Joe Maring/Android Authority
TL;DR
- YouTube Music is testing new playlist sorting options, namely track titles, artists, and albums.
- The feature was spotted in app version 9.20.52 on Android, but it appears to be a gradual, server-side rollout.
- These standard alphabetically sorted tools bridge a big feature gap with competitors like Spotify and Apple Music.
YouTube Music has its own fan base. However, the platform is not perfect, bugs such as the inability to play the next track (!!) are affecting many users. Even if you dismiss bugs as rare occurrences (they’re not), the app is also missing several basic features that have been present in competing apps for centuries, like the ability to sort playlists by track title. It seems Google has finally listened, as users are now seeing more sorting options in YouTube Music.
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reddit user stevenmc8602 Seen new sorting options for their playlists: title, artist, and album, in addition to currently available options, like top votes, manual ordering, newest first, and oldest first (h/t) piunikaweb).
A Reddit user is seeing these options in YouTube Music v9.20.52 on Android, but these changes are likely being rolled out via a server-side flag, so not all users may see them even with the updated app version. I’ve checked it on my phone, and I don’t see the options yet, so we’ll have to be patient for a bigger rollout.
It’s actually mind boggling that we had to wait until 2026 for something as basic as sorting playlists by artist or album. While Spotify and Apple Music users have enjoyed these organizational luxuries for more than a decade, YouTube Music users have had to make do with disorganized solutions or simply accept the chaotic energy of non-alphabetical sorting.
It’s great to see these standard sorting options finally coming out. Hopefully, Google doesn’t drag its feet on this one. If you’ve been waiting to finally organize your thousands of saved tracks without losing your mind, keep an eye out for its app updates in the coming weeks.
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