# Having a problem sorting music

**URL:** <https://forums.plex.tv/t/having-a-problem-sorting-music/722210>\
**Category:** Metadata & Adding Files\
**Tags:** library-management\
**Created:** [June 12, 2021, 9:06pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/having-a-problem-sorting-music/722210 "2021-06-12T21:06:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![fredapril](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3be4f8/32.png) [@fredapril](https://forums.plex.tv/u/fredapril)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2021, 9:06pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/having-a-problem-sorting-music/722210/1 "2021-06-12T21:06:14Z")

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I am trying to sort my albums by artist. For some artist Plex sorts by first name and others by last name. For example I am getting the following for the first four artists after a sort:

- Arron Copeland
- Beegie Adair
- Alicia Witt
- Andreas Vollenweider

Is it possible for Plex to sort by last name only?

Server Version#: 1.22.0.4163 on a Synology NAS.

Thank you

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**Author:** ![tom80H](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/tom80h/32/19753_2.png) [@tom80H](https://forums.plex.tv/u/tom80H)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2021, 9:16pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/having-a-problem-sorting-music/722210/2 "2021-06-12T21:16:18Z")

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Do those files have embedded metadata?  
e.g. artist = `Beegie Adair`, sort-title = `Adair, Beegie`.

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**Author:** ![fredapril](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3be4f8/32.png) [@fredapril](https://forums.plex.tv/u/fredapril)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2021, 10:05pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/having-a-problem-sorting-music/722210/3 "2021-06-12T22:05:21Z")

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The albums that have metadata have first and last name in that order. About 20 percent have no metadata at all.  
Regards,

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**Author:** ![fredapril](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3be4f8/32.png) [@fredapril](https://forums.plex.tv/u/fredapril)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 7:09pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/having-a-problem-sorting-music/722210/4 "2021-06-13T19:09:39Z")

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I have updated the metadata for the albums that were missing the data. The sort does not change.

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**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 7:07am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/having-a-problem-sorting-music/722210/5 "2021-06-14T07:07:33Z")

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Once it’s in the Plex database in the wrong order, you can’t change it by editing the embedded metadata of your files.

You’ll either have to

- “[Plex Dance](https://forums.plex.tv/t/the-plex-dance/197064)” the whole artist
- edit the artist inside of Plex and change its “Sort Title” manually

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**Author:** ![fredapril](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3be4f8/32.png) [@fredapril](https://forums.plex.tv/u/fredapril)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 8:05pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/having-a-problem-sorting-music/722210/6 "2021-06-14T20:05:15Z")

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All went well. Thank you for the help.

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2021, 8:05pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/having-a-problem-sorting-music/722210/7 "2021-09-12T20:05:19Z")

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