How can I prevent album duplication in Apple Music playlists?

Question

Level 1

4 points

How can I prevent album duplication in Apple Music playlists?

I've been having this issue for about 8 months now and have looked for answers across the web. I've also reset my MacBook and reinstalled the app, to no resolution.

When I add an entire album to a playlist, almost every time, music adds that album 200 times. (yes you read that right) 200 TIMES. Forcing me to go into the playlist, select 199 of the albums and delete them. EVERYTIME.

This is not a one off event either. EVERYTIME I add a full album. (I use playlists to shuffle new releases I'm interested among other things). This issue has me ready to go back to Spotify after 10+ years which says a lot as I hate Spotify.

Anyone else have this issue or have any insight to correct? Thanks in advance

Current Details:

Music V 1.5.5.34
MacBook Pro (but happens across Macs)
Apple M4
Sequoia 15.5 (24F74) (but happened in other versions)
24 GB

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Albums added multiple times when added (once) to a playlist

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 15.5

Posted on Jun 25, 2025 09:20 PM

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Answer 1

turingtest2

Level 10

277,729 points

Jun 26, 2025 06:26 AM in response to gwachtler

You can hold down option+cmd as you launch Music which should open the app in its safe mode and may do some internal repairs on the library database.

You might also location the Music Library.musiclibrary package, right-click and click Show Package Contents so you can look inside. I multitude of .tmp files might indicate something has gone at some point when the library was updating. Delete any that you find.

Do you have any third party security software? Anything that disrupts the normal flow of Music saving data may cause it to repeat actions that it doesn't think it has completed?

Are you an Apple Music subscriber, or is this all happening only in your local library?

tt2

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