Internet, Networking, & Security Cloud Services How to Match Songs to Playlists in iTunes Easily locate a song's playlist by Tom Nelson Writer Tom Nelson is an engineer, programmer, network manager, and computer network and systems designer who has written for Other World Computing,and others. our editorial process Facebook Twitter Tom Nelson Updated on March 31, 2020 damircudic / Getty Images Cloud Services Browsers Cloud Services Error Messages Family Tech Home Networking 5G Antivirus VPN Web Development Around the Web View More Tweet Share Email iTunes is a powerful media tool, capable of holding songs, movies, audiobooks, podcasts, and more. One of iTunes' most popular features is its ability to create playlists. Make playlists with upbeat, motivating songs for your workouts, or use melodic instrumentals for a meditation playlist. Create playlists by certain artists or groups, your favorite oldies, or use the iTunes smart playlist feature to automatically build playlists. Many of us end up with multiple playlists, and it's easy to lose track of which songs you've put on which playlist. Fortunately, iTunes makes it easy to figure out which playlist houses a specific song. We've included instructions for locating songs on playlists using iTunes 11 and iTunes 12, as well as using the Music App, which replaces iTunes in macOS Catalina. Match a Song to an iTunes 11 Playlist Launch iTunes, located in the Applications folder. Make sure you're viewing your music library by selecting the Library button, located in the iTunes toolbar. The Library button is on the far right. If you don't see the Library button, but instead see the iTunes Store, then you're already viewing your music library. Select Songs from the iTunes toolbar. Right-click on a song's title and select Show in Playlist from the pop-up menu. A submenu will appear, showing all the playlists to which the song belongs. Playlists are displayed with an icon showing how they were created. A sprocket icon indicates a smart playlist, while a staff and note indicate a playlist that was created manually. If you like, select a playlist from the submenu and that playlist will begin to play. Match a Song to an iTunes 12 Playlist Launch iTunes, located in your Applications folder. Ensure that iTunes is displaying content from your music library by selecting My Music from the iTunes toolbar. (Depending on your iTunes version, My Music may be replaced with a button labeled Library.) Select Songs from the sorting button at the far left of the iTunes toolbar or from within the iTunes sidebar. The sorting button displays the current sorting method, so if it says Songs, you don't need to do anything. Right-click on a song's title and select Show in Playlist from the pop-up menu. Playlists that contain the selected song are grouped by type. Smart playlists are depicted with a sprocket icon; playlists you created manually use a music staff and notes icon. A list of playlists that contain the selected song will appear in a submenu. Match a Song to a Music Playlist If you have macOS Catalina, iTunes functionality now belongs to the Apple Music app. Open the Music app on your Mac. Select Songs in the sidebar on the left. Control-click the song, then choose Show in Playlist. You'll see which music playlists that song belongs to.