Wikipedia / Grammy Award for Best Album Cover
Wikipedia / Grammy Award for Best Album Cover
The Grammy Award for Album Cover is an award presented by the Recording Academy to honor quality album covers in any given year. The award was presented for the first time at the 1st Annual Grammy Awards in 1959. It was retired in the 1970s, but returned in 2026. It is a complement to the Best Recording Package category, and sits in the Package, Notes & Historical field.
The academy announced the new category in June 2025, stating that the award "recognizes excellence in cover art for albums or recordings of any genre of music released for the first time during the eligibility year. The elements judged in this category include the creativity, design, illustration, photography, and/or graphic art of the album cover." The eligibility criteria stipulates that the cover must be "predominantly new", and that reissued recordings with minor artwork changes are not eligible. Submissions for this category are also able to be submitted to the Best Recording Package category.
The award goes to the art director(s) of the album.
Background
The category for Best Album Cover was given at the inaugural Grammy Awards in 1959 and was won by Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely. The category was split into Classical and Non-Classical divisions from 1962 to 1965, and then into Graphic Arts and Photography divisions from 1966 to 1968. It returned back to Best Album Cover in 1969 until 1973. From 1974 onwards, the category was known as Best Album Package (1974-1993) and then its current name Best Recording Package (1994-present).
In 2026, the reestablishment of a Best Album Cover category was announced. Regarding the need for a specific category honoring album covers, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. stated: "In today's digital world, album covers are arguably more impactful than ever. Chances are, there's an iconic cover that's instantly recognizable to you, even if you never owned the physical album. Their cultural significance is undeniable. That's one of the reasons members of the art director community and our Awards & Nominations members felt this Category was necessary. The Packaging Field has always thrived, but we expect this to be one of our most inclusive Categories to date."
Winners and nominees
1950s
Year | Work | Art Director(s) | Performing artist(s) |
Marvin Schwartz | |||
For Whom the Bell Tolls | |||
Ira Ironstrings Plays Music for People with $3.98 | David Rose | ||
Charles Ward |
1960s
Year | Work | Art Director(s) | Performing artist(s) |
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 | Robert M. Jones | ||
Acy Lehman | |||
The South Shall Rise Again | Acy Lehman and Robert L. Yorke | ||
Marvin Schwartz | |||
Carlos Montoya | Robert M. Jones | ||
Sheldon Marks | |||
Irving Werbin | |||
Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky | Robert M. Jones | ||
Stravinsky: Petrouchka | |||
Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Suite Excerpts | |||
Wild Percussion and Horns A'Plenty | Dick Schory | ||
Best Album Cover — Other Than Classical | |||
Jim Silke | |||
Robert M. Jones | |||
New Orleans: The Living Legend | Ken Deardoff | ||
A Touch of Elegance | |||
Best Album Cover — Classical | |||
Puccini: Madame Butterfly | Marvin Schwartz | ||
Albéniz: Iberia/Ravel: Rapsodie Espagnole | Robert M. Jones | ||
Beethoven: 9 Symphonies | Marvin Schwartz | ||
Golden Age of English Lute Music | Meyer Miller | ||
Gould Ballet Music: Fall River Legend, Interplay, Latin American Symphonette | |||
Best Album Cover — Other Than Classical | |||
Robert M. Jones | |||
Loring Eutemey | |||
Bill Longcore | Vaughn Meader and Other Artists | ||
The Great Years | Jim Silke | ||
John Murello | |||
Loring Eutemey | |||
Ken Kim | |||
Potpourri Par Piaf | Ed Thrasher | ||
Best Album Cover — Classical | |||
Marvin Schwartz | |||
Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin/Shostakovich: The Age of Gold | Jim Silke | ||
Beethoven: Fidelio | Marvin Schwartz | ||
Fauré: Requiem | |||
Otto Klemperer Conducts (Weill: Three Penny Opera Suite and Others) | |||
Wagner: Prelude and Love Death/R. Strauss: Death and Transfiguration | |||
Best Album Cover — Other Than Classical | |||
Aloha from Norman Luboff | Robert M. Jones | ||
Bach's Greatest Hits | Jim Ladwig | ||
Edward L. Thrasher | |||
Jim Silke | |||
Robert M. Jones | |||
John Murello | |||
Best Album Cover — Classical | |||
Puccini: Madama Butterfly | Robert M. Jones | ||
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67 | |||
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 ("Pastorale") | Robert M. Jones | ||
Evening of Elizabethian Music | |||
Granada (Albéniz: Granada/Granados: Spanish Dance in E Minor/Ponce, Tansman, Aguado: Eight Lessons for Guitar/Sor: Four Studies) | Vladmir Bobri | ||
Puccini: Tosca | |||
Strauss: Don Quixote | |||
Best Album Cover — Other Than Classical | |||
Bob Cato and Don Bronstein | |||
Acy Lehman | |||
Guitar from Ipanema | George Osak and George Jerman | ||
Acy Lehman | |||
Ed Thrasher | |||
The Sound of Harlem: Jazz Odyssey, Vol. 3 | Various Artists | ||
Best Album Cover — Classical | |||
Saint-Saëns: Carnival of the Animals/Britten: Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra | Robert M. Jones | ||
Court and Ceremonial Music of the 16th Century | Roger Blanchard Ensemble with the Poulteau Consort | ||
Mahler: Symphony No. 5 in C Sharp Minor | Robert M. Jones and David Hect | ||
Mexico (Legacy Collection) | |||
Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathurstra | |||
Verdi: Requiem Mass | Marvin Schwartz | ||
Best Album Cover — Graphic Arts | |||
Bartók: Concerto No. 2 for Violin/Stravinsky: Concerto for Violin | George Estes | ||
Ed Thrasher | |||
Gould: Spirituals for Orchestra/Copland: Dance Symphony | Georges Estes | ||
Horowitz at Carnegie Hall — An Historic Return | |||
Jerry Smokler | |||
William Tell and Other Favorite Overtures | |||
Best Album Cover — Photography | |||
Robert M. Jones and Ken Whitmore | |||
The Aznavour Story | Ed Thrasher and Sherman Weisburd | ||
John Berg and Dan Kramer | |||
Acy Lehman and Rudolph Regname | Kenny Burrell and the Gil Evans Orchestra | ||
Jerry Smokler and W. Eugene Smith | |||
Bob Cato and Sheldon Streisand | |||
Peter Whorf | |||
Best Album Cover — Graphic Arts | |||
Baroque Fanfares and Sonatas for Brass | |||
Christmas Carols for Solo Guitar | |||
Ives: Symphony No. 1 in D Minor | Georges Estes | ||
George Osaki | |||
Woody Woodward | |||
Best Album Cover — Photography | |||
Robert M. Jones and Les Leverette | |||
Peter Whorf | |||
Ed Thrasher and Tom Tucker | |||
Robert M. Jones and Tom Zimmerman | |||
Peter Whorf and George Jerman | |||
Best Album Cover — Graphic Arts | |||
The Gold Standard Collection | Ed Thrasher | ||
Haydn: Symphony No. 84 in E Flat Major andSymphony No. 85 in B Flat Major ("La Reine") | Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic | ||
Nashville Cats | Robert M. Jones | ||
Woody Woodward | |||
Best Album Cover — Photography | |||
Bravo, Bravo, Aznavour | Ken Kim | ||
William S. Harvey, Joel Brodsky and Guy Webster | |||
Robert M. Jones and New World Photography | |||
From Mexico with Laughs | Robert M. Jones and Howard Cooper | ||
Suburban Attitudes in Country Verse | Robert M. Jones and Jimmy Moore | ||
That Man, Robert Mitchum, Sings | Ken Kim | ||
John Berg, Richard Mantel and Horn Grinner Studio | |||
Ives: Holiday Symphony | |||
Sam Antupit and Pete Turner | |||
1970s
Year | Work | Art Director(s) | Performing artist(s) |
America the Beautiful | Evelyn J. Kelbish and David Stahlberg | ||
Bob Seidman | |||
David Juniper | |||
Pidgeon | Tom Lazarus and Gene Brownell | Pidgeon | |
Ivan Nagy | |||
John Berg and Nick Fasciano | |||
Hand Made | Ed Thrasher | ||
Mason Proffit | Peter Whorf and Christopher Whorf | ||
Desmond Strobel | Various Artists | ||
Schubert: "Unfinished" Symphony/Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)/Beethoven: Fifth Symphony | Peter Whorf and Fred Poore | ||
Uncle Charlie and His Dog Teddy | Woody Woodward and William E. McEuen | ||
The World's Greatest Blues Singer | |||
Pollution | Gene Brownell and Dean O. Torrence | Pollution | |
Nick Sangiamo | |||
Black Pearl | |||
Hot Platters | Ed Thrasher | Various Artists | |
The Music of Erik Satie: Through a Looking Glass | Vincent J. Biondi | Camarata Contemporary Chamber Orchestra | |
Sharepickers | Ed Thrasher and Terry Paul | ||
Acy Lehman | |||
Chief | Aaron Schumake | Dewey Terry | |
Five Dollar Shoes | Ron Levine | Five Dollar Shoes | |
Flash | |||
Historical Figures and Ancient Heads | |||
Robert Otter | |||
Sunset Ride | Ed Thrasher, Christopher Wolf and Dave Willardson | ||
Virgin | Bill Levy and Fred Marcellino | The Mission |
2020s
Year | Work | Art Director(s) | Performing artist(s) |
Jake Hirshland, Joe Keery, Neil Krug, Taylor Vandergift and William Wesley II | |||
Cody Critcheloe, Mike Hadreas and Andrew J.S. | |||
Iris Luz, Lava La Rue and Rhian Teasdale |
References