How to Organize Kpop Albums: An Easy Guide [2023]

Last Updated on October 28, 2023 by Eden

Collecting kpop albums is something a lot of kpop fans take seriously and it can get pretty addicting. With so many different types of albums and versions to choose from, it’s easy to end up with a sizable collection.

​When it comes to how to organize kpop albums, you’ve got some different options. The best way to organize a kpop albums collection can depend on a few things, including:

• The number of albums you own
• How much room or space you have to work with
• The amount of time and money you’re able to invest in organizing kpop albums
• Whether you plan to continue adding to your collection

Organizing k-pop albums really isn’t hard work; you just need a plan for how to do it. Whether you’re just getting started with your kpop album collection or you’ve been buying albums from your favorite groups or soloists for years, these tips can help you come up with an organizing strategy that works. 

---

---

How to Organize Kpop Albums Step by Step

Ready to organize your kpop albums but don’t know where to start? It’s easy to get overwhelmed but having a simple checklist to follow can take the stress out of the organization process. 

Step 1: Assess how much space you have

The first step before you start moving any albums around is to look at how much space you have to work with. 

For example, can you dedicate an entire wall of your room to kpop album organization? Just one corner? A shelf?

Knowing how much space you realistically have matters because it can determine what type of storage options you choose. 

Step 2: Decide how many albums you’re going to display

If you already know what kind of space you’re working with, the next step is figuring out just how much of your collection you have room for. 

​When your kpop collection is still on the smaller side, you might be able to display all of them. But what if you have 300+, 400+, or 500+ albums? 

At that point, you might have to do some prioritizing. 

For example, maybe BTS is your ult group but you also stan a few other boy groups or girl groups. So you might decide to just display your BTS albums, Army Bomb and other merch if you only have a shelf or two to work with. 

Or maybe you enjoy a lot of various artists and you don’t know who should get priority on your kpop shelves. You could pick your top album from each group and just display those, so all of the primary artists you listen to are represented. 

Ideally, you have room to organize and display all of your kpop albums. But if you don’t, it helps to know how to pare it down. 

Step 3: Pick the right storage options

​This next step is important because if you buy a storage option and decide later you don’t like it, then you’ve either got to learn to live with it or spend even more money to replace it. 

That being said, here are some of the best k-pop album storage options that I’ve personally used, along with the pros and cons of each one.

6-shelf bookcases

A six-shelf bookcase offers plenty of room for organizing kpop album collections and having all of the brightly colored albums against a white background just looks really nice. This is the option I chose for how to organize kpop albums and I’m super happy with how it turned out.

A lot of kpop fans swear by the Billy bookcases sold by IKEA but if you don’t live near an IKEA store, you’ll pay a lot of money to have them delivered. I chose these similar white 6-shelf bookcases from Amazon (four of them) which look great but cost a lot less. 

Pros	Cons
Bookshelves can hold a lot of kpop albums and merch, which is great if you have a large or growing collection. They’re usually pretty affordable, especially if you’re opting for less expensive Amazon versions. You can choose white or black shelves, or bookcases with fewer shelves based on how much room you have.	A 6-shelf bookcase can take up a lot of space so they may not work for everyone. If you need to buy multiple bookshelves, you could easily spend a few hundred dollars on storage alone.

Narrow shelves

A narrower bookcase is a great alternative to regular bookshelves if you don’t have as much space. You could easily fit one of these shelves into a corner or smaller space to hold albums, lightsticks, kpop plushies or other merch. 

Pros	Cons
Narrow shelves can still hold a lot of kpop albums, without taking up much room. You can choose white or black shelves, or bookcases with fewer shelves based on how much room you have. A narrow shelf can work well if you have an odd-sized space to work with.	Cost-wise, you’ll likely pay the same as what you would for a full-sized bookshelf. You might have less room to display kpop merch or lightsticks on a narrower shelf.

Storage cubes

Storage cubes are another popular option for organizing kpop albums and merch, and they’re actually what I started with when I first began collecting. They’re great because you can place them horizontally or vertically, depending on your preference.

And you can combine multiple cube shelving units together to create a “wall” effect that looks really nice when it’s all filled in with kpop albums and merch. Cloth storage bins can add some color and that’s a great way to store folded posters, magazines, collect books, and other items. 

Pros	Cons
It’s easier to create themes or cute aesthetics by album or group since you can assign one to each cube. Storage cubes with deeper shelves can allow you to store a lot of albums or other items in a smaller space. You can arrange storage cubes vertically or horizontally to fit your space.	Backless storage cubes can be annoying since albums or other merch can fall out of them. If you have a large collection of kpop albums, you might need a lot of storage cubes to hold them all.

Wall shelving

If you don’t have a lot of room for bookcases or cube units, you could also mount some simple floating shelves on the walls to hold your kpop collection.

These cute white shelves from Amazon are sturdy and they’re wide enough to hold quite a few albums. Just be sure to hang your shelves using the right screws so they’re held securely in place. 

Pros	Cons
Floating shelves can create a cute aesthetic for organizing kpop albums, without taking up much space. Wall shelves are usually cheaper than buying bookcases or storage cubes, which is great if you’re on a budget. Sturdy shelves can support albums, lightsticks, and other merch.	You might only have room to showcase a few albums from your kpop collection with shelves. If you don’t install them properly, they could fall and send your precious albums crashing to the floor.

Under the bed

Under the bed storage containers can hold kpop albums that you might not plan to display right now. If you’re following a rotation system, then these clear storage bins can keep your albums clean and dust-free until you’re ready to pull them out and add them to your shelves. 

Pros	Cons
Under-the-bed storage can give you a lot of room to stash kpop albums that you’re not displaying. Containers can protect your albums from dust or pet hair until you’re ready to bring them out again. Storing albums under the bed out of sight might be preferable if you don’t have a lot of space or lean toward a minimalist look for your room.	Pulling bins out from under the bed each time you want to add new albums or take old ones out can get annoying. It’s easy to forget what you have when albums are stored out of sight if you’re not keeping track of them with a spreadsheet or app.

Step 4: Choose a theme or aesthetic

The next step is probably the most fun since it’s time to decide how to place your albums on the shelves. There are lots of different options for how to organize kpop albums and the one you choose can depend on the kind of look you’re going for. 

Here are a few different ideas for organizing kpop albums by theme:

• Color code your albums with a different color assigned to each shelf (i.e., one shelf for red, one for pink, one for purple, etc.)
• Dedicate one shelf to each artist or group that you collect albums for
• Give signed kpop albums their own shelf
• Organize albums in chronological order of their release
• Group albums by the same artist by size
• Alphabetize albums by group or as an entire collection
• Organize albums by generation
• Put albums from “favorite” artists on top shelves, leaving miscellaneous albums or kpop photocard books on bottom shelves
• If you’re using a cube storage unit, dedicate one cube to an individual artist or album

It’s okay to experiment with moving things around until you get the aesthetic that you want. And depending on how much room you have, you may need to try different stacking methods (horizontally and vertically) to find a system that allows all of your albums to fit. 

Step 5: Fill out your shelves with albums first

You’ve chosen your theme, now it’s time to start filling out your shelves! This step can take a little time or a lot, depending on how many albums you have to organize.

If you’re using a 6-shelf bookcase, you might want to start from the bottom and work your way up so that it’s not overweighted on top. If you do start with the top shelves first, make sure that you’ve anchored your bookcase to the wall using the equipment included so that there’s no risk of it falling over. 

Step 6: Add in other kpop merch last

​Once you’ve got all your albums on your shelves, you can go back and add in any other merch you want to display. 

For example, you might want to put lightsticks for each group with that group’s albums. Or you may have some cute decorated toploaders you want to showcase. 

This is where you can get really creative and fine-tune your shelves so that they look exactly how you want them to. 

Here are some examples of what my kpop shelves look like with different merch added in. 

​What if you only have a few items to display? That doesn’t matter! 

Remember, your collection is for your enjoyment. And as long as it looks the way you want it to, you shouldn’t worry about how much stuff someone else has. 

Step 7: Maintain your kpop album collection

You might have thought you were done organizing your kpop albums by this point. But not quite. 

Regular maintenance is a good idea for the following reasons:

• If you plan to keep buying new albums, then you might need to do some reorganizing so you can work them into your collection. 
• Changing tastes in music might necessitate weeding out some albums from your kpop collection. 
• When dust piles up, you might need to pull some things off your shelves to clean them. 
• You might get bored with your current setup and decide to completely reorganize your albums from top to bottom.

What if your kpop collection is getting too big to manage? 

You might decide to sell some of your kpop albums for cash. But if you prefer to hold on to them, that’s probably not an option.

At that point, you might benefit from having an organizational system that you can keep track of digitally. For example, you might use Google Sheets to create a simple spreadsheet for tracking albums.

You can create a sheet and list corresponding albums by:

• Artist name
• Album title
• Album type (i.e., mini album, full album, repackage, etc.)
• Album version
• Release date
• Purchase date

Creating a Google form could be a good idea if you have a lot of albums and you plan to keep collecting. You can also use a spreadsheet to track digital albums or non-album purchases, like concert DVDs, official photobooks or Season’s Greeting sets. 

I’ve got a free Google spreadsheet you can grab to track your albums. It includes columns for recording albums by:

• Artist name
• Album title and description
• Release date
• Version owned
• Number of each version owned

There’s also room to specify whether a particular version you have is signed or not and what versions you might be missing.

👉The sheet is View Only, so you’ll need to make a copy of it to start using it. You can easily see how many albums you have by highlighting and clicking Column E, then checking the SUM total in the bottom right-hand corner.

I added a few examples of my Ateez album collection in the sheet so you can get a feel for how to use it. You can customize it by adding columns to track DVDs, preorders, or shipments from group order managers that you’re waiting to have fulfilled.

Just click the button to access the sheet!

How to Organize Kpop Albums When You Don’t Have a Lot of Space

If you’re limited to organizing a kpop album collection in a small space then it pays to know how to make the most of it. Here are a few tips for keeping things organized when space is tight. 

• Opt for deeper shelving. ​If you’re opting for bookcases to cube storage units to hold your kpop albums, consider choosing ones with larger height and depth measurements. A storage cube with shelves measuring 13×13 inches, for example, can hold quite a few kpop albums since they’re slightly wider than standard cube shelving.
• Try an album rotation. ​Depending on how many kpop albums you have, you might not be able to display them all at the same time. If that’s the case, you might try rotating albums out regularly so you’re displaying them at different times. 
• Set up a single kpop shelf. When space is absolutely at a premium, you might not have room for an entire bookcase or cube shelving. You could pick a few of your favorite albums and place them on a kpop shelf where you can enjoy them. And if you’re doing an album rotation, you could swap them out each month or every month for a fresh set of albums or display new albums any time your favorite groups have a comeback.
• Give away or sell some of your albums. If you don’t have room for all your albums or photo cards, you could give them away or sell them to fellow fans. If you have a blog or Etsy shop you’re trying to promote, then hosting a giveaway on social media platforms can be a great way to get some new visitors while shedding some of your unwanted albums. And if you’d rather get cash for your albums instead, you could sell them at an online store like Mercari, eBay or even Etsy.

Here’s one more tip for organizing a kpop albums collection when space is tight: buy digital versions instead. 

​Buying digital albums means you don’t have anything to store physically, so you don’t have to worry about running out of room. And it can be a better way to show your support for your favorite groups if you’re also concerned about being eco-friendly with your kpop purchases. 

Examples of How to Organize Kpop Albums

When you’re trying to figure out what to do with your kpop albums collection, it can help to check out what other people are doing.

You can dive into the r/kpopcollections thread on Reddit, scroll through Pinterest and Instagram, or watch a few kpop organization videos on YouTube and TikTok. You’re guaranteed to find a good example of how to organize kpop albums that fits your aesthetic. 

Here’s a video from one of my favorite kpop YouTube channels highlighting how they organize a kpop album collection that’s 800+ albums strong!

Tips for Organizing Other K-pop Merchandise

Albums don’t just come with a CD in most cases. Depending on the types of kpop albums you’re buying, they usually include some extra kpop goods, like:

• Large or small photocards
• Postcards or digital prints
• A photo booklet
• Stickers
• Mini posters
• Other extras, like standees, magnets or special trading cards that are separate from photo cards

If you’re buying physical albums or other kpop merchandise from online kpop stores or online marketplaces, you might also get other freebies like full-sized posters as well. Likewise, if you go to k-pop cup sleeve events or kpop concerts regularly you might have a collection of cute little cup sleeves or concert tees. 

You might also be buying fansite goods, like bags, backpacks and hoodies, or supporting fan accounts by purchasing acrylic keychains or custom lightstick charms on Etsy.

As someone who owns a lot of these items, I can tell you those are all things k-pop fans like to collect and it’s a great way to support small businesses. But what do you do with all of it?

Here are a few ideas for storing other kpop items besides albums:

• Use album stickers to decorate phone cases, tablet cases or laptops
• Put your favorite photo card inside the back of your phone case if it’s clear
• Create a framed collage using album inserts and stickers
• Frame mini posters and hang them on the wall
• Use specific photos from photo books, along with inserts and stickers to create some cute kpop journal pages
• Purchase a large 3-ring binder to hold all of your kpop photocards
• Use a smaller, custom photocard binder to display cards for your favorite kpop bias
• Fold concert tees and frame them to hang on the wall
• Line kpop lightsticks up on top of your shelves with the boxes behind them

That photo is a mini collage I made using inserts from one of my Ateez albums. I used some stickers from the album along with a few other ones I use for kpop journaling and it made a super cute addition to my kpop shelf!

Final Thoughts on How to Organize Kpop Albums

Organizing kpop albums can take a little time but it’s actually a lot of fun once you get started. You can devote space to your favorite k-pop star or group, organize albums by color, or show off your lightsticks. And if you get bored with the way your collection looks or you simply want to change things up, you can always reorganize them to create a different aesthetic. 

---

Save 10% on all Etsy orders with code: CUTEFROG10

---

What tips do you have for how to organize kpop albums?