Grammy Award For Album Of The Year: See Winners From The Past 20 Years

This is the big one: the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Few have won it, and some surprising names HAVEN’T. Find out more about those who have taken the honor home.

• The 65th Grammy Awards are on Feb. 5, 2023.
• The Album of the Year category features Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Bad Bunny, Adele, and more.
• Harry Styles’ Harry House won Album of the Year in 2023.

It’s arguably the biggest Grammy Award to win: Album of the Year. The award is considered the most prestigious, as it signifies that an artist has created an album that surpasses the porous limitations of genre, one that captures the zeitgeist of the year, and/or has shown a musical voice that soars above all others. At least, that’s what it’s supposed to represent.

The Grammys, after all, have had an issue with awarding the top prize (Blood, Sweat & Tears’ self-titled album is good, but over The Beatles‘ Abbey Road in 1970? Really?) In the past two to three decades, some might argue that the Recording Academy got it wrong. Some might also point out that in the 65-year history of the Grammys, only 11 Black artists have taken home Album of the Year. Jon Batiste claimed the top prize in 2022, the first time a Black artist won Album of the Year since 2008 when Herbie Hancock won for River: The Joni Letters, a Joni Mitchell album (arguably, Herbie should have won for 1973’s Headhunters considering the album’s lasting legacy, but both the album and Herbie weren’t nominated.)

Henry Mancini claimed the first Album of the Year award in 1959 for The Music from Peter Gunn. Frank Sinatra won the following year for Come Dance with Me! with Bob Newhart‘s The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart. Stevie Wonder would become the first Black artist to win Album of the Year, taking the prize in 1974 for Innervisions.

Heading into the 2023 ceremony, put their votes behind Beyonce. Renaissance gave Bey her first top-ten single in the United States (“Break My Soul”) since she jumped on Megan Thee Stallion‘s “Savage” Remix. It was her first solo top ten single since 2016’s “Formation” and her first Hot 100 No. 1 as a solo artist since 2008’s “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It).” Renaissance was also named Album of the Year by Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Vulture, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, NPR, The Guardian, Entertainment Weekly and more. If Beyoncé were to win, it would not only be the first time she took home Album of the Year, but it would also be just her second Grammy in the General Field, the first being the Song of The Year award she claimed for “Single Ladies.” However, she left the Grammys without Song, Record, or Album of the Year. The top prize went to Harry Styles for Harry’s House.

Find out who was nominated, and see all the times your favorite artist won – or lost! – the Album of the Year Grammy.

Recent Album Of The Year Winners

2023: Harry Styles, Harry’s House

• Adele, 30
• Mary J. Blige, Good Morning Gorgeous
• Harry Styles, Harry’s House
• Brandi Carlile, In These Silent Days
• Kendrick Lamar, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
• Coldplay, Music of the Spheres
• Beyoncé, Renaissance
• Lizzo, Special
• Bad Bunny, Un Verano Sin Ti
• ABBA, Voyage

2022: Jon Batiste, We Are

• H.E.R., Back of My Mind
• Kanye West, Donda
• Taylor Swift, Evermore
• Billie Eilish, Happier Than Ever
• Justin Bieber, Justice (Triple Chucks Deluxe)
• Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga, Love for Sale
• Lil Nas X, Montero
• Doja Cat, Planet Her (Deluxe)
• Olivia Rodrigo, Sour

2021: Taylor Swift, Folklore

• Black Pumas, Black Pumas (Deluxe Edition)
• Haim, Women in Music Pt. III
• Post Malone, Hollywood’s Bleeding
• Dua Lipa, Future Nostalgia
• Coldplay, Everyday Life
• Jacob Collier, Djesse Vol. 3
• Jhené Aiko, Chilombo

2020: Billie Eilish, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?

• Lizzo, Cuz I Love You (Deluxe)
• Lil Nas X, 7
• Ariana Grande, thank u, next
• Lana Del Rey, Norman F****** Rockwell!
• H.E.R., I Used To Know Her
• Vampire Weekend, Father of the Bride
• Bon Iver, I,I

2019: Kacey Musgraves, Golden Hour

• Janelle Monáe, Dirty Computer
• Drake, Scorpion
• H.E.R., H.E.R.
• Cardi B, Invasion of Privacy
• Various, Black Panther: The Album, Music from and Inspired By
• Post Malone, Beerbongs & Bentleys
• Brandi Carlile, By The Way, I Forgive You

2018: Bruno Mars, 24k Magic

• Kendrick Lamar, DAMN.
• Jay-Z, 4:44
• Childish Gambino, “Awaken, My Love!”
• Lorde, Melodrama

2017: Adele, 25

• Beyoncé, Lemonade
• Justin Bieber, Purpose
• Sturgill Simpson, A Sailor’s Guide to Earth
• Drake, Views

2016: Taylor Swift, 1989

• Kendrick Lamar, To Pimp a Butterfly
• The Weeknd, Beauty Behind the Madness
• Chris Stapleton, Traveller
• Alabama Shakes, Sound & Color

2015: Beck, Morning Phase

• Beyoncé, Beyonce
• Pharrell Williams, Girl
• Sam Smith, In The Lonely Hour
• Ed Sheeran, x

2014: Daft Punk, Random Access Memories

• Kendrick Lamar, Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City
• Taylor Swift, Red
• Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, The Heist
• Sara Bareilles, The Blessed Unrest

2013: Mumford & Sons, Babel

• Jack White, Blunderbuss
• Frank Ocean, Channel Orange
• The Black Keys, El Camino
• Fun., Some Nights

2012: Adele, 21

• Lady Gaga, Born This Way
• Bruno Mars, Doo-Wops & Hooligans
• Rihanna, Loud
• Foo Fighters, Wasting Light

2011: Arcade Fire, The Suburbs

• Lady Gaga, The Fame Monster
• Lady A (fka Lady Antebellum), Need You Now
• Eminem, Recovery
• Katy Perry, Teenage Dream

2010: Taylor Swift, Fearless

• Dave Matthews Band, Big Whiskey & the GroGrux King
• The Black Eyed Peas, The E.N.D.
• Lady Gaga, The Fame
• Beyoncé, I Am… Sasha Fierce

2009: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Raising Sand

• Radiohead, In Rainbows
• Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III
• Coldplay, Vivia la Vida or Death and All His Friends
• Ne-Yo, Year of the Gentleman

2008: Herbie Hancock, River: The Joni Letters

Kanye “Ye” West, Graduation

Vince Gill, These Days

Amy Winehouse, Back to Black

Foo Fighters, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace

2007: The Chicks (fka Dixie Chicks), Taking The Long Way

• John Mayer, Continuum
• Justin Timberlake, FutureSex/LoveSounds
• Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere
• Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stadium Arcadium

2006: U2, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

• Paul McCartney, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard
• Mariah Carey, The Emancipation of Mimi
• Kanye West, Late Registration
• Gwen Stefani, Love. Angel. Music. Baby.

2005: Ray Charles & Various, Genius Loves Company

• Kanye “Ye” West, The College Dropout
• Green Day, American Idiot
• Usher, Confessions
• Alicia Keys, The Diary of Alicia Keys

2004: OutKast, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

• The White Stripes, Elephant
• Evanescence, Fallen
• Justin Timberlake, Justified
• Missy Elliott, Under Construction

2003: Norah Jones, Come Away With Me

• Eminem, The Eminem Show
• The Chicks (fka Dixie Chicks), Home
• Bruce Springsteen, The Rising
• Nelly, Nellyville

2002: Various Artists, O Brother, Where Art Thou Soundtrack

• India.Aire, Acoustic Soul
• U2, All That You Can’t Leave Behind
• Bob Dylan, Love and Theft
• OutKast, Stanktonia

2001: Steely Dan, Two Against Nature

• Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP
• Beck, Midnight Vultures
• Paul Simon, You’re The One
• Radiohead, Kid A

2000: Santana, Supernatural

• TLC, Fanmail
• The Chicks (fka Dixie Chicks), Fly
• Backstreet Boys, Millennium
• Diana Krall, When I Look In Your Eyes

1999: Lauryn Hill, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

• Shania Twain, Come on Over
• Sheryl Crow, The Globe Sessions
• Garbage, Version 2.0
• Madonna, Ray of Light

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Who will win on Feb. 5, 2023, when the 65th Grammy Awards take place? Come back to HollywoodLife for our coverage of music’s biggest night.