An album is a collection of related audio tracks distributed to the public. The most common way is through commercial distribution, although many smaller artists will often distribute directly to the public by selling their albums at shows or on their websites.


The term "record album" originated from the fact that 78 RPM Phonograph disc records were kept together in a book resembling a photo album. The first collection of records to be called an "album" was Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, released in April 1909 as a four-disc set by Odeon Records.• With a running time of 23 minutes per side, these new records contained as much music as the old-style album of records and, thus, took on the name "album". For many years, the standard industry format for popular music was an album of twelve songs, originally the number related to payment of composer royalties.

Today, with the vinyl record no longer being used as the primary form of distribution, the term "album" is applied to any sound recording collection, mainly those on compact disc, Although it can also refer to MiniDisc, Compact audio cassette, and MP3 albums. Cover art is also considered an integral part of the album.

Due to the large capacity of new media, the matter of how long an album should be is open to debate. According to the rules of the UK Charts, a recording counts as an album if either it has at least four tracks or lasts more than 20 minutes. Sometimes shorter albums are referred to as EPs, an abbreviation of extended play, "extended" meaning longer than a single. The term "mini-album" may also be used.

If an album becomes overly long, a recording artist may make the decision to release a double album where two discs are packaged together in a single case.

Many recording artists who have an extensive back catalogue will often re-release several CDs in one single box with a unified design often containing one or more albums as well as previously unreleased recordings. These are known as box sets.