Fix bug #37782

doc/source/whatsnew/v2.1.0.rst

@@ -374,6 +374,7 @@ I/O
 ^^^
 - :meth:`DataFrame.to_orc` now raising ``ValueError`` when non-default :class:`Index` is given (:issue:`51828`)
 - :meth:`DataFrame.to_sql` now raising ``ValueError`` when the name param is left empty while using SQLAlchemy to connect (:issue:`52675`)
+- Bug in :func:`json_normalize`, fix json_normalize cannot parse metadata fields list type (:issue:`37782`)
 - Bug in :func:`read_hdf` not properly closing store after a ``IndexError`` is raised (:issue:`52781`)
 - Bug in :func:`read_html`, style elements were read into DataFrames (:issue:`52197`)
 - Bug in :func:`read_html`, tail texts were removed together with elements containing ``display:none`` style (:issue:`51629`)

pandas/io/json/_normalize.py

@@ -535,5 +535,15 @@ def _recursive_extract(data, path, seen_meta, level: int = 0) -> None:
             raise ValueError(
                 f"Conflicting metadata name {k}, need distinguishing prefix "
             )
-        result[k] = np.array(v, dtype=object).repeat(lengths)
+        # GH 37782
+
+        values = np.array(v, dtype=object)
+
+        if values.ndim > 1:
+            # GH 37782
+            values = np.empty((len(v),), dtype=object)
+            for i, v in enumerate(v):
+                values[i] = v
+
+        result[k] = values.repeat(lengths)
     return result

pandas/tests/io/json/test_normalize.py

@@ -170,6 +170,20 @@ def test_simple_normalize(self, state_data):
 
         tm.assert_frame_equal(result, expected)
 
+    def test_fields_list_type_normalize(self):
+        parse_metadata_fields_list_type = [
+            {"values": [1, 2, 3], "metadata": {"listdata": [1, 2]}}
+        ]
+        result = json_normalize(
+            parse_metadata_fields_list_type,
+            record_path=["values"],
+            meta=[["metadata", "listdata"]],
+        )
+        expected = DataFrame(
+            {0: [1, 2, 3], "metadata.listdata": [[1, 2], [1, 2], [1, 2]]}
+        )
+        tm.assert_frame_equal(result, expected)
+
     def test_empty_array(self):
         result = json_normalize([])
         expected = DataFrame()