Why are my songs in the wrong order (1, 10, 11, 2) on Android?

Short answer: Audify sorts song names as text, so 10 comes before 2. Inside an album, artist or genre, open the sort menu and choose Song Number to play the songs by their track numbers. On the Folders tab, songs always follow their file names, so rename the files with a leading zero (01, 02 … 10). For any order you like, put the songs in a playlist and drag them where you want them.

Why 10 comes before 2

Names are sorted as text, one character at a time. “10” and “2” are compared by their first character, and 1 comes before 2, so a list sorted by name reads 1, 10, 11, 12, 2, 3. Sorting that reads a number by its value, so that 2 comes before 10, is called natural sort order. Audify’s name sort doesn’t work that way.

Track numbers are numbers. Album files usually carry a track number in their tags (the ID3 tag calls it “Track number/Position in set”, for example 4/9). Android reads it into its media library, and when Audify sorts by Song Number it compares the numbers by value, so track 2 comes before track 10.

Folders follow the file names. The Folders tab shows each song’s title, but it lists and plays the folder in the order of the file names, and it has no sort menu. A folder of 1.mp3 to 14.mp3 plays 1, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 2 and so on.

Fix 1: Sort an album by Song Number

1. 1. Open the album, artist or genre. Go to the Albums, Artists or Genres tab and tap the one you want, so its own page opens with its songs.
2. 2. Tap the sort icon at the top of the page. The Sort songs by menu opens.
3. 3. Choose Song Number, then Ascending Order. Ascending Order, under Show songs in, puts track 1 first. Audify remembers your choice.
4. 4. Song Number isn’t on the Songs tab. It’s offered only inside an album, artist or genre. The Songs tab sorts your whole library by Recently Added, Most Played, Date added, Name, Album, Artist, Duration or Size.

If Song Number doesn’t fix the order

Check that the songs have track numbers. Tap ⋮ next to a song and choose Edit Tags. The Track Number box shows the number Audify has for that song. A 0 means the file has none, and songs without a number come first.

Type the right number and tap Save. When you go back to the album, the song is in its new place. Audify keeps the number in its own library and doesn’t write it into the file, so other apps on your phone still see the old one. How to fix song titles, artists and albums explains what Edit Tags changes.

Albums on two or more discs play disc by disc. For multi-disc albums, Android stores the disc number inside the track number: 1001, 1002 and so on for the first disc, 2001, 2002 for the second. Song Number plays all of disc 1 before disc 2.

To fix the files for every app, change the track numbers with a tag editor on a computer, then copy the songs to your phone again.

Fix 2: Number the file names with a leading zero

1. 1. Look at the file names, not the titles. The Folders tab plays a folder in file-name order. If the files are named 1.mp3, 2.mp3 and so on up to 10.mp3, the folder plays 1, 10, 2, 3.
2. 2. Add a zero in front of the numbers below 10. Rename 1.mp3 to 01.mp3, 2.mp3 to 02.mp3 and so on up to 09.mp3, so every number has the same number of digits. For a folder of 100 songs or more, use three digits: 001, 002 … 100.
3. 3. Rename the files with a file manager. In Files by Google, tap a category or a storage device, tap More next to the file (in grid view, press and hold the file first), then tap Rename, type the new name and tap OK. On a computer, rename the files before you copy them to your phone.
4. 4. Open the folder in Audify again. The songs now play 01, 02 … 10, in the order of their new names.

Fix 3: Drag songs into any order in a playlist

1. 1. Put the songs in a playlist. Tap ⋮ next to a song and choose Add to Playlist, or select several songs first. How to make a playlist shows every way to do it.
2. 2. Open the playlist and drag the handle. Each song has a handle (three lines) just left of its ⋮ button. Hold the handle and drag the song up or down, and Audify saves the new order. This works in your own playlists and in Favourites, but not in the lists Audify fills by itself.
3. 3. Drag while the playlist shows its own order. A playlist always opens in its own order, which its sort menu calls Default. If you sort it by Name or Date added and then drag a song, Audify saves the whole list in the order you see, so choose Default before you drag.
4. 4. For one listening session, use the queue. You can drag songs in the playing queue the same way. That changes only what plays next.

If the order changed by itself

Recently Added and Date added use Android’s date, not your download date. Android records the time each file was first added to its media library. Songs that were copied, restored from a backup or moved to a new phone get a new date, so old songs can suddenly appear at the top.

Choose the sort again. On the Songs tab, tap Sort by above your songs and choose Recently Added for the newest first, or Date added with Ascending Order or Descending Order. Audify keeps your choice.

If the order keeps changing by itself, tell us from More → Settings → Send Feedback. It starts an email to feedback@audifyplayer.com with your phone model, Android version and Audify version already filled in. Add what changed and which sort you had chosen.

Common questions

Sources

“This number encodes both the track number and the disc number.”Android Developers, MediaStore.Audio.AudioColumns

• MediaStore.Audio.AudioColumns — Android Developers
• MediaStore.MediaColumns — Android Developers
• ID3 tag version 2.4.0 - Native Frames — ID3.org
• Rename a file — Files by Google Help
• Natural sort order — Wikipedia

Read next

• How to fix wrong song titles, artists and albums on Android
• How to make a playlist on Android (offline)
• Why are some of my songs missing?