In 2026, the Grammy Awards brought back a long-forgotten category: Best Album Cover. It rewards the creativity of art directors in crafting memorable covers.
Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason, Jr. said, “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’ve 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.”
Best Album Cover rewards the art director, not the performing artist, although some artists do serve as co-art directors.
Prediction: We will suddenly start seeing a whole lot of artists become art directors now that they can win a Grammy for it, much like artists started directing their own videos once MTV began listing video directors in the on-screen credits.
History of Best Album Cover Category
Best Album Cover actually existed as a category at the very first Grammys in 1959. Frank Sinatra won the award for Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely.
In 1962, the award was split into two: one for classical music, and one for non-classical. Then in 1966, the award was split into one award for Photography, and one for Graphic Arts. From 1969 to 1973, the Best Album Cover Grammy returned, until it was replaced by Best Recording Package in 1974.
Notable nominees from the past include Andy Warhol, whose iconic Sticky Fingers cover for the Rolling Stones was a 1972 contender.
Weirdly, the Grammys consider “Best Album Cover” to be a brand new category created in 2026. They don’t consider the Best Album Cover award from the 1960s to be the same award.
For historical purposes, the Grammys have shifted those earlier Best Album Cover awards into the Best Recording Package category instead.
For our purposes, we’re going to list those early nominees and winners here, since that’s where they logically fit.
Grammy Awards: Best Album Cover Winners and Nominees By Year
Note: There is some confusion over the 2026 nominees in this category, because the initial nominee list, as released by the Recording Academy, showed different names. However, by the time of the ceremony, they had adjusted the names to properly reward the correct art directors.
For instance, when the nominees were announced, the art directors for Chromakopia were named as Shaun Llewellyn & Luis “Panch” Perez. Tyler himself was not named. But when the award was given out at the ceremony, it was credited only to Tyler Okonma. What happened to Shaun and Luis? Apparently their nomination was removed after the Academy reviewed it.
Winners in bold; other nominees listed beneath. The award goes to the art directors only. The recording artist is listed in parenthesis.
2026: Chromakopia, Tyler Okonma (Tyler the Creator)
The Crux, Jake Hirshland, Joe Keery, Neil Krug, Taylor Vanderbilt, William Wesley II (Djo)
Debi Tirar Mas Fotos, Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio (Bad Bunny)
Glory, Cody Critcheloe, Mike Hadreas, Andrew J.S. (Perfume Genius)
Moisturizer, Iris Luz, Lava La Rue, Rhian Teasdale (Wet Leg)
1973: The Siegel-Schwall Band, Acy Lehman and Harvey Dinnerstein (Siegel-Schwall Band)
Chief, Aaron Schumaker and Tumbleweed Graphics (Dewey Terry)
Five Dollar Shoes, Ron Levine and Pacific Eye & Ear (Five Dollar Shoes)
Flash, Hipgnosis and Poe (Flash)
Historical Figures and Ancient Heads, Norman Seeff (Canned Heat)
School’s Out, Wilkes & Braun, Sound Packing Corp, Robert Otter (Alice Cooper)
Sunset Ride, Ed Thrasher, Chris Wolf, Dave Willardson, John & Barbara Casado (Zephyr)
Virgin, Bell Lvy and Fred Marcellino (The Mission)
1972: Pollution, Gene Brownell & Dean O. Torrence (Pollution)
Bark, Acy Lehman and Nick Sangiamo (Jefferson Airplane)
Black Pearl, Norman Seeff and John Van Hamersveld (Jimmy McGriff)
Blood, Sweat & Tears 4, John Bergm Robert Lockhart, Norman Seeff (Blood, Sweat & Tears)
Hot Platters, Ed Thrasher and John Van Hamersveld (Various Artists)
The Music of Erik Satie: Through a Looking Glass, Vincent J. Biondi and Susan Obrant (Camarata Contemporary Chamber Orchestra)
Sharepickers, Ed Thrasher and Terry Paul (Mason Williams)
Sticky Fingers, Craig Braun and Andy Warhol (The Rolling Stones)
1971: Indianola Mississippi Seeds, Robert Lockhart and Ivan Nagy (BB King)
Chicago, John Berg and Nick Fasciano (Chicago)
Hand Made, Ed Thrasher and Dave Bhang (Mason Williams)
Mason Proffit, Peter Whorf, Martin Donald, and Christopher Whorf (Mason Proffit)
The Naked Carmen, Desmond Strobel and John Craig (Various Artists)
Schubert: “Unfinished” Symphony/ Beethoven: Fifth Symphony, Peter Whorf, Christopher Whorf, and Fred Poore (Artur Rodziński conducting the Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of London)
Uncle Charlie and His Dog Teddy, Woody Woodward, William E. McEuen, Dean O. Torrence (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
The World’s Greatest Blues Singer, John Berg, Philip Hays, Lloyd Ziff (Bessie Smith)
1970: America the Beautiful, Evelyn J. Kelbish and David Stahlberg (Gary McFarland)
Blind Faith, Bob Seidman (Blind Faith)
Led Zeppelin II, David Juniper (Led Zeppelin)
Pidgeon, Tom Lazarus, Gene Brownell, and Bill Gordon (Pidgeon)
Richard Pryor, Gary Burden and Henry Diltz (Richard Pryor)
1969: Underground, John Berg, Richard Mantel, and Horn/Griner Studio (Thelonious Monk)
Ives: Holiday Symphony, John Berg, Bob Cato, Ron Coro, Don Huntstein (Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic)
Rhinoceros, William S. Harvey and Gene Szafran (Rhinoceros)
Road Song, Sam Antupit and Pete Turner (Wes Montgomery)
Wow, Bob Cato (Moby Grape)
1961: Latin ala Lee!, Marvin Schwartz (Peggy Lee)
Bean Bags, Marvin Israel (Milt Jackson and Coleman Hawkins)
Carlos Montoya, Robert M. Jones (Carlos Montoya)
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book, Sheldon Marks (Ella Fitzgerald)
Now!, Irving Werbin (Fred Astaire)
Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky, Robert M. Jones (Fritz Reiner conducting the Chicago Symphony)
Stravinsky: Petruchka, Robert M. Jones (Pierre Monteux conducting the Boston Symphony)
Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Suite Excerpts, Robert M. Jones (Fritz Reiner conducting the Chicago Symphony)
Wild Percussion and Horns A’Plenty, Robert M. Jones (Dick Schory)
1960: Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5, Robert M. Jones (Howard Mitchell conducting the National Symphony Orchestra)
Anatomy of a Murder, Saul Bass (Duke Ellington)
For LP Fans Only, Colonel Tom Parker (Elvis Presley)
Porgy and Bess, Acy Lehman (Lena Horne and Harry Belafonte)
The South Shall Rise Again, Robert Yorke and Acy Lehman (Phil Harris)
1959: Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely, Frank Sinatra (Frank Sinatra)
Come Fly With Me, Marvin Schwartz (Frank Sinatra)
For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ray Heindorf and Ray Rennahan (Various Artists)
Ira Ironstrings Plays Music for People with $3.98, David Rose (Ira Ironstrings)
Julie, Charles Ward (Julie London)
Last Updated on February 7, 2026