If you win the Grammy Award for album of the year, it stands to reason that you've also won the album award of whatever genre you're competing for.
And most album of the year winners since 1995, when the Grammys introduced multiple genre album categories, have also won in the appropriate album categories. At the Grammy ceremony earlier this year, for example, Taylor Swift Midnight won Best Pop Vocal album in addition to album of the Year. At the ceremony in 2023, Harry Styles Harry's house won in both of these categories. At the ceremony in 2020, Billie Eilish's When we all fall asleep, where do we go? won in both of these categories.
Swift has won both album of the Year and album of the Year three times. In addition to winning album of the year, 1989 also won best pop vocal album, while Fearless it also won best country album. Adele and Alison Krauss have won both album of the Year and the related genre award twice.
Such other album of the year winners as Alanis Morissette's Jagged little pillLauryn Hill's Lauryn Hill's Bad Educationof Santana SupernaturalOutKast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below and Daft Punk Random access memories they also won in the album of their genre categories in addition to album of the year.
Our focus here is on the album of the year winners he didn't win in their genre album categories. We are trying to make sense of something that, on the surface, makes no sense at all.
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2011: Arcade Fire's The Suburbs
What happened: The Suburbs was nominated for Best Alternative Music album, but lost to The Black Keys Brothers. The Suburbs won album of the year, beating out albums by Eminem, Lady Antebellum, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. (Note that the Black Keys weren't even nominated for album of the year. Would they have won album of the year if they had been nominated? We'll never know, but it seems entirely possible. As you'll see from the next entry here, the next album by The Black Keys, El Caminonominated for the top award.)
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2013: Mumford & Sons' Babylonia
What happened: Babylonia was nominated for Best Americana album, but lost to Bonnie Raitt's Slipstream. Babylonia won album of the year, beating albums by The Black Keys, fun., Frank Ocean and Jack White. (Note that Raitt wasn't even nominated for album of the year.)
Raitt, of course, has been a longtime Grammy favorite. Won album of the Year in 1990 for Nick of Time and Song of the Year in 2023 for “Just Like That.” It would have won a second album of the year award Slipstream if she was nominated in this top category? Again, we'll never know, but it seems very likely.
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2021: Taylor Swift's Folklore
What happened: Folklore was nominated for Best Pop Vocal album, but lost to Dua Lipa's Future Nostalgia. Both albums were also nominated for album of the year, but this time Swift came out on top. It's as if voters said Lipa's album was a better pop album, but Swift's pandemic-era turn to what's variously described as indie-folk or chamber pop represented a more significant album achievement overall.
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2022: Jon Batiste's We are
What happened: We are was nominated for Best R&B album, but lost to Jazmine Sullivan's Heaux Tales. We are won album of the year, beating out albums by Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Doja Cat, Billie Eilish, HER, Lil Nas X, Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift and Kanye West. (Note that Sullivan wasn't even nominated for album of the year, even in this expanded — some would say inflated — field of 10 nominations.)
It's as if Grammy voters said Sullivan's album was more R&B — both of his other nominations were in R&B categories — best R&B song and best R&B performance for “Pick Up Your Feelings.” Only one of Batiste's other nominations came in an R&B category – best traditional R&B performance for “I Need You.” His other nominations for this major album included Best American Roots Song and Performance for “Cry” and Best Contemporary Classical Composition for “Movement 11.”
It is indicative that Batiste's next album, equally wide-ranging, World Music Radiowas not included in any genre album category. It was nominated for album of the year, but was not placed in the genre album category.
According to Grammy rules, albums entered in most categories in a specific genre field must consist of 50% or more of that genre's playing time. If an album doesn't meet that threshold – if it's so diverse that it's not 50% or more of any one genre – it can only enter album of the year.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/lists/grammys-album-of-the-year-winners-lost-genre-album-awards/
