diff --git a/beets/autotag/hooks.py b/beets/autotag/hooks.py
index 212975182..d1f9e17bc 100644
--- a/beets/autotag/hooks.py
+++ b/beets/autotag/hooks.py
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, TypeVar
 
 from typing_extensions import Self
 
+from beets import plugins
 from beets.util import cached_classproperty
 from beets.util.deprecation import deprecate_for_maintainers
 
@@ -282,6 +283,10 @@ class AlbumMatch(Match):
     extra_items: list[Item]
     extra_tracks: list[TrackInfo]
 
+    def __post_init__(self) -> None:
+        """Notify listeners when an album candidate has been matched."""
+        plugins.send("album_matched", match=self)
+
     @property
     def item_info_pairs(self) -> list[tuple[Item, TrackInfo]]:
         return list(self.mapping.items())
diff --git a/beets/autotag/match.py b/beets/autotag/match.py
index 53ed11186..d99369c01 100644
--- a/beets/autotag/match.py
+++ b/beets/autotag/match.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, NamedTuple, TypeVar
 import lap
 import numpy as np
 
-from beets import config, logging, metadata_plugins, plugins
+from beets import config, logging, metadata_plugins
 from beets.autotag import AlbumMatch, TrackMatch, hooks
 from beets.util import get_most_common_tags
 
@@ -275,8 +275,6 @@ def tag_album(
         log.debug("Searching for album IDs: {}", ", ".join(search_ids))
         for _info in metadata_plugins.albums_for_ids(search_ids):
             _add_candidate(items, candidates, _info)
-            if opt_candidate := candidates.get(_info.identifier):
-                plugins.send("album_matched", match=opt_candidate)
 
     # Use existing metadata or text search.
     else:
@@ -285,8 +283,6 @@ def tag_album(
             likelies["mb_albumid"], consensus["mb_albumid"]
         ):
             _add_candidate(items, candidates, info)
-            for candidate in candidates.values():
-                plugins.send("album_matched", match=candidate)
 
         rec = _recommendation(list(candidates.values()))
         log.debug("Album ID match recommendation is {}", rec)
@@ -321,8 +317,6 @@ def tag_album(
             items, search_artist, search_name, va_likely
         ):
             _add_candidate(items, candidates, matched_candidate)
-            if opt_candidate := candidates.get(matched_candidate.identifier):
-                plugins.send("album_matched", match=opt_candidate)
 
     log.debug("Evaluating {} candidates.", len(candidates))
     # Sort and get the recommendation.
diff --git a/docs/dev/plugins/events.rst b/docs/dev/plugins/events.rst
index aaab9ccd7..ace7b9387 100644
--- a/docs/dev/plugins/events.rst
+++ b/docs/dev/plugins/events.rst
@@ -180,10 +180,9 @@ registration process in this case:
 
 ``album_matched``
     :Parameters: ``match`` (``AlbumMatch``)
-    :Description: Called after ``Item`` objects from a folder that's being
-        imported have been matched to an ``AlbumInfo`` and the corresponding
-        distance has been calculated. Missing and extra tracks, if any, are
-        included in the match.
+    :Description: Called each time an ``AlbumMatch`` candidate is created while
+        importing. This applies to both ID-driven and text-search matching.
+        Missing and extra tracks, if any, are included in the match.
 
 ``before_choose_candidate``
     :Parameters: ``task`` (|ImportTask|), ``session`` (|ImportSession|)