Order the Album

How Albums Start and End: The Art of the Opener and the Closer

Published by Shaaroo Games

Ask anyone to name a track from the middle of an album and they'll struggle. Ask them for the first and last and they usually know. That's not an accident of memory. Artists and producers spend a great deal of effort on those two positions, because they do the most work: the opener sets the terms for everything that follows, and the closer decides how the album is remembered.

This guide looks at the most common strategies for starting and ending a record, using examples from albums in Order the Album. It's also a practical guide to the game, because knowing how openers and closers work gives you two free anchors on almost any tracklist.

What an opener has to do

An opening track has a unique job. It's the only song that is heard with no context, and it has to introduce the album's sound, mood and ambition in a few minutes.

The title track. A classic move. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band opens with its title song, and so do A Hard Day's Night and Help! by the same band. BLACKPINK's Kill This Love does the same, which makes the album and its lead single feel like one statement.

The literal intro. Plenty of albums simply say what they are. Ariana Grande's Eternal Sunshine opens with "Intro (End of the World)," and J. Cole's KOD opens with a track called "Intro." The Eminem Show begins with "Curtains Up (Skit)."

The statement. Some albums announce themselves loudly. Abbey Road opens with "Come Together," one of its best-known songs. Yeezus opens with "On Sight," a harsh track that tells you right away what kind of album this will be, and Renaissance opens with "I'm That Girl," an immediate declaration of confidence.

The misdirection. An opener can mislead on purpose. Billie Eilish's debut begins with a short, strange track named with a string of exclamation marks, which makes the rest of the record feel even more like a rule-breaking pop album.

The word that tells you where you are. Channel Orange opens with "Start." Graduation by Kanye West opens with "Good Morning," which, together with its album title, signals a new day and a new chapter.

What a closer has to do

A closing track has the opposite job. It has to give the album a feeling of completion, even if the album is about not being complete.

The big finale. The Beatles' Abbey Road builds to "The End," then adds "Her Majesty" as a short joke. Sgt. Pepper ends with "A Day in the Life," often considered one of the group's most ambitious songs.

The experiment. Revolver ends with "Tomorrow Never Knows," a song built on tape loops and studio effects that points far beyond where the early Beatles were. It's a closer that looks forward.

The long goodbye. Kanye West's The College Dropout ends with "Last Call," a track that runs about a dozen minutes and includes the artist telling the story of how he got his start. An unusually long last track tells you the album has something else to say.

The callback. Billie Eilish's When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? ends with "Goodbye," which briefly revisits fragments of earlier songs. It ends the album by pointing back to its beginning.

The warm landing. Kanye West's Yeezus is harsh nearly the whole way, and then ends with "Bound 2," its warmest song. Graduation ends with "Big Brother," a more personal, reflective track after a run of anthems.

The title track at the end. Some albums save the title for last. J. Cole's 4 Your Eyez Only closes with its title song, and Born Sinner ends with "Born Sinner."

The bookend. Channel Orange opens with "Start" and ends with "End," and The Eminem Show closes with "Curtains Close (Skit)." These are the easiest pairs to remember, because the album tells you directly.

Openers and closers at a glance

Here are some openers and closers drawn straight from the tracklists in the game:

What early Beatles albums tell us about closers

One fascinating pattern in the Beatles catalog is how the closers changed. On several of the early albums, the last song is a high-energy cover. Please Please Me ends with "Twist and Shout," With the Beatles with "Money (That's What I Want)," Beatles for Sale with "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby," and Help! with "Dizzy Miss Lizzy." The effect is a loud, familiar-sounding finish, a bit like the end of a live set.

By Rubber Soul the closer is an original, "Run for Your Life," and by Revolver it's an experimental piece. The change in closers tracks the band's change from a live act to a studio act, and it's visible just by reading the tracklists in order.

Using openers and closers in the game

When you're rebuilding an album in Order the Album, the first and last tracks are the best place to begin.

  1. Find the opener and closer first. If the album has an obvious intro, outro, title track or bookend pair, place those immediately.
  2. Look for the single or the anthem. Big songs usually fall in the first third, and the closer is often a slower or longer piece.
  3. Be careful with bonus tracks. Some versions add a track to the end of an album. The game uses one standard tracklist, so if the closer seems off by one, you may be thinking of a deluxe edition.
  4. Work inward. Once the ends are set, the middle gets smaller and easier.

Try it

If you'd like to practice spotting these patterns, try Channel Orange, where the bookends give you a head start, or Revolver, where the order of the last few tracks tells a story of its own. For a harder one, try Blonde, where the opener is easy and the middle is not.

Then look at your own favorite album and ask a simple question: why does it start with that song, and why does it end with this one?

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