Grammy Award for Record of the Year facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Grammy Award for Record of the Year
"Not Like Us" by Kendrick Lamar is the most recent recipient
Presented by	National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
Country	United States
First awarded	1959
Currently held by	Kendrick Lamar – "Not Like Us" (2025)

The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is a very important award given out by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in the United States. This award celebrates the best recorded songs each year. It honors amazing artistic work, great technical skills, and overall excellence in music. It doesn't matter how many copies a song sold or where it landed on music charts.

This award is one of the four biggest awards at the Grammys. These "General Field" awards are given every year since the first Grammy Awards in 1959. The other three big awards are Best New Artist, Song of the Year, and Album of the Year.

What is "Record of the Year"?

The "Record of the Year" award is given for a single song or a track from an album. It celebrates the recorded performance of a song. This means it's about how the song sounds when it's played.

The award goes to the main artist who performs the song. It also goes to the people who helped make the recording sound great. These include the producer, the recording engineer, and the mixer.

Who Else Gets Recognized?

Other people who work on a winning song can also get a special certificate. This includes arrangers, songwriters, musicians, and background singers. Songwriters can only get a certificate if it's a brand new song they wrote.

Since the 55th Grammy Awards in 2013, mastering engineers are also recognized for this award. They help make the final sound of the song perfect.

Record vs. Song vs. Album

It can be a bit confusing because the word "record" often means any recorded music. But at the Grammys, "Record of the Year" is different from "Song of the Year" or "Album of the Year". Here's how they are different:

• Record of the Year: This award is for a single song or one track from an album. It goes to the performing artist, the producer, the recording engineer, and the mixer for that specific song. Think of "record" here as the actual recorded sound of the song.

• Song of the Year: This award is also for a single song or track. However, this award goes to the songwriter who wrote the lyrics and/or the music for the song. "Song" in this case means the words and melodies that make up the song, not how it was recorded.

• Album of the Year: This award is for an entire album, which is a collection of songs. The award goes to the artist, the songwriter, the producer, the recording engineer, and the mastering engineer for the whole album. "Album" here means the complete collection of recorded songs.

See also

• Grammy Award for Song of the Year
• Grammy Award for Album of the Year
• Best New Artist

In Spanish: Anexo:Premio Grammy a la grabación del año para niños