Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Country Album
Annual award
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Country Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards,[1] to recording artists for quality albums in the country music genre. 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".[2]
| Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Country Album | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Beautifully Broken by Jelly Roll is the most recent recipient. | |
| Awarded for | quality albums in the country music genre |
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences |
| First award | 1965 |
| Currently held by | Jelly Roll – Beautifully Broken (2026) |
| Website | grammy.com |
The award was first presented under the name of Best Country & Western Album in 1966 to Roger Miller for Dang Me/Chug-A-Lug and was discontinued the following year. In 1995 the category was revived and was presented as Best Country Album until 2025 before receiving its current denomination at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards in 2026 alongside the debut of a sister category Best Traditional Country Album.[3]
According to the category description guide for the 68th Grammy Awards (2026), the award "recognizes contemporary country music recordings, both vocal and instrumental, which utilize a stylistic intention, song structure, lyrical content, and/or musical presentation to create a sensibility that reflects the broad spectrum of contemporary country style and culture. The intent is to recognize country music that remains reminiscent and relevant to the legacy of country music’s culture, while also engaging in more contemporary music forms."[4]
The Chicks are the most awarded performers in this category with four wins, followed by Chris Stapleton who has three wins. Two-time award winners include Roger Miller, Lady A, Kacey Musgraves and Miranda Lambert. Canadian singer Shania Twain is the only non-American winner in this category, to date. Trisha Yearwood holds the record for most nominations, with eight. Yearwood also holds the record for most nominations without a win. The current holder of the award is Jelly Roll, who won at the 68th Grammy Awards with his tenth studio album, Beautifully Broken.
Recipients
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1960s
| Year | Work | Artist |
|---|---|---|
| 1965 [5] | ||
| Dang Me/Chug-a-Lug | Roger Miller | |
| The Best of Buck Owens | Buck Owens | |
| The Best of Jim Reeves | Jim Reeves | |
| Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian | Johnny Cash | |
| Guitar Country | Chet Atkins | |
| Hank Williams Jr. Sings the Songs of Hank Williams | Hank Williams Jr. | |
| 1966 [6] | ||
| The Return of Roger Miller | Roger Miller | |
| Father and Son: Hank Williams and Hank Williams Jr. | Hank Williams and Hank Williams Jr. | |
| The Jim Reeves Way | Jim Reeves | |
| More of That Guitar Country | Chet Atkins | |
| My World | Eddy Arnold | |
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
^[I] Each year is linked to the article about the Grammy Awards held that year.
Artists with multiple wins
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Artists with multiple nominations
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