Need help with join in Mysql

[sbeacher]

Ok I have three tables with the following fields (basically):

ARTISTS

---

artist_id (primary key)
artist_name

ALBUMS

---

album_id (primary key)
album_title
album_description

ARTISTALBUMS (join table)

---

artistalbum_artist_id (primary key)
artistalbum_album_id (primary key)

I need a query to join the tables that will display all the albums in ASC order by artist_name. The problem is there can be multiple ARTISTS for each ALBUM. So what is the SQL for the select?

[[deleted]]

What do you want exactly?
A list of albums ordered by artists is really a list of artists and the albums they created.

Or a list of albums and the artists that created that album, ordered by album and the artists per album ordered by artist?

[sbeacher]

I want a list of albums, ordered alphabetically by the artists that are associated with the album.

If I just use the join table and order the result alphabetically, such as:

SELECT * FROM Artists, Albums, ArtistAlbums WHERE artist_id = artistalbum_artist_id AND album_id = artistalbum_album_id

and there are for example 3 artists on an album, I will get 3 rows returned for that one album which means I have to parse through the results before I can display anything since the results won't just be on one line. I don't want to list the same album 3 times.

[[deleted]]

How can you order albums by the artists that are associated?