Grammy Award for Album of the Year

Grammy Award for Album of the Year
Gilded gramophone trophy presented to Grammy Award winners
Awarded for	quality vocal or instrumental recording albums
Country	United States
Presented by	National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
First awarded	1959
Currently held by	Adele, 25 (2017)
Official website	grammy.com

The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position." Album of the Year is the most prestigious award category at the Grammys having been presented since 1959.

Although it was originally presented to the artist alone, the award is now presented to the main artist, the featured artist(s), 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, in 1965, the shorter name returned. It was not until 1968, 1969, 1999, 2011, and 2014 that the award was won by a rock, country, hip hop, indie, or electronic music album respectively. As of 2012, classical albums are eligible for this award, with the award for Best Classical Album being discontinued (although no classical album has been nominated in this category since).

Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Daniel Lanois, Ryan Tedder (as record producers), and Bob Ludwig, Tom Elmhirst & Tom Coyne (all as mastering engineers) are the biggest winners in this category with three victories each. Ludwig is the only person to win the award three consecutive years (2013–2015). Paul McCartney leads all performers with nine nominations: five as a member of The Beatles, three for solo albums, and one as a member of Wings. Sinatra leads solo performers with eight nominations, seven for solo albums and one for a duet album. McCartney and Simon are the only artists with nominations in every decade from the 1960s to the 2000s.