Grammys: Iconic Artists Who Never Won Album of the Year

Save for his debut, all of Kendrick Lamar’s studio albums have been contenders for the biggest Grammy Award: “Good Kid, M.A.A.D City,” “To Pimp a Butterfly,” “Damn,” “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers,” and most recently, “GNX.” He also received nominations as a featured artist on Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” and as the curator and lead performer on the “Black Panther” soundtrack.

He has won best rap album several times, record of the year, and song of the year — not to mention a Pulitzer Prize — but never album of the year. 

Lady Gaga’s “Mayhem” won best pop vocal album at the 2026 Grammys, but lost the top prize to Bad Bunny’s “Debí Tirar Más Fotos.” She had previously been nominated in the category for “Love for Sale” (a collaborative album with Tony Bennett), “Born This Way,” “The Fame Monster,” and “The Fame.”

Mariah Carey has been named Billboard’s top-selling female artist of all time. As of writing, she boasts 19 No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, the most of any solo artist, and is the only person to top the chart in four separate decades.

Yet Carey has lost all three of her bids for album of the year. She received her first nomination in 1991 for her self-titled LP but lost to Quincy Jones.

She was later nominated for “Daydream” in 1996 and “The Emancipation of Mimi” in 2006, but lost to Alanis Morissette and U2, respectively.

Just two albums in Drake’s record-breaking catalog have been up for album of the year: “Views” in 2017 and “Scorpion” in 2019. They lost to “25” by Adele and “Golden Hour” by Kacey Musgraves, respectively.

Although Drake has criticized the ceremony’s relevance — both onstage and on social media — he resumed submitting his music for consideration with the 2022 album “Her Loss,” which received four nods, but only in rap categories.

“4:44” is the only album in Jay-Z’s legendary discography that has been up for album of the year. He lost that bid to Bruno Mars.

However, Jay-Z has also been nominated for his work on other people’s albums, including Lil Wayne’s “Tha Carter III,” Lamar’s “Good Kid, M.A.A.D City,” Ye’s “Donda,” and three albums by his wife, Beyoncé, finally winning for “Cowboy Carter.”

In 2024, Jay-Z openly criticized the Recording Academy during his acceptance speech for the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award.

Rihanna has largely pivoted to business ventures in the last decade, but for several years, she was a hit-making machine.

During Rihanna’s reign over the charts, only “Loud” was nominated for album of the year.

Her eighth and most acclaimed album to date, “Anti,” wasn’t up for the award despite collecting six other nominations in 2017, including best urban contemporary album.

Janet Jackson’s first set of Grammy nominations came in 1987, including an album of the year nod for “Control.” It lost to Paul Simon’s “Graceland.”

None of Jackson’s solo albums have been nominated since, though she did receive a nod as a producer and featured artist on her brother’s “HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I.” That year, Alanis Morissette won for “Jagged Little Pill.”

Björk has only received nods in genre-specific categories — most recently best alternative music album for “Fossora” in 2023 — but has lost all 16 of her nominations.

Eminem received his first nod for album of the year in 2001 for “The Marshall Mathers LP,” but lost to “Two Against Nature” by Steely Dan.” 

He has been nominated two more times, in 2003 for “The Eminem Show” and in 2011 for “Recovery,” but lost to Norah Jones and Arcade Fire, respectively.

Bruce Springsteen is one of the biggest winners in Grammy history with 20 awards, but he has still never won album of the year. 

The Boss has been nominated just twice: in 1985 for “Born in the U.S.A.” and in 2003 for “Rising.” (Shockingly, he got no love for “Born to Run” or “Nebraska.”)

Lauryn Hill took home the biggest Grammy Award in 1999 for “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” becoming the first hip-hop artist to do so.

Many of Madonna’s groundbreaking albums, including “Like a Prayer,” “Erotica,” and “Confessions on a Dance Floor,” never received a nod for album of the year — or, for that matter, a nod in any of the high-profile general-field categories.

Nirvana received just five Grammy nominations during Kurt Cobain’s lifetime, and none were in the “Big Four” categories.

The groundbreaking band won just one award: best alternative music performance for “MTV Unplugged in New York,” bestowed nearly one year after Cobain’s death.

Incredibly, Prince lost both of his bids for album of the year. “Purple Rain” was bested by Lionel Richie’s “Can’t Slow Down” in 1985, while “Sign o’ the Times” lost to U2’s “The Joshua Tree” in 1988.

David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” lost to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” in 1984.

Many of Bowie’s most inventive and beloved albums, including “Hunky Dory,” “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars,” and “Station to Station,” didn’t get any Grammy nominations at all.

Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” has been hailed as the best album of all time, but it didn’t get a chance to compete for album of the year.

Gaye only won two Grammys in his lifetime — best R&B vocal performance and best R&B instrumental performance for “Sexual Healing” in 1983 — but was never nominated in a major category. He was posthumously given the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996.

It’s hard to believe that Pink Floyd’s seminal concept record lost to Christopher Cross, who swept the “Big Four” categories in 1981 with his self-titled album.

Cross became the only artist in Grammys history to win all four general-field awards on the same night and remained the only artist to do so for nearly four decades until Billie Eilish joined the ranks in 2020. He never won another.

Meanwhile, Pink Floyd never received another nomination for album of the year. The band only took home one award for best rock instrumental performance.

Only one album by the top-selling British band has ever been up for album of the year: “Some Girls” in 1979. It was their first-ever Grammy nomination, and they have yet to compete for the top prize again.

In fact, The Rolling Stones have only won four Grammys to date — including best rock album for “Hackney Diamonds” in 2025 — and none in a major category.

Elton John received his first nod for album of the year in 1971 for his self-titled LP, but lost to Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”

He has been nominated two more times, for “Caribou” in 1975 and “Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy” in 1976, but lost to Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon, respectively. 

Before her death in 2018, Aretha Franklin, the renowned “Queen of Soul,” won 18 Grammys out of 44 nominations.

Franklin was also honored with the Recording Academy’s Grammy Legend Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award, and the MusiCares Person of the Year award in 1991, 1994, and 2008, respectively. Five of her songs, including her beloved cover of Otis Redding’s “Respect,” have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Despite these accolades, Franklin never received a nomination in a general-field category like album, record, or song of the year. She received just two nominations for best R&B album for “A Rose Is Still A Rose” and “So Damn Happy,” but lost both.

Elvis Presley only won three Grammy Awards: best sacred performance for “How Great Thou Art,” best inspirational performance for “He Touched Me,” and best inspirational performance (non-classical) for “How Great Thou Art.”

Presley was nominated for record of the year twice (for “A Fool Such As I” and “Are You Lonesome Tonight?”), but never for song or album of the year.