INTRODUCTION
The Grammy awards are the most prestigious music awards in modern popular music. There are many categories in the ceremony but the biggest award is the award for best album. This page looks at the backgrounds of the artists who won this award. As the Grammy awards are an American award, most winners have been American.
Charts
1. Region of Birth or Band Origin of US Best Album Grammy Winners
2. Country of Birth or Band Origin of Best Album Grammy Winners
3. Most Common State of Birth or Band Origin of US Best Album Grammy Winners
Data Table
4. Best Album Grammy Award by Artist, Work and Origin of Artist
The best album Grammy award is the most prestigious award in the music world today. It is considered the height of musical achievement in modern popular music.
Different regions have different musical cultures and styles as well as a different concentration record companies. The presence of a major record label in a place can result in large numbers of artists from that area becoming successful.
The Northeast is by far the most common region of birth or origin of band for best album Grammy winners with New York and New jersey being especially well represented. Frank Sinatra, who has won the award 3 times, is from New Jersey in the Northeast. The Midwest has the 2nd most with 27%. Stevie Wonder who has also won the award 3 times is from Detroit in the Midwestern state of Michigan. The South has notably just 17% despite being the origin of many musical styles. It’s worth noting that Elvis Presley, who originated in the South, rose to prominence years before the Grammy awards started.
Note: “Band Origin” refers to the place where the band was formed. Usually that is also in the same region of birth of the main band members.
Frank Sinatra, from New Jersey in the Northeast of the United States, won Album of the Year 3 times.
Since the Grammy awards are an American award, it’s not surprising that best album winners most commonly originated from the USA. The UK is the origin of 17% of Best Album winners. All other countries combined are 12%. The chart reflects the domination of these the USA and the UK in the global music industry. The success of British artists at the Grammy’s reflects the global reach of British music from the Beatles in the 60s to Adele recently.
American musician Stevie Wonder won Album of the Year 3 times.
New York is the origin of the largest number of American Best Album winners with 8 winners, 7 of them from New York City. New York City has long been the center of the American music industry and is also often called the world capital of music. The neighbouring state of New Jersey is 2nd with 7 which is impressive for the 11th largest state. Within New Jersey, Newark is the birthplace of the winners of 3 Best Album Winners. Despite being the largest state, California is well behind New York and New Jersey.
Note: Where two artists collaborated, each counts as 0.5 for the chart.
DATA TABLE
4. Best Album Grammy Award by Artist, Work and Origin of Artist
OTHER PAGES ABOUT MUSIC
Sources:
Charts created using OpenOffice Calc.