I have a lot of records that could fit in multiple genres…
now its kinda a mix of ALL the ways: by genre, but if genres were on a spectrum (staring at punk, ending with jazz rn), bands that i got multipe records of go together by release date, bands that collaborated together and/or are at the same label are next to each other, if thats not the case its alpabetically, when i have multiple versions of the same record i go by recently listened or if its signed/different color vinyl etc… sounds much, but makes totally sense to me ^^'

I have 35,000 records. Alphabetical just became untenable and then I saw a video. A guy had albums put anywhere in his shelves but everything had a number. Those numbers were all in a data base. Number – Artist – Album – Year – Genre – Label – Country – Other (Gatefold/sealed etc). When I get a new album (or 20) I just enter them into the data base, slip a number into the plastic outer-sleeve and they go into the shelves at the end and I know where everything is. If I want a specific record or label or an album of a certain year or genre – I know instantly where it is. And I have the database on my phone, so I can use it at record stores to know what I already have.

I was alphabetical for years and but not genre specific so a couple of months ago I thought it'd be interesting to go chronologically as an exercise in trying to view how my tastes evolved through the various musical revolutions of the past 50 years. It was interesting for about an hour once it was done but now I hate it. Pain in the butt when I pull out a few albums at a time and then try to reshelve them as some don't have the release year on the sleeve or it is written in a font size that my aging eyes can't make out. Invariable I end up puting them back in what I think the year is. I've done this enough over the past 3 months that it is slowly evolving into your first listed method, that of utter chaos 🙁

I've done box sets by color before, but have switched those back to alphabetical after tiring of it (and so many are white or black, sorting by color wasn't great).

Alphabetical by band/artist (first name used if solo) then alphabetical by album within that band/artist. Booom!

Mine is similar to yours in size & organization. I have one artist that is massive (500 plus 12”/LP alone— have those in two-two tier flip bins with 4 sections each) and 2 that are large. (100-200 each 12”/LP). Within the large single artist collections I arrange much like you do.

The rest of my mainly like yours. I do add dividers within the main alphabet with artist names where I have maybe 5-10 albums or more. I really dig using the BCW record dividers!

I go back & forth on pulling out albums that are soundtracks or VA comps (though some I really have due to a favorite artist), Christmas (do have about 100), country, jazz, blues/R&B/soul .. but then many in country or R&B were also considered pop/rock/radio too in their time periods.

Thought about separating out pre-Beatles artists into a classics section that’s alphabetical but then there are artists that span that period and want to keep artist’s material together. ..

I decided I am separating Christmas records.. unless one of my 3 large collections… will make sub sections for those. Might do the same for VA comps & soundtracks as well.

Hey Andy. I have mine mostly categorized by genre (alpha and chronological within), with some exceptions. My Stereolab vinyl is a section with its own cube. I have Killing Joke, The Cure and Siouxsie all combined in its own cube. I have the 4AD label bands spanning 2 cubes. Then hardcore punk, post punk, electronic, and shoegaze each with their own cubes. New wave takes up 3 and indie rock takes up 3. Last but not least, classic rock has its own cube. It somehow works for me. Great video!