A major US-based record label, owned by EMI Group.

Founded by the songwriter Johnny Mercer in 1942, Capitol was the first West Coast label, competing with RCA-Victor, Columbia and Decca, which were all based in New York. By 1946, Capitol was established as one of the Big Six record labels.

In 1955, EMI acquired 96% of Capitol Records stock. In 1979, Capitol was made part of the EMI Music Worldwide division. In 2001, EMI merged Capitol Records label with the Priority Records label.