The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is one of the most prestigious award category at the Grammys. It has been awarded since 1959 and though it was originally presented to the artist alone, the award is now presented to the artist, the producer, the engineer and/or mixer and the mastering engineer. In 1962, the award name was extended to Album of the Year (other than classical) but reverted to the shorter name by 1965. It was not until 1968, 1969, and 1999 that the award was won by a rock album, country album, or a hip hop album respectively.
Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, and Paul Simon are the biggest winners in this category with 3 victories each. Paul McCartney leads all performers with nine nominations: five as a member of The Beatles, three for solo albums, and one as a member of Wings. Frank Sinatra leads solo performers with eight nominations, seven for solo albums and one for a duet album. Paul McCartney and Paul Simon are the only artists with nominations in every decade the awards have been in existence (not counting the inaugural ceremony in 1959), if counting the nominations from the 1960s as part of their respective groups, The Beatles, and Simon & Garfunkel. They've only competed against each other once: in 1969, when The Beatles were nominated for Magical Mystery Tour and Simon & Garfunkel were up for Bookends. They both lost to Glen Campbell and his album By the Time I Get to Phoenix.
Alanis Morissette is the category's youngest winner, releasing her winning album at 21. The youngest person to make an appearance on an Album of the Year is Bamboo (the son of OutKast's Big Boi), who appeared on an interlude on Speakerboxxx/The Love Below at age four.

Only two artists have ever been awarded the Grammy for "Album of the Year" in two consecutive years, and nobody has ever won for three or more years in a row. Sinatra had wins in 1966 and 1967, and Wonder followed with wins in 1974 and 1975. Wonder also won the most Grammys for Album of the Year within a decade, with three in the 1970s. Another notable musician with respect to "Album of the Year" Grammys won within one decade is Allison Krauss. Krauss has won two of the aforementioned awards, although neither as a solo artist - she was half of the 2009 duet effort with Robert Plant, entitled Raising Sand, and a member of the group that reocrded the 2003 O Brother, Where Art Thou Soundtrack.

The award could be considered a marker of significance as some of the modern music world's most successful albums have been awarded the honor. Among those include (from lowest to greatest sales figures): Come Away With Me by Norah Jones, The Joshua Tree by U2, Supernatural by Santana, Falling Into You by Celine Dion, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles, Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette , Rumours by Fleetwood Mac, The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album by Whitney Houston and Various Artists (the highest selling soundtrack of all time, internationally), and the most commerically successful album of all time, Thriller by Michael Jackson.

Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were awarded, for music released in the previous year.

Many wonder what the difference is between Record of the Year and Album of the Year. Record of the Year is awarded for a single or for one track from an album. This award goes to the performing artist, the producer, recording engineer, and/or mixer for that song. Album of the Year is awarded for a whole album, and the award is presented to the artist, producer, recording engineer, and mastering engineer for that album. So, in this context, "record" means one song and "album" means the whole collection of songs on a CD or LP.

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