How to rank your songs
Start with one album
If this is your first sort, one album is a good place to start. It only takes a few minutes, and you can see how the result compares with what you already feel about the album.
When you're ready, the full catalogue is waiting. Every album has its own page, linked under the tracklist on the artist's sorter. Filters lets you make something in between too, like two or three albums together or album tracks only.
How long a sort takes
The sorter uses merge sort, so it needs far fewer picks than comparing every song with every other. The most it will ask for:
- 10 songs: up to 25 picks
- 25 songs: up to 94 picks
- 50 songs: up to 237 picks
- 100 songs: up to 573 picks
- 200 songs: up to 1,345 picks
At about 5 seconds a pick, 50 songs can take around 20 minutes. The biggest sort on the site is Drake, which starts with 369 songs. That's up to 2,810 picks, so there's no rush to finish it in one go. Each artist and album page gives the count for its own songs.
Draws bring the count down a little, because two songs you've tied never need to be compared again.
Making picks
Your first reaction is usually worth trusting. Each song comes up several times against different songs, so one unsure pick rarely moves it far, and there's no need to agonise over every pair.
Can't remember how a song goes? Many cards have a play button that plays a 30-second preview from Apple's iTunes catalogue.
On a computer you can turn on Keyboard shortcuts at the bottom of the page. The left and right arrow keys pick a side, up is "I like both", down is "No opinion" and Backspace undoes. Hold Shift with left or right to play that song's preview.
When to call a draw
"I like both" and "No opinion" both count as a tie, and the two songs end up next to each other. They're there for the pairs you really can't split, like two songs you barely know.
The sorter doesn't put tied songs in order, so lots of ties leave stretches of your list in an order you never chose. If you find yourself reaching for a draw a lot, it can help to pick whichever song you'd rather hear right now.
Fixing a mistake
Undo takes back your last pick, and you can keep pressing it to go further back. A misclick is nothing to worry about.
If a song lands somewhere you didn't expect, that can be part of the fun, since it's where your picks put it. Sorting the same songs again another day shows you which placements hold up.
Taking a break
Your progress is saved in your browser after every pick. You can close the tab and find the sort later under History, at the bottom of the sorter and on the home page.
History keeps your last ten sorts, finished or not. Pin one to keep it for good. You can also save them all to a backup file. To carry on with a sort on another device, Export Session copies it as a text code that you paste into Import Session there.
If an artist puts out new songs after you've started, the sorter lists them and asks whether you want to start over with them or keep going without.
Questions
- Do I need an account?
- Nope. Open a sorter and start picking. Everything works right in your browser.
- Are my rankings sent anywhere?
- No, your sorts are saved in your own browser. A share link carries your ranking inside the link itself, so only people you give it to can see it. The privacy policy has the details.
- Why is my ranking different from last time?
- Close calls can go the other way on a different day, and a few changed picks can move several songs. Draws add to it, because the sorter never decides between two songs you tied.
- A song is missing or has the wrong title. What should I do?
- Let us know on Twitter at @tssongsorter and we'll fix it. Tracklists are checked against Apple Music, but the odd mistake slips through, so thank you for spotting it.
- Can you add an artist?
- Quite possibly! Tell us who you'd like to see on Twitter at @tssongsorter.
- How does the sorting work?
- It uses merge sort. The About page explains it, with a small example you can try.