Fix Apple Music Splitting Albums Problem

Music is indispensable for our daily life. And Apple Music is one of the most popular streaming music services. If you are an Apple Music subscriber, have you noticed that sometimes there are some same album artworks in your library on your iPhone or in your iTunes/Music library? The Apple Music songs should be definitely in the same album but there are split into 2 or more albums.

You won't be the only one who have encountered such a problem. "Music is splitting Albums into two or more", "iOS devices constantly splitting albums" and other similar questions can be easily found in Apple community. Why Apple Music is doing this when it's obviously not good for music organization. In this article, we will discuss the possible reasons and find out the possible solutions to fix the problem of Apple Music splitting albums.

Why Does the Same Album Are Split into 2 or More Albums?

There are mainly 3 reasons why Apple Music split songs in an album into different albums, which are different editions of an album, different music information and multilingual problem. let's check the details below.

1. Different editions of an album

If you search an album name in Windows iTunes, macOS Music app or iPhone Music app, usually you will find different albums with same artwork and similar album name. For example, if you search Kanye West's "Graduation" album on iPhone, tap "albums" in the search result and you will see two results. One is standard album and the other comes with an E mark. E is short for explicit which means that the album contains explicit content. If you search Taylor Swift's "1989" album, you will see standard album and the other result is the deluxe edition of the album. If you search Lady Gaga's "The Fame Monster", you will see for 4 albums which are standard album, explicit album, deluxe edition album as well as explicit & deluxe edition album. If you tap an album to check all its songs, you can also easily find "Other versions" under the song list.

In fact, releasing different versions of some albums is a great way to make more money for music company, as well as a good solution to meet the fans with different requirements. For example, you may not want to play the songs with explicit content. Or if you are a big fan of an artist, you may want to enjoy more songs from him/her, or learn more details of the artist from edits of album tracks, music video, demo recordings, etc., then a deluxe edition album will be a good choice for you.

2. Different music information

Apple Music splitting albums are often caused by the different metatags. We know that iTunes or Music app sort your music albums by artist name, however, it's possible that an album includes multiple artists, especially in a compilation album. The Artist tag or Album Artist tag of the songs may be different, or the songs of an album are released in different dates, or the albums with almost same songs are published under different labels and publishers.

3. Multilingual problem

Apple localizes foreign bands and artists by displaying the translation of the album name and artist name. If you are using your iPhone and Apple Music service in another country, but your iPhone is still in your native language like French or Japanese, then the Apple Music splitting albums problem may occur as well. For example, you may find an album with artist name in localized language and artist name in your native language.

How to Unify the Apple Music Splitting Albums into One?

To solve the problem of Apple Music splitting albums and merge them into one album, you can modify the album metatags, check and uncheck compilation option, set Off and on toggle switch of "Sync Library", as well as delete the album and re-download.

Solution 1: Modify the album metatags

Right-click on an album and click "Album Info", click "Edit items" in the popup dialog and you can check the tags like Artist, Album, Album Artist, etc. in Details tab. Check "Album Info" for seperated albums and compare the tags. If "Album Artist" tag is different, just enter same value in "Album Artist" tag. If the problem still exists, you may also need to modify Album tag and make them same value.

Solution 2: Check and uncheck compilation option

If you have tried solution 1 and the problem still exists, you can try this method which is reported by a user in Apple community. Right-click on the album, click "Album Info" and open "Details" tab, check the option "Album is a compilation of songs by various artist" and click OK to apply. Then uncheck the same option and apply it.

Solution 3: Sync Library

Sometimes, the Apple Music splitting albums problme can be resolved by disabling iCloud Music Library and enabling it again. On Windows, open iTunes, go to menu "Edit" > "Preferences" > "General" tab and find the option "iCloud Music Library". On iPhone, tap "Settings" > "Music" to find "Sync Library" toggle switch. On macOS, go to menu bar, click "Music" > "Preferences" > "General" Tab and find the option "Sync Library".

Solution 4: Delete & re-download the album

This is the simplest way. Just delete the seperated albums and re-download an album. It's recommended to download the Deluxe Edition album as it includes more songs.

TuneKeep Audio Converter: Convert Apple Music to MP3/M4A

TuneKeep Audio Converter is a dedicated Apple Music converter which can convert Apple Music songs in your iTunes or Music library to MP3, M4A or other formats with ID3 tags kept. Besides, you can also use it to edit metatags, so different versions of an album can be the same in output files. After conversion, you can add the output songs to your music library, or transfer to your iPhone to solve the Apple Music splitting albums problem.

Convert Apple Music Splitting Albums to MP3/M4A with Same Album Info?

TuneKeep Audio Converter is extremely easy-to-use. You can edit song title, album, album artist, genre and artwork before converting to MP3/M4A and it can be also used as a solution for Apple Music splitting albums problem.

Step 1: Launch TuneKeep Audio Converter

Launch TuneKeep Audio Converter on your computer and iTunes or Music application on macOS 10.15 Catalina or later will be automatically launched. The music library will be loaded and displayed as playlists in the left panel. Remember to keep both the converter and iTunes/Music app running until the conversion is completely done.

Step 2:Choose Apple Music songs

Choose a playlist in the left panel and then tick the checkboxes to select Apple Music songs. You can tick the top checkbox to select an entire playlist. You can use built-in search box to search song title, album and artist. It's convenient to choose all songs from splitting albums in the library.

Step 3: Choose output format

The default output format is MP3 and you can choose M4A from the output format list. You can also choose audio quality in profile list.

Step 4: Edit metatags

If there are songs from splitting albums, you can choose the song and edit metatags in Metadata tab. You can use same Album Artist or Album tag here to avoid splitting albums problem.

Step 5: Start the conversion

After setting up everything, you can press the "Convert" button to start converting your Apple Music tracks to MP3 or M4A. If you want to locate them, you can click the "Open Output File" button.

After conversion, you can now launch iTunes or Music app, and add the output songs into the library. As the tags of the songs in splitting albums have been modified, so the output songs added to library will be all listed in the same album. However, the original Apple Music songs are still in your library. It's recommended to delete the Apple Music songs from the library before adding the output files. Now the Apple Music splitting album problem has been fixed and you can also enjoy the songs more flexibly. Besides, the changes on your computer will be also synced to your iPhone.

If you also encounter Apple Music splitting albums problem, try the solutions introduced above as well as TuneKeep Audio Converter.