The 21 best album of the year

nominees that got robbed at the

Grammys
Callie Ahlgrim Jan 27, 2020, 9:59 PM

"Thank U, Next" is a perfect pop album that

Ariana Grande managed to create in the midst
of trauma and grief.
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 "Thank U, Next" was released on February 8, 2019.
Republic Records

Year: 2020, at the 62nd Grammy Awards

What beat it: "When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?" by Billie
Eilish

Just a couple months after releasing the best album of her career,
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 "Sweetener," Ariana Grande found herself in the midst of multiple
personal crises. Her longtime love and ex-boyfriend, Mac Miller,
unexpectedly died of an accidental overdose. Shortly after, she broke off
her whirlwind engagement to Pete Davidson.

Grande managed to channel this feverish period of upheaval and grief

into one of the most compelling pop albums in recent memory. "Thank
U, Next" is filled to the brim with intimate personal details, irresistible
hooks, genre-blending beats, and characteristically angelic vocal runs. It
was written and recorded in just three weeks.

This is not to say that Billie Eilish's debut album isn't itself a stunning
piece of art, or isn't deserving of praise. But it is to say that Grande has
proved herself as a once-in-a-generation artist who has brought a
remarkable brightness and resilience to pop music. "Thank U, Next"
marked her arrival as a living icon, while 18-year-old Eilish has plenty of
growth ahead of her — and even Eilish herself would agree with this
assessment.

"Can I just say that I think Ariana deserves this?" she said during her
acceptance speech.

Lorde's "Melodrama" is an intimate, richly

painted portrait of heartbreak and young
adulthood.
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 "Melodrama" was released on June 16, 2017.
@lordemusic/Instagram

Year: 2018, at the 60th Grammy Awards

What beat it: "24K Magic" by Bruno Mars

The so-called "sophomore slump" is extremely difficult to avoid,

especially when you're following an album as evocative and trend-setting
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 as "Pure Heroine." But Lorde came back with "Melodrama," a masterfully
vivid portrait of a woman in transition and easily one of the decade's
best albums.

But "Melodrama" was viciously undervalued at the 2018 Grammys,

netting just one solitary nomination for album of the year (lead single
"Green Light" deserved a nod for song of the year, at least). Lorde was
also the only female artist nominated for album of the year (and the only
nominee who wasn't asked to perform solo). She ultimately lost to Bruno
Mars' infectiously fun but far less evocative "24K Magic."

Beyoncé's "Lemonade" was the product of an

icon at her creative peak.
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 "Lemonade" was released on April 23, 2016.
Parkwood Entertainment and Columbia Records

Year: 2017, at the 59th Grammy Awards

What beat it: "25" by Adele

"Lemonade" is a truly iconic, one-of-a-kind album that only Beyoncé

could make. The disrespect she was paid at the 2017 Grammys — she
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 also failed to win best pop solo performance for "Hold Up," best rock
performance for "Don't Hurt Yourself," best rap/sung performance for
"Freedom," and record and song of the year for "Formation" — is one of
the great injustices in music history. Even that year's album of the year
winner, Adele, said that "Lemonade" should've won.

"I can't possibly accept this award. My artist of my life is Beyoncé. And
this album for me, the 'Lemonade' album, was just so monumental," she
said onstage. "So well thought-out and so beautiful and soul-bearing and
we all got to see another side to you that you don't always let us see, and
we appreciate that. And all us artists here, we f---ing adore you. You are
our light."

Kendrick Lamar's "To Pimp a Butterfly" is

arguably the most masterful rap album in
history.
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 "To Pimp a Butterfly" was released on March 15, 2015.
Top Dawg/Aftermath

Year: 2016, at the 58th Grammy Awards

What beat it: "1989" by Taylor Swift

While Taylor Swift's "1989" is a pop gem, it simply isn't on the same
historic and artistic plane as "To Pimp a Butterfly." Kendrick Lamar's third
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 studio album — besides boasting his characteristically impeccable
lyricism and prodigious production value — holds an extraordinary
amount of cultural significance. As Mark Braboy wrote for Insider, it
"became the unofficial soundtrack to the Black Lives Matter movement
amid a continuing wave of fatal police violence against unarmed black
Americans across the country."

"There's music made by black people and then there's black music: songs
that hit you in the chest and make their way into your bloodstream, that
become part of you," Kara Brown wrote for Pitchfork. "'TPAB' was
released in the spring of 2015, three years after Trayvon Martin was
gunned down, and over a year after Michael Brown and Eric Garner
were murdered; Lamar knew that pain and knew, too, that more was to
come."

"But with this album," Brown continued, "he steeled us against the future
and gave us not just anthems but prayers. He gave us the album he knew
we'd need to keep going, as we always have."

Beyoncé's self-titled album irrevocably changed

the fabric of the music industry.
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 "Beyoncé" was released on December 13, 2013.
Columbia

Year: 2015, at the 57th Grammy Awards

What beat it: "Morning Phase" by Beck

When "Beyoncé" unexpectedly arrived on a Thursday night in 2013, it

was the definition of game-changing. The concept of a surprise drop or a
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 "visual album" didn't really exist before. Now, everyone wants the magic
Beyoncé created that night.

At a time when immersive listening experiences had all but disappeared

— streaming had begun to take over, and iPod playlists encouraged fans
to bounce from song to song without much thought — Beyoncé offered a
collection of 14 songs that were so intentional, so unique, so undeniably
flawless that we had no choice but to wrap them around our collective
consciousness like a blanket. Each track was its own moment, but they
were inextricably connected, weaving a stronger fabric together. Enter:
Beyoncé the storyteller, the big-picture visionary.

And "Morning Phase" is, well, fine. Beck's win for album of the year read
as an apology or course correction of sorts, since the Recording Academy
failed to reward his best work from previous decades, like 1996's
"Odelay" and 2008's "Modern Guilt." Obviously, it was too late. Giving
him the award in 2015, the year of "Beyoncé," was just laughably out of
touch.

"Red" is Taylor Swift's magnum opus.

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 "Red" was released on October 22, 2012.
Big Machine Records

Year: 2014, at the 56th Grammy Awards

What beat it: "Random Access Memories" by Daft Punk

In 2014, Taylor Swift was already the youngest album of the year winner
in history. Fans and critics alike were shocked when the bona fide
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 Grammys darling lost the award — to middling EDM duo Daft Punk, no
less — after creating the most mature, insightful, and timeless music of
her career.

This misstep has only proved to be more and more galling as years have
passed. In 2019, "Red" topped countless rankings of the decade's best
albums, from Stereogum (No. 10) and Billboard (No. 4) to Rolling Stone
(No. 4) and, yes, Insider (No. 1). Somewhat hilariously, "Random Access
Memories" fails to crack the top 10 on any of these, or it fails to be
included at all.

Frank Ocean's debut album "Channel Orange"

was an instant classic.
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 "Channel Orange" set the tone for Frank Ocean's success as an artist.
Def Jam Recordings

Year: 2013, at the 55th Grammy Awards

What beat it: "Babel" by Mumford & Sons

Frank Ocean didn't produce one of those debut albums that you later
recognized, only in retrospect, as the birth of an icon. "Channel Orange"
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 was an instant classic and nothing short of a massive success, if not a
tectonic shift in the modern musical landscape. Those young artists that
are being hailed these days for "genre-bending," like Billie Eilish and Lil
Nas X? Their music wouldn't exist without "Channel Orange."

Predictably, the Grammys gave Ocean a consolation prize known as best

urban contemporary album (like, what does "urban contemporary" even
mean?) and passed over "Channel Orange" in favor of a much safer,
more traditional option: The folk-rock, banjo-heavy sophomore album
from Mumford & Sons (which isn't even the band's best work).

"The Fame Monster" cemented Lady Gaga's

reputation as an avant-garde pop genius.
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 "The Fame Monster" was released on November 18, 2009.
UMG Recordings, Inc.

Year: 2011, at the 53rd Grammy Awards

What beat it: "The Suburbs" by Arcade Fire

"The Fame Monster" was so Important and Iconic that Pitchfork ranked it
as one of the best albums from the 2010s, despite being released in
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 2009.

"For something that cast such a long shadow over this decade, we're
making an exception," Amy Phillips wrote. "'The Fame Monster's' release
kicked off an arms race of pop kookiness: Suddenly, it seemed like
everyone from Katy Perry to Nicki Minaj to Kesha was falling all over
themselves to out-weird each other. But nobody's freak flag ever flew
higher than Gaga's."

Once again, however, the Recording Academy favored a more obvious

choice — an admittedly excellent album, but far more palatable for a
voting bloc that's overwhelmingly older, white, and male. Arcade Fire's
"The Suburbs" was experimental enough to be deemed innovative, but
still a rock-heavy record that adhered to safer genre lines.

"Graduation" made Kanye West a legend.

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 "Graduation" was released on September 11, 2007.
Roc-A-Fella Records/UMG Recordings, Inc.

Year: 2008, at the 50th Grammy Awards

What beat it: "River: The Joni Letters" by Herbie Hancock

Kanye West had already been nominated for album of the year twice: for
"The College Dropout" in 2005 and "Late Registration" in 2006. But
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 "Graduation" felt like his watershed moment, his career-defining
masterpiece (of course, we hadn't yet heard "My Beautiful Dark Twisted
Fantasy").

It also seemed like a much easier choice for the Recording Academy to
make, even for a body of voters that historically disrespects rap and hip-
hop. "Graduation" was more commercialized than his previous works. It
was the work of a perfectionist, a sharp student of pop music who craved
acclaim, an artist desperate to be recognized as an icon in his own time.

"Graduation" perfectly synthesized the culture in which it was formed,

but still had an eye on the future. It had huge stadium bangers, radio
hits, sprawling self-examinations, and one particularly poignant self-
fulfilling prophecy: "On this day we become legendary."

And what did this genius piece of work lose to? A... tribute album... of
cover songs. OK!

Amy Winehouse won big for her hit song

"Rehab," but its parent album "Back to Black"
also deserved recognition.
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 "Back to Black" was released on October 27, 2006.
Universal Island Records Ltd.

Year: 2008, at the 50th Grammy Awards

What beat it: "River: The Joni Letters" by Herbie Hancock

Yes, the Recording Academy's decision to reward Herbie Hancock for

"River: The Joni Letters" in 2008 was so egregious that it warrants two
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 different take downs in this list.

"Graduation" was a phenomenal piece of work, but the question of its

legacy is divisive for West's fan base. The Mark Ronson-produced "Back
to Black," on the other hand, is an undeniable, certified classic — and, in
retrospect, Amy Winehouse's last chance to get the recognition she
deserved. (She swept the other three main categories that year, and she
deserved to sweep all four.)

"The Grammys voting panel could not have known that Herbie would
ultimately outlive her and that 'Back to Black' would become her final
album," Dee Lockett noted for Vulture. "But they should've known then
that while both albums were an homage to the past (Hancock was a Joni
Mitchell covers album; Amy's a doo-wop and soul tribute though
technically original work), they had different purposes.

"Amy's album proved her a once-in-a-generation talent, but Hancock's

only reaffirmed the obvious: He's a legend. Except there are quite a few
of his albums that do a better job of making that point. Amy would never
have another."

Justin Timberlake's "FutureSex/LoveSounds" is

the perfect blend of catchy club bangers and
experimental art.
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 "FutureSex/LoveSounds" was released on September 8, 2006.
Zomba Recording LLC

Year: 2007, at the 49th Grammy Awards

What beat it: "Taking the Long Way" by the Dixie Chicks

Listen, in this house we stan the Dixie Chicks. We stan country music
icons, legends whose careers suffered for rightly criticizing President
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 George Bush and his 2003 invasion of Iraq. Plus, "Easy Silence" really
slaps.

That said, I'd take a bullet for "FutureSex/LoveSounds." Like, a non-

lethal one, but I said what I said.

If I may be so bold, the current landscape of pop music simply wouldn't

exist in its current form without Justin Timberlake's seminal body of
work. With its indulgent interludes, beatbox bridges, futuristic
symphonies, twitchy beats, and sing-song rap verses,
"FutureSex/LoveSounds" is super weird — too weird for Grammy voters,
to be sure, especially in 2007 — but it's also weirdly perfect. It was
somehow both commercially successful and desperately ahead of its
time.

"The Emancipation of Mimi" reasserted Mariah

Carey as the ultimate and undefeatable pop
diva.
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 "The Emancipation of Mimi" was released on April 12, 2005.
Island Def Jam

Year: 2006, at the 48th Grammy Awards

What beat it: "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" by U2

"The Emancipation of Mimi" is often cited as Mariah Carey's comeback

album, after a decade of unprecedented pop dominance and then two
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 albums that flopped. But this is an inadequate characterization, because
commercial giants are only welcomed back when the music is
undeniably catchy or downright transcendent. This album was both.

"The Emancipation of Mimi" became Carey's highest-selling release in the

US in a decade. The Grammys typically like to reward albums that are
visible (it means all the voters have listened to it, at least). The Grammys
also like Carey, who won best new artist back in the day. And yet, voters
chose to congratulate U2 yet again.

This wasn't even really a case of two near-equal albums going head to
head: "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" was less deserving than
multiple nominees, including Kanye West's "Late Registration."

As Zach Schonfeld wrote for Newsweek, "Grammy voters love U2, but
this one's a stretch. Though commercially successful thanks to 'Vertigo,'
'Atomic Bomb' was the first U2 album that sounded like just another U2
album."

"Acoustic Soul" by India.Arie is "an album of

simple beauty from a singer with a sublime
vocal talent."
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 "Acoustic Soul" was released on March 27, 2001.
Universal Motown Records/UMG Recordings, Inc.

Year: 2002, at the 44th Grammy Awards

What beat it: The soundtrack from "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

Movie soundtracks are usually considered long-shots for the Grammys'

major categories, so how did one beat the rapturous debut album from
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 one of this century's most talented vocalists?

As BBC's David O'Donnell noted, "Acoustic Soul" by India.Arie received a

massive seven nominations and yet received none, despite how it "broke
the mold for female R&B singers at the time."

"It's a piece that blurs the boundaries of the genre and as a result found a
diverse audience base from hip-hop to folk fans," O'Donnell wrote. "It's
an album of simple beauty from a singer with a sublime vocal talent."

Radiohead's "Kid A" is widely considered one of

the best — if not the best — album of the 2000s
decade.
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 "Kid A" was released on October 2, 2000.
XL Recordings Ltd.

Year: 2001, at the 43rd Grammy Awards

What beat it: "Two Against Nature" by Steely Dan

"Kid A" is one of the most innovative alt-rock albums and profound
musical statements in recent memory. Both Rolling Stone and Pitchfork
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 named "Kid A" the No. 1 best album of the 2000s. The Guardian ranked
it at No. 2, describing it as "the sound of today, a decade early." (That
was in 2009, but it's still an apt description if it were "two decades
early.")

By contrast, "Two Against Nature" was thoroughly average. But since it

was Steely Dan's first album in 20 years, I guess the Recording Academy
got overly excited.

Radiohead's "OK Computer" is easily one of the

greatest albums of all time.
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 "OK Computer" was released on May 21, 1997.
XL Recordings Ltd.

Year: 1998, at the 40th Grammy Awards

What beat it: "Time Out of Mind" by Bob Dylan

Radiohead's groundbreaking "OK Computer" was so perceptive that it

was downright prophetic. It was less of an album and more of a crystal
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 ball, peering into our technology-driven future (now present) and
empathizing with our emotions before we had even felt them. Not to
mention, it's full of phenomenal rock music in its purest, most
invigorating form.

"Radiohead appeared to be ahead of the curve, forecasting the paranoia,

media-driven insanity, and omnipresent sense of impending doom that's
subsequently come to characterize everyday life in the 21st century,"
Steven Hyden wrote for the AV Club. "Lofty thematic chit-chat aside, 'OK
Computer' delivered the goods for a monumental rock record: It sounded
miles-deep and ocean-wide, it blew out your brain and re-invigorated
your ears, and made lying on your bed with headphones on seem like a
profound activity."

"Time Out of Mind" may have been Bob Dylan's best album to date, but it
feels downright forgettable compared to "OK Computer" — an album
that is literally preserved in the Library of Congress for having significant
cultural, historical, or aesthetic impact on society.

"Odelay" by Beck is a genre-bending rock

masterpiece.
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 "Odelay" was released on June 18, 1996.
DGC Records

Year: 1997, at the 39th Grammy Awards

What beat it: "Falling Into You" by Céline Dion

Céline Dion is a force, but in retrospect, her massively popular album

"Falling Into You" is formulaic at best. It had little lasting impact on the
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 landscape of music and pales in comparison to its album of the year
competitors, including the Fugees' "The Score," the Smashing Pumpkins'
"Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness," and especially Beck's best album
"Odelay," an oddball rock masterpiece with a twisty take on hip-hop
trends that still sounds fresh and innovative and compelling to this day.

Was "Odelay's" egregious snub the reason why Beck has gone on to win
Grammy Awards for inferior projects? We can only speculate.

"Sign o' the Times" is the most outstanding

example of Prince's singular artistry.
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 "Sign o' the Times" was released on March 30, 1987.
NPG Records, Inc.

Year: 1988, at the 30th Grammy Awards

What beat it: "The Joshua Tree" by U2

"The Joshua Tree" is arguably the best album from one of our most
enduring rock bands, but I think we can all agree that Prince's best
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 album trumps pretty much any other musician's best album almost every
time, including U2.

"Purple Rain" might be Prince's most beloved and commercially

successful, but "Sign o' the Times" is his magnum opus. It was even
inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, nearly 30 years after it was
disrespected by that same organization.

It's hard to believe that "Purple Rain," Prince's

most beloved album, could lose any award ever.
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 "Purple Rain" was released on June 25, 1984.
NPG Records, Inc.

Year: 1985, at the 27th Grammy Awards

What beat it: "Can't Slow Down" by Lionel Richie

No disrespect to Lionel Richie, but this is "Purple Rain" we're talking

about. This is Prince we're talking about. No more needs to be said.
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 Pink Floyd's "The Wall" isn't just the most
famous concept album of all time — it's the
most significant and transformative.

"The Wall" was released on November 30, 1979.

Pink Floyd Music Ltd/Sony

Year: 1981, at the 23rd Grammy Awards

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 What beat it: "Christopher Cross" by Christopher Cross

Not only is "The Wall" a seminal body of work, a self-evident standard

that artists still strive to and fail to reach, but it lost to "Christopher
Cross." Pink Floyd lost to Christopher Cross. Oh, you don't know who
Christopher Cross is? That's OK, neither does anyone else.

If any one ceremony could encapsulate why the Recording Academy

can't be trusted, it's this one. Cross became the only artist in Grammys
history to win all four major awards in the same night — album of the
year, record of the year, song of the year, and best new artist — and
remained the only artist to do so for nearly four decades, until Billie
Eilish joined the ranks in 2020.

"Abbey Road" by The Beatles is the most iconic

album from the most iconic band in history.
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 "Abbey Road" was released on September 26, 1969.
Apple Records

Year: 1970, at the 12th Grammy Awards

What beat it: "Blood, Sweat & Tears" by Blood, Sweat & Tears

The Grammys have obviously seen some major upsets, but the 12th
ceremony was responsible for one of the most confusing underdog wins
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 in history. "Blood, Sweat & Tears" is a wonderful jazz-rock album, but
that hardly matters when "Abbey Road" is in the running — and, mind-
bogglingly, the award wasn't even given to the next-best choice.

As Craig Jenkins wrote for Vulture, "The Recording Academy had one job
in 1970, and that was to slide the album of the year trophy to one of the
three masterworks of the late '60s."

"'Blood, Sweat & Tears' is great, but 'At San Quentin'? 'Crosby, Stills &
Nash'? 'Abbey Road'!? These are epochal records within their respective
forms. 'Blood, Sweat & Tears' isn't even the tightest mainstream jazz-
fusion album from the same eligibility period. (What's up, 'Chicago
Transit Authority'?) Swing and a miss."

For critics and Beatles fans alike, "Revolver" is

second only to "Sgt. Pepper" as the band's
greatest work.
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 "Revolver" was released on August 5, 1966.
Parlophone Records

Year: 1967, at the 9th Grammy Awards

What beat it: "A Man and His Music" by Frank Sinatra

Thankfully, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" did win album of the
year in 1968. But the band's second-greatest work failed to get the same
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 recognition the previous year.

To make it even worse, "Revolver" was only nominated in that singular

category, so despite creating an album full of classics — from "Eleanor
Rigby" and "Yellow Submarine" to "Got to Get You into My Life" — the
band came up completely empty-handed.
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