Wikipedia:Notability (songs)

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It has been suggested that this page or section be merged into Notability (music). (Discuss)

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1 Proposed guidelines
2 Creating articles on songs
3 Content
4 Dealing with problem articles
5 See also

[edit] Proposed guidelines

There is consensus that the vast majority of songs do not deserve an article specifically devoted to them. Most songs should redirect to another relevant article, such as on the album the song was originally released on, or the artist in question. Songs should only have an individual article if there is enough verifiable material to warrant a reasonably detailed article. Remember that according to Wikipedia:Verifiability "If an article topic has no reputable, reliable, third-party sources, Wikipedia should not have an article on that topic". If a song has a body of published criticism, the song should probably have an article on Wikipedia. Even if a song is otherwise notable, there is no reason to start an article which can only say the name of the song and who performed it.

The fact that a song is notable enough to deserve an article does not mean that each individual recording of a song deserves an article. Articles on different recordings should be merged into an article on the song unless that article becomes overly long or inordinately unbalanced.

A song is definitely notable if it meets any one of the following standards.

Has won a major award
Is an official anthem of a notable state, region, province or territory
Is a musical standard (e.g. a pop or jazz standard)
Is a folk song, hymn or Christmas carol with a documented history of more than fifty years

Additionally, a song may deserve an article if there is enough information for it to be spun off from a very long album article (see Wikipedia:Summary style).

A song may be notable if it meets one or more of the following standards. If a song meets three or more of these standards, it is probably notable; if it meets two, it is a good candidate for notability, and if it meets one, it may border on notability.

Has appeared in the Top 20 of a national singles chart in a large or medium sized country
Charted in the Top 100 of a national singles chart in a large or medium sized country, for at least six months (need not be consecutive)
Is a song that helped define a specific genre of music
Is the signature song of a performer
Is a historically notable song for being the first to do something interesting, stylistically or technologically
Helped launch a notable record label
Has been officially released in at least one remixed version and/or has been the subject of a music video that played on a major music network and/or was the subject of a major publicity campaign
Has been placed on a "best of" or "most influential" list from a major music media source
Has been downloaded a high number of times through digital download websites
Is a particularly well-known song from a piece of musical theater, radio, film or television
Appeared in a major motion picture

[edit] Creating articles on songs

More important than having many articles on songs is having good articles on those songs. Therefore, it may not be a good idea to create small articles on every single or song by an artist. However, it may still make sense to add information about a song to Wikipedia. The following process is a suggested method of doing so:

First, create an article on the artist.
Second, create articles on each album released by the artist.
Once there's enough independently verifiable information included about individual songs, spin the information from songs out into their own articles.

[edit] Content

See also Wikipedia:WikiProject_Songs#Article_content.

Content about songs must conform to Wikipedia content policies, including but not limited to Wikipedia:Verifiability, Wikipedia:Neutral point of view and Wikipedia:No original research.
Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information. Avoid excessive trivia and coverage of chart performance.
Extensive quotation from song lyrics is a violation of copyright and unlikely to be fair use.
Here are some ideas for what information to include about a song, where possible:
- The writers and producers of the song
- The song's meaning and relevance to the artist's life, if any
- How the song was received by critics
- The song's impact on popular culture
- Information on composition and recording of the song, including when, where, how and by whom a song was recorded
Elements which are best avoided in any song article:
- A scene-by-scene, shot-by-shot synopsis of the music video. An overall plot summary is much better; the article should not attempt to be a replacement for watching the video itself, and it should primarily be about the song.
- No attempt should be made to provide extended discussions of a song's performance on a certain chart, table listings for minor charts or week-by-week tabulations of a song's chart positions. This is contrary to the purpose of an encyclopedia.

[edit] Dealing with problem articles

If the articles are very short, consider merging them into another article (e.g. an article about the album the song came from, an article that is a list of songs by an artist, or the discography section of an article about the artist).
If the same person appears to have created a large number of problematic articles, please refer them to this page.