The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is the most prestigious award category at the Grammys. It has been awarded since 1959 and though it was originally presented to the artist alone, the award is now presented to the artist, the producer, the engineer and/or mixer and the mastering engineer. In 1962, the award name was extended to Album of the Year (other than classical) but reverted to the shorter name by 1965. It was not until until 1968, 1999, and 2002 that the award was won by a rock album, a hip hop album, or a country album, respectively..
Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, & Paul Simon are the biggest winners in this category with 3 victories each. Paul McCartney leads all performers with 9 nominations: 5 as a member of The Beatles, 3 for solo albums, and 1 as a member of Wings. Frank Sinatra leads solo performers with 8 nominations, 7 for solo albums and 1 for a duet album.
Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were awarded, for music released in the previous year.
Many wonder what the difference is between Record of the Year and Album of the Year. Record of the Year is awarded for a single or for one track from an album. This award goes to the performing artist, the producer, recording engineer, and/or mixer for that song. Album of the Year is awarded for a whole album, and the award is presented to the artist, producer, recording engineer, and mastering engineer for that album. So, in this context, "record" means one song and "album" means the whole collection of songs on a CD or LP.
Unlike Record of the Year, which goes to the artist and production team of a single song, Song of the Year goes to the composer(s) of the song. Therefore, Record of the Year is awarded to the best recording.
