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Medúlla

2004 studio album by Björk

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 1, 2026
Entity authorityQ842502 ↗
Source-derived summary

Medúlla is the fifth studio album by Icelandic recording artist Björk. It was released on 30 August 2004 in the United Kingdom by One Little Indian and in the United States by Elektra Entertainment. After the release of her electronic-influenced previous album Vespertine (2001), Björk intended to make an album almost entirely constructed with human vocals, in contrast to the previous album's intense process of composition and multiple layers of instrumentation. The album's title derives from the Latin word for "marrow".

Medúlla received critical acclaim from music critics, with many calling it "unique", although others deemed it "confusing". Although album was not as commercially successful as her previous albums, it did reach number one in the charts of France, Iceland and Wallonia, whilst also peaking within the top ten in the United Kingdom. Medúlla is estimated to have sold more than a million copies worldwide, and received two nominations at the 47th Grammy Awards.

Two singles were released from Medúlla: "Who Is It" and "Triumph of a Heart", with both charting inside the top 40 in the United Kingdom and the top 10 in Spain. Björk further promoted the album by performing the song "Oceania" at the 2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and other television and radio shows. Other than these few performances, no concerts or tours were arranged to promote Medúlla, as Björk thought it would be too difficult to play the songs live.

Editorial summary

“Medúlla” enters the record as 2004 studio album by Björk. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Medúlla, studio and album can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2004, 2001—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2004-08-30. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Medúlla, studio and album.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Medúlla” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Medúlla, studio and album provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q842502. VIAF identifies the subject as 219977834. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2004 and 2001.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Medúlla”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Medúlla primary sources, Medúlla archive and Medúlla research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Medúlla”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Medúlla” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.