Guide

Change Genre and Year for Multiple Songs in Apple Music

Hip-Hop, Hip Hop and HipHop sit side by side in the genre list, a best-of carries the year of its reissue instead of the original, and part of the collection has no genre at all. The Music app can change fields like these for many songs at once. A few steps beforehand keep anything from going wrong.

Make the differences visible first

• In the sidebar under “Library”, choose the “Songs” view. Every song is listed there in one list.
• Right-click the column headers to show the “Genre” and “Year” columns.
• Sort by genre. Spelling variants such as “Hip Hop” and “Hip-Hop” then end up directly below each other.
• Sort by album and look at the “Year” column. An album with several different years stands out immediately.

Change many songs at once

• Select the songs: hold down Shift to select a whole range, hold down Command to pick individual songs.
• Choose “Get Info”. The app asks whether you really want to edit information for multiple items.
• On the “Details” tab, enter the new genre or year. Fields you leave alone stay as they are for every song.
• Click “OK” and the new value applies to all selected songs.

What to check before you start

• No preview. The app doesn't show beforehand which song had which value, and it doesn't remember it either. With large selections, work in smaller groups so a mistake stays manageable.
• Not every year is the same year. For reissues and remasters, you decide whether the recording year or the release year counts. Stick to one rule across the whole collection.
• One genre per song. If you want finer sorting, build smart playlists for it instead of stuffing the genre field with extras.
• Syncing with other devices. If you use iCloud Music Library, your changes travel to your other devices. So check the result before you move on to the next group.

What Truffle takes off your hands

Bulk edit in Truffle (⌘B) shows every line in a preview before anything is written. Every change you apply can be taken back, one by one or as a whole session; only deleting is not undone by Truffle. Truffle works on your Apple Music library or only on folders of local files that you choose. To try it out, the app is free: analyse 100 tracks, write 20, no feature locked.

Updated: 8 October 2026