“This category recognizes excellence in cover art for albums or recordings of any genre of music released for the first time during the eligibility year. The elements judged in this category include the creativity, design, illustration, photography, and/or graphic art of the album cover.”
The 2026 Award Ceremony will see an additional celebration of visual art with the introduction of the “Best Album Cover” award. This award does not replace, but is additional to, the existing “Best Recording Package” Award, which has been an established award at the Grammys since 1959 for art directors responsible for a campaign’s visual identity.
In 2025, the “Best Recording Package” was awarded to Charli XCX’s creative team - specifically Brent Feaney, Imogene Strauss, and Charli herself - for the ‘brat’ campaign. This is the first time a pop album release had won the award since 2001, when it was awarded toMadonna for her “Music” album.
The introduction of a new and separate category for Best Album Cover comes as a huge source of celebration for the visual artists who are a core part of an artist team by elevating their imagery and brand. Album covers have become an increasingly distinct element of an artist’s identity and creative expression, serving to immortalize a particular moment in time for the artist, which has become particularly important as a contrare to the fleeting visual content music fans consume on social media.
Recording Academy CEO Harvery Mason Jr echoes this sentiment: “Chances are, there’s an iconic cover that’s instantly recognizable to you, even if you never owned the physical album. Their cultural significance is undeniable. That’s one of the reasons members of the art director community and our Awards & Nominations members felt this Category was necessary. The Packaging Field has always thrived, but we expect this to be one of our most inclusive Categories to date.”
With this change also brings hope that there will be a pathway for visual artists to become eligible for a Voting Membership, which has historically been reserved for music creators (composers, songwriters, producers) only.
