Grammy Award for Album of the Year

TheGrammy Award for Album of the Yearis an award presented by theNational Academy of Recording Arts and Sciencesof the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard toalbumsales, chart position, or critical reception."Commonly known as "The Big Award", Album of the Year is the most prestigious award category at theGrammy Awards, and is one of the general field categories alongsideBest New Artist,Record of the Year, andSong of the Yearthat have been presented annually since the1st Annual Grammy Awardsin 1959.
Over the years, the rules on who was presented with an award have changed:
The category expanded to include eight nominees in2019and ten in2022.Beginning with the2024 ceremony, the number of nominees has been reduced back to eight.
Album of the Year is awarded for a whole album, and the award is presented to the artist, featured artist, producer, songwriter, mastering engineer, and recording engineer or mixer with significant contributions to that album. The similarly titled Record of the Year is awarded for a single or for one track from an album. This award goes to the artist, producer, mastering engineer, and recording engineer or mixer for that song.
Serban Ghenea(as engineer/mixer) is the most frequent winner in this category with five awards.Taylor Swift(as performer);John Hanes(as engineer/mixer); andTom CoyneandRandy Merrill(as mastering engineers) have won the award four times.They are followed byFrank Sinatra,Stevie Wonder, andPaul Simon(as performers);Jack Antonoff,David Foster,Daniel Lanois,Phil Ramone, andRyan Tedder(as album producers);Tom ElmhirstandMike Piersanteand Laura Sisk (as engineers/mixers); andBob Ludwig(as mastering engineer) with three victories each. Coyne, Ghenea, Hanes, and Ludwig are the only people to win the award in three consecutive years.Paul McCartneyleads all performers with nine nominations: five as a member ofThe Beatles, three for solo albums, and one as a member ofWings. McCartney's former bandmateGeorge Harrisonhas a total of eight nominations: five as a member of The Beatles, one for a solo album, one for a live album with friends, and one as a member of theTraveling Wilburys.  Sinatra leads solo performers with eight nominations: seven for solo albums and one for a duet album.Taylor Swifthas the most nominations amongst female artists with seven, followed byBarbra Streisandwith six.
The first woman to win the award wasJudy Garlandin 1962, forJudy at Carnegie Hall. Taylor Swift is the first solo female artist to win the award two, three, and four times.Adelehas won twice as main credited artist, andLauryn Hill,Norah Jones, andAlison Kraussalso won two times each, first as lead artists for their respective albums,The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,Come Away with Me, andRaising Sand(Krauss' collaboration album withRobert Plant); Hill won her second Album of the Year as a producer of her collaboration onSantana'sSupernatural(featured artists on non-soundtrack albums did not share in the award before 2008), while Jones won again as a featured artist onHerbie Hancock'sRiver: The Joni Letters, and Krauss won again having been a featured artist on theO Brother, Where Art Thou? – Soundtrack.
Billie Eilishis the youngest main credit artist to win in the category, winning for her debut albumWhen We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?in 2020 at age 18.The Peasall Sisters, Sarah, Hannah, and Leah, are the category's youngest credited winners, winning for their contributions to theO Brother, Where Art Thou? – Soundtrackat ages 13, 9, and 7 respectively. Leah Peasall is the youngest winner of any Grammy in any category.The youngest person to make an appearance on an Album of the Year is Stevie Wonder's daughter Aisha Morris, who appeared as an infant for "Isn't She Lovely?" on the albumSongs in the Key of Life.
Christopher Crossand Billie Eilish are the only artists to receive Grammys for Album of the Year as well asRecord of the Year,Song of the Year, andBest New Artist, each winning all four "general field" categories in a single ceremony year. Adele was the first artist to win awards for Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist on separate occasions. Five artists have won both Album of the Year and Best New Artist in the same year:Bob Newhart(The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhartin 1961), Lauryn Hill (The Miseducation of Lauryn Hillin 1999), and Norah Jones (Come Away with Mein 2003) along with Christopher Cross (Christopher Crossin 1981) and Billie Eilish (When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?in 2020) mentioned above.
Frank Sinatra'sCome Dance with Me!was the first album by atraditional popartist to win,Stan Getz's &João Gilberto'sGetz/Gilbertowas the first byjazzartists, The Beatles'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Bandwas the first byrock and rollartists,Glen Campbell'sBy the Time I Get to Phoenixwas the first by acountryartist, Lauryn Hill'sThe Miseducation of Lauryn Hillwas the first by ahip hopartist,Arcade Fire'sThe Suburbswas the first byindie rockartists, andDaft Punk'sRandom Access Memorieswas the first byelectronic musicartists.
Only Frank Sinatra and Stevie Wonder have won in two consecutive years as main artists: Sinatra won in 1966 (September of My Years) and 1967 (A Man and His Music) and Wonder won in 1974 (Innervisions) and 1975 (Fulfillingness' First Finale). Lauryn Hill andBruno Marshave also won in consecutive years, with one win credited as producer rather than artist. Hill won as a producer in 2000 after winning in 1999 as artist and producer.Bruno Marswon as a producer in 2017 before winning as both artist and producer in 2018.
The Beatles were the first and only artists to date to receive Album of the Year nominations in fiveconsecutive years(1966–1970). Frank Sinatra was the first to receive four nominations in consecutive years, 1959 - 1961 (two nominations at the first ceremony in 1959), receiving 3 more consecutive nominations for 1966–1968. Barbra Streisand (1964–1967)andKendrick Lamar(2016–2019) also received nominations in four consecutive years whileLady Gaga(2010–2012) was nominated in three consecutive years.
Beyoncé,Billy Joel,Kendrick Lamar, andTaylor Swiftare the only performers with Album of the Year nominations for four consecutivestudio albums, while The Beatles, Stevie Wonder,Steely Dan, Bonnie Raitt,Dixie Chicks,Kanye West, Lady Gaga,AdeleandBillie Eilisheach received nominations for three consecutive studio albums.
Stevie Wonder and Adele are the only artists to win the award for consecutive studio albums in this category, winning forInnervisionsandFulfillingness' First FinaleandSongs in the Key of Life; and21and25, respectively.
Quincy Jones, Lauryn Hill and Bruno Mars are the only performers to win the award both as main-credit artists and as record producers, winning as lead artists for their albumsBack on the Block,The Miseducation of Lauryn Hilland24K Magic, and as producers forThrillerbyMichael Jackson,Supernaturalby Santana, and25by Adele, respectively. Mars' work on the album 25 is credited under his production team nameThe Smeezingtons.
To date, there have been four "live" albums to win the award:Judy at Carnegie Hall,The Concert for Bangladesh, and twoMTV Unpluggedalbums (Eric Clapton's andTony Bennett's), which were performed in front of a small live audience. One television soundtrack recording,The Music from Peter Gunn, has won. Two comedy albums have also won this category:The Button-Down Mind of Bob NewhartandThe First Family.
Eight artists have received the award more than once (either as a main-credit artist, duo or band; not counting wins solely as a producer, mixer or engineer).
Notes
From 1995 to 2021, members of theNational Academy of Recording Arts and Sciencesnominated their choices for album of the year. A list of the top twenty records was given to the Nominations Review Committee, a specially selected group of anonymous members, who then selected the top five records to gain a nomination in the category in a special ballot.The rest of the members then voted on a winner from the five nominees.In 2018, it was announced the number of nominated albums would be increased to eight.In 2021, it was announced that the Nomination Review Committees would be disbanded, and the final nominees for album of the year would be decided by votes from members.Starting in 2022, the number of nominees in the category increased to 10.However, the decision to expand the number of nominees in this category was made 24 hours before the nominees were announced after an early version of the nominations list had already been circulated. This allowedTaylor Swift'sEvermoreandKanye West'sDondato be nominated as they were the albums that received the highest number of votes besides the other eight nominees.As of the2024 ceremony, the number of nominees has been reduced back to eight.
Notes