Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album

Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album
Awarded forQuality albums containing 51% or more playing time of vocal tracks[1] in the "traditional" genre (Great American Songbook)[2]
CountryUnited States
Presented byNational Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
First awarded1992
Currently held byLaufey – Bewitched (2024)
Most awardsTony Bennett (14)
Most nominationsTony Bennett (17)
Websitegrammy.com

The Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album is an award presented to recording artists at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards.[3] Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually 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".[4]

The award has been presented every year since 1992, though it has had two name changes throughout its history. In 1992 the award was known as Best Traditional Pop Performance, from 1993 to 2000 the award was known as Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance, and since 2001 it has been awarded as Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. Apart from the first year it was presented, the award has been designated for "albums containing 51% or more playing time of vocal tracks", with "traditional" referring to the "composition, vocal styling, and the instrumental arrangement" of the body of music known as the Great American Songbook.[1][2]

The 1992 award was presented to Natalie Cole for the spliced-together duet of her and her father, Nat King Cole, performing his original recording of "Unforgettable".[5] This is the only instance in which the traditional pop award was awarded for a song, as opposed to an album. Prior to 2001, the Grammy was presented to the performing artists only; since then the award has been given to the performing artists, the engineers/mixers, as well as the producers, provided they worked on more than 51 percent of playing time on the album. Producers and engineers who worked on less than 50 percent of playing time of the album, as well as mastering engineers do not win an award, but can apply for a Winners Certificate.[6] Eligibility criteria for the category was expanded in 2025 to welcome more entries from the musical theater community, and it was mandated that albums must contain more than 75% of newly recorded and previously unreleased material.[7]

  1. ^ a b "Nominees: Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album". National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on February 4, 2010. Retrieved December 22, 2009.
  2. ^ a b "52nd OEP Category Description Guide" (PDF). National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 27, 2009. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
  3. ^ "Grammy Awards at a Glance". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 9, 2012. Retrieved January 28, 2010.
  4. ^ "Overview". National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on October 27, 2009. Retrieved February 8, 2010.
  5. ^ "Natalie Cole gets 7 Grammys". The Spokesman-Review. Cowles Publishing Company. February 26, 1992. Retrieved December 22, 2009.
  6. ^ "AWARDS, CERTIFICATES, AND GRAMMY TICKETS" (PDF). Grammy.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 10, 2020. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
  7. ^ Grein, Paul (June 14, 2024). "Grammys 2025: No New Categories, But 10 Rule Tweaks". Billboard. Retrieved June 14, 2024.