What's the Difference Among the Grammys’ Album, Record, and Song of the Year?

Four Grammy categories carry the most prestige at the annual awards ceremony: Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist. The last one is self-explanatory, but what’s the difference among the other three? The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which bestows the Grammys, has rules about which player in the music production process is eligible for each of these awards.

The Album of the Year, considered the crowning achievement of the night, is for overall accomplishment on the entirety of the album. Yes, people colloquially refer to albums as “records,” but in Grammy terms, the Record of the Year category is far more similar to Song of the Year. When Album of the Year was first awarded in 1959, only the performing artist was recognized, but by 1965 producers were included. Today, engineers and sound mixers who worked on the album are also eligible for a Grammy win.

Record of the Year, like Album of the Year, recognizes both the artist and any producers, engineers, sound mixers, or other technicians who made an individual song. The Record of the Year commends the actual recording of the track—in other words, what you hear—such as the way the instrumentation was layered and how the beats were mixed. For example, when Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” won Record of the Year in 2014, 10 people were awarded trophies: Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of Daft Punk (who also produced), featured artists Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers, four engineers/mixers, and two master engineers.

Song of the Year pertains to the songwriting—this award goes specifically to the songwriter, composer, and/or lyricist nominated for the single. This is usually a much shorter list of eligible winners per song, commonly no more than three or four people each year. Often, as is the case with singers who write the majority of their own songs, it can go to just that one individual. For example, when “Rehab” won Song of the Year in 2008, Amy Winehouse was the sole recipient; same with Alicia Keys winning in 2002 for “Fallin,’” and Bruce Springsteen in 1995 for “Streets of Philadelphia.”

Song of the Year illustrates why songwriting credits are important—if a band performs a song that wins in this category but only one member is listed as the songwriter, only that member wins the Grammy. For example, when The Police’s “Every Breath You Take” won in 1984, only Sting walked away with a Grammy. Similarly, in 2003 Norah Jones and her album Come Away With Me swept all four prestige categories, and though Jones left with five Grammys that night, she herself did not win Song of the Year. That went to songwriter Jesse Harris, who was the sole writer of her hit “Don’t Know Why.”

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A version of this story was published in 2016; it has been updated for 2025.