In the music industry, a release is the event at which an album or single is first released for sale. The music industry is the industry that creates, performs, promotes, and preserves music. ... An album is a collection of related audio tracks, released together commercially in an audio format to the public. ... A collection of various CD singles In music, a single is a short record, usually featuring one or two tracks as A-side, often accompanied by several B-sides, usually remixes or other songs. ...
Re-releases
A re-release of an album is normally used because of disappointing sales or excellent sales. The sales of the re-release are added up with the original. For example lets say an album sold 300K. The re-release sold 700K. The album would be certified platinum with sales of 1 million. Another name for a re-release is Special edition or limited edition.