diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py
index eb5f7076310..9b0136cc196 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py
@@ -1735,7 +1735,7 @@ def process_language(container, base_url, lang_code, query):
                     'artist': mobj.group('clean_artist') or ', '.join(a.strip() for a in mobj.group('artist').split('·')),
                     'track': mobj.group('track').strip(),
                     'release_date': release_date,
-                    'release_year': int(release_year),
+                    'release_year': int(release_year) if release_year else 0,
                 })
 
         initial_data = None