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Single (music)

In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record[1] or an album. One can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. A single may be released as its own retail product, or it may be connected to an album.

"SPs" redirects here. For other uses, see SP and SPS.

With the rise of digital distribution, distinctions have become more tenuous. The biggest digital music distributor, the iTunes Store, only accepts as singles releases with three tracks or fewer that are less than ten minutes each (with longer releases being classified as EPs or albums).[1] However, releases which do not fit these criteria have been promoted as singles by artists and labels elsewhere, such as on the Bandcamp storefront.


Historically, when mainstream music was purchased via vinyl records, singles would be released double-sided, i.e. there was an A-side and a B-side, on which two songs would appear, one on each side.[2]

Early history[edit]

The origins of the single are in the late 19th century, when music was distributed on phonograph cylinders that held two to four minutes' worth of audio. They were superseded by disc phonograph records, which initially also had a short duration of playing time per side. In the first two to three decades of the 20th century, almost all commercial music releases were, in effect, singles (the exceptions were usually for classical music pieces, where multiple physical storage media items were bundled together and sold as an album). Phonograph records were manufactured with a range of playback speeds (from 16 to 78 rpm) and in several sizes (including 12 inches or 30 centimetres). By about 1910, however, the 10-inch (25 cm), 78-rpm shellac disc had become the most commonly used format.


The inherent technical limitations of the gramophone disc defined the standard format for commercial recordings in the early 20th century. The relatively crude disc-cutting techniques of the time and the thickness of the needles used on record players limited the number of grooves per inch that could be inscribed on the disc surface and a high rotation speed was necessary to achieve acceptable recording and playback fidelity. 78 rpm was chosen as the standard because of the introduction of the electrically powered synchronous turntable motor in 1925, which ran at 3,600 rpm with a 46:1 gear ratio, resulting in a rotation speed of 78.3 rpm.


With these factors applied to the 10-inch format, songwriters and performers increasingly tailored their output to fit the new medium. The three-minute single remained the standard into the 1960s, when the availability of microgroove recording and improved mastering techniques enabled recording artists to increase the duration of their recorded songs. The breakthrough came with Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone": although Columbia Records tried to make the record more "radio-friendly" by cutting the performance into halves and separating them between the two sides of the disc, both Dylan and his fans demanded that the full six-minute take be placed on one side and that radio stations play the song in its entirety.[3]

Digital era[edit]

With the rise of digital downloading and audio streaming, individual tracks within an album became accessible separately. Despite this shift, the notion of a "single" from an album remains, pinpointing the more promoted or favored songs. The surge in music downloads escalated following the introduction of Apple's iTunes Store originally known as iTunes in January 2001, along with the emergence of portable music devices like the iPod.


In September 1997, with the release of Duran Duran's "Electric Barbarella" for paid downloads, Capitol Records became the first major label to sell a digital single from a well-known artist. Previously, Geffen Records also released Aerosmith's "Head First" digitally for free.[9] In 2004, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) introduced digital single certification due to significant sales of digital formats, with Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl" becoming RIAA's first platinum digital single.[10] In 2013, RIAA incorporated on-demand streams into the digital single certification.[11]


Single sales in the United Kingdom reached a low in January 2005, as the popularity of the compact disc was overtaken by the then-unofficial medium of the music download. Recognizing this, on 17 April 2005, Official UK Singles Chart added the download format to the existing format of physical CD singles. Gnarls Barkley was the first act to reach No.1 on this chart through downloads alone in April 2006, for their debut single "Crazy", which was released physically the following week. On 1 January 2007, digital downloads (including unbundled album tracks[12][13]) became eligible from the point of release, without the need for an accompanying physical.[14] Sales gradually improved in the following years, reaching a record high in 2008 that still proceeded to be overtaken in 2009, 2010 and 2011.[15]


In the late 2010s, artists began a trend of releasing multiple singles before eventually releasing a studio album. An unnamed A&R representative confirmed to Rolling Stone in 2018 that "an artist has to build a foundation to sustain" and added that "When artists have one big record and go run with that, it doesn't work because they never had a foundation to begin with." The same article cited examples such as Cardi B, Camila Cabello and Jason Derulo releasing four or more singles prior to their album releases.[16] Kanye West released singles weekly in 2010 with his GOOD Fridays series. He did this to support his upcoming release at the time, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and ended up releasing 15 tracks in the program.

Gramophone record

Lead single

List of best-selling singles

. DVD Intelligence. 17 August 2001. Archived from the original on 11 September 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2016. (subscription required)

"DVD Singles Can Be Chart Success"

. Billboard. 10 May 2006. Retrieved 10 June 2016.

"Tool Plots 'Vicarious' DVD Single"

. BBC News. 16 April 2004. Retrieved 10 June 2016.

"Web fans boost Marillion single"

Carson, B. H.; Burt, A. D.; Reiskind, H. I., "A Record Changer and Record of Complementary Design", RCA Review, June 1949

Wolf, Jessica (25 May 2003). . Archived from the original on 10 September 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2016. (subscription required)

"RIAA lauds DVD singles"