Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album
Songs of a Lost World by The Cure is the most recent recipient
Presented by	National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
Country	United States
First awarded	1991
Currently held by	The Cure — Songs of a Lost World (2026)

The Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album is a special prize given to music artists. It celebrates the best albums in the "alternative" music style. These awards are part of the bigger Grammy Awards, which started in 1958. The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in the United States gives out these awards every year. They want to honor amazing music, great sound quality, and overall excellence in music, not just how many albums are sold. In 2023, another award was added: Best Alternative Music Performance. This award recognizes individual songs or performances.

What is Alternative Music?
A Look Back: How the Award Started
Award Winners Through the Years
Artists Who Won Multiple Times
Artists Nominated Many Times
See also

What is Alternative Music?

What exactly is "alternative" music? It's a question many people discuss! When this award started in 1991, it was for rock albums that weren't super popular on regular radio. Instead, they were often played a lot on college radio stations.

Over the years, the Grammy organization has updated its description. For the 2019 awards, they explained it like this: Alternative music is a style that shows new ideas and creativity in its sound and message. It can be a softer kind of rock or a more energetic type of pop. People often see it as more unique, diverse, or musically interesting. This category can include many different music styles that don't quite fit anywhere else.

A Look Back: How the Award Started

When the award first began in 1991, and then again from 1994 to 1999, it was called Best Alternative Music Performance. The main artist who performs on the album gets the award. Also, the people who help create the album, like the producer and the sound engineer, can receive an award if they worked on more than half of the album. Only the lead artist gets an official nomination. Others who worked on less than half of the album can still get a special certificate. Before 2001, only the performing artist was nominated and received the award.

As of 2026, four artists have won this award three times each: Radiohead, The White Stripes, Beck, and St. Vincent. St. Vincent is the first solo female artist to win it three times! Other amazing female solo artists who have won include Sinéad O'Connor and Fiona Apple. Bands with female members like The White Stripes and Alabama Shakes have also won. Plus, two all-female bands, Wet Leg and Boygenius, have taken home the prize.

Björk has been nominated nine times, which is the most for any solo artist, but she hasn't won yet. Thom Yorke, the singer from Radiohead, has been nominated 10 times in total, including for his solo albums. Vampire Weekend and Coldplay have both won the award twice. Coldplay is the only group to win it two years in a row! Most winners have been American artists. However, musicians from the United Kingdom have won five times, from Ireland twice, and from France and Australia once each. Artists from Canada, Iceland, and Sweden have been nominated, but haven't won yet.

Award Winners Through the Years

Sinéad O'Connor was the inaugural winner in 1991.

Michael Stipe of 1992 award winner R.E.M.

1993 award winner Tom Waits

Thom Yorke of the three-time award-winning band Radiohead.

Three-time winner Beck.

Björk has been nominated a record nine times.

Two-time award-winning band Coldplay.

2007 winners Gnarls Barkley.

Three-time award-winning band The White Stripes.

Ezra Koenig of two-time award-winner Vampire Weekend.

St. Vincent was the second solo female recipient when she won in 2015, and the first to win twice for solo recordings.

Brittany Howard of 2016 award winner Alabama Shakes.

2017 award winner David Bowie.

Year	Winners	Work	Nominees
1991	Sinéad O'Connor	I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got	Laurie Anderson – Strange Angels Kate Bush – The ... World The Replacements – All Shook Down World Party – Goodbye Jumbo
1992	R.E.M.	Out of Time	Elvis Costello – Mighty Like a Rose Jesus Jones – Doubt Nirvana – Nevermind Richard Thompson – Rumor and Sigh
1993	Tom Waits	Bone Machine	The B-52s – Good Stuff The Cure – Wish Morrissey – Your Arsenal XTC – Nonsuch
1994	U2	Zooropa	Belly – Star Nirvana – In Utero R.E.M. – Automatic for the People The Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream
1995	Green Day	Dookie	Tori Amos – Under the Pink Crash Test Dummies – God Shuffled His Feet Sarah McLachlan – Fumbling Towards ... Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral
1996	Nirvana	MTV Unplugged in New York	Björk – Post Foo Fighters – Foo Fighters PJ Harvey – To Bring You My Love The Presidents of the United States of America – The Presidents of the United States of America
1997	Beck	Odelay	Tori Amos – Boys for Pele Tracy Bonham – The Burdens of Being Upright R.E.M. – New Adventures in Hi-Fi The Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
1998	Radiohead	OK Computer	Björk – Homogenic David Bowie – Earthling The Chemical Brothers – Dig Your Own Hole The Prodigy – The Fat of the Land
1999	Beastie Boys	Hello Nasty	Tori Amos – From the Choirgirl Hotel PJ Harvey – Is This Desire? Radiohead – Airbag/How Am I Driving? The Smashing Pumpkins – Adore
2000	Beck	Mutations	Tori Amos – To Venus and Back Fatboy Slim – You've Come a Long Way, Baby Moby – Play Nine Inch Nails – The Fragile
2001	Radiohead	Kid A	Fiona Apple – When the Pawn… Beck – Midnite Vultures The Cure – Bloodflowers Paul McCartney – Liverpool Sound Collage
2002	Coldplay	Parachutes	Tori Amos – Strange Little Girls Björk – Vespertine Fatboy Slim – Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars Radiohead – Amnesiac
2003	Coldplay	A Rush of Blood to the Head	Beck – Sea Change Clinic – Walking with Thee Elvis Costello and the Imposters – Cruel Smile The Soundtrack of Our Lives – Behind the Music
2004	The White Stripes	Elephant	The Flaming Lips – Fight Test Radiohead – Hail to the Thief Sigur Rós – ( ) Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever to Tell
2005	Wilco	A Ghost Is Born	Björk – Medúlla Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand PJ Harvey – Uh Huh Her Modest Mouse – Good News for People Who Love Bad News
2006	The White Stripes	Get Behind Me Satan	Arcade Fire – Funeral Beck – Guero Death Cab for Cutie – Plans Franz Ferdinand – You Could Have It So Much Better
2007	Gnarls Barkley	St. Elsewhere	Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not The Flaming Lips – At War with the Mystics Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Show Your Bones Thom Yorke – The Eraser
2008	The White Stripes	Icky Thump	Lily Allen – Alright, Still Arcade Fire – Neon Bible Björk – Volta The Shins – Wincing the Night Away
2009	Radiohead	In Rainbows	Beck – Modern Guilt Death Cab for Cutie – Narrow Stairs Gnarls Barkley – The Odd Couple My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges
2010	Phoenix	Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix	David Byrne and Brian Eno – Everything That Happens Will Happen Today Death Cab for Cutie – The Open Door EP Depeche Mode – Sounds of the Universe Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It's Blitz!
2011	The Black Keys	Brothers	Arcade Fire – The Suburbs Band of Horses – Infinite Arms Broken Bells – Broken Bells Vampire Weekend – Contra
2012	Bon Iver	Bon Iver	Death Cab for Cutie – Codes and Keys Foster the People – Torches My Morning Jacket – Circuital Radiohead – The King of Limbs
2013	Gotye	Making Mirrors	Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel... Björk – Biophilia M83 – Hurry Up, We're Dreaming Tom Waits – Bad as Me
2014	Vampire Weekend	Modern Vampires of the City	Neko Case – The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You The National – Trouble Will Find Me Nine Inch Nails – Hesitation Marks Tame Impala – Lonerism
2015	St. Vincent	St. Vincent	Alt-J – This Is All Yours Arcade Fire – Reflektor Cage the Elephant – Melophobia Jack White – Lazaretto
2016	Alabama Shakes	Sound & Color	Björk – Vulnicura My Morning Jacket – The Waterfall Tame Impala – Currents Wilco – Star Wars
2017	David Bowie	Blackstar	Bon Iver – 22, A Million PJ Harvey – The Hope Six Demolition Project Iggy Pop – Post Pop Depression Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool
2018	The National	Sleep Well Beast	Arcade Fire – Everything Now Gorillaz – Humanz LCD Soundsystem – American Dream Father John Misty – Pure Comedy
2019	Beck	Colors	Arctic Monkeys – Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino Björk – Utopia David Byrne – American Utopia St. Vincent – Masseduction
2020	Vampire Weekend	Father of the Bride	Big Thief – U.F.O.F. James Blake – Assume Form Bon Iver – I, I Thom Yorke – Anima
2021	Fiona Apple	Fetch the Bolt Cutters	Beck – Hyperspace Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher Brittany Howard – Jaime Tame Impala – The Slow Rush
2022	St. Vincent	Daddy's Home	Fleet Foxes – Shore Halsey – If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power Japanese Breakfast – Jubilee Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams
2023	Wet Leg	Wet Leg	Arcade Fire – We Big Thief – Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You Björk – Fossora Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Cool It Down
2024	Boygenius	The Record	Arctic Monkeys – The Car Lana Del Rey – Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd Gorillaz – Cracker Island PJ Harvey – I Inside the Old Year Dying
2025	St. Vincent	All Born Screaming	Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Wild God Clairo – Charm Kim Gordon – The Collective Brittany Howard – What Now
2026	The Cure	Songs of a Lost World	Bon Iver – Sable, Fable Tyler, the Creator – Don't Tap the Glass Wet Leg – Moisturizer Hayley Williams – Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party