Grammy Award for Song of the Year
The Grammy Award for Song of the Year is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. The Song of the Year award is one of the four most prestigious categories at the awards presented annually since the 1st Grammy Awards in 1959. According to the 54th Grammy Awards description guide, the award is presented:
If a winning song contains samples or interpolations of existing material, the publisher and songwriter of the original song can apply for a Winners Certificate.
Song of the Year is related to but is conceptually different from Record of the Year or Album of the Year:
- Song of the Year is awarded for a single or for one track from an album. This award goes to the songwriter who actually wrote the lyrics and/or melodies to the song. "Song" in this context means the song as composed, not its recording.
- Record of the Year is also awarded for a single or individual track, but the recipient of this award is the performing artist, the producer, recording engineer and/or mixer for that song. In this sense, "record" means a particular recorded song, not its composition or an album of songs.
- Album of the Year is awarded for a whole album, and the award is presented to the artist, songwriter, producer, recording engineer, and mastering engineer for that album. In this context, "album" means a recorded collection of songs, not the individual songs or their compositions.
History and description
Since the late 1960s other songwriter's awards have been presented for genre-specific categories including Grammy Award for Best Country Song, Grammy Award for Best R&B Song, Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media, Grammy Award for Best Rock Song, and most recently Grammy Award for Best Rap Song, Grammy Award for Best Gospel Song, Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Christian Music Song, Grammy Award for Best American Roots Song, Grammy Award for Best Gospel Performance/Song, and Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song.
Thirty-one of the winning songs have also won the award for Record of the Year.
The category was expanded to include eight nominees in 2019.
Achievements
In many cases, the songwriters were also the performers.Multiple winners in this category include Henry Mancini, Johnny Mercer, James Horner, Will Jennings, U2, and Adele, winning two times each. However, songs written for Andy Williams, Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, and Roberta Flack have received this award twice.
Paul McCartney and Lionel Richie have the most Song of the Year nominations amongst songwriters with six each. Both won once, McCartney for "Michelle" and Richie for "We Are the World". With four nominations, Marilyn Bergman and Taylor Swift are the most nominated female songwriters in the history of the award. Bergman won for "The Way We Were".
The first woman to win the award was Carole King in 1972, for "You've Got a Friend". Adele was the first female songwriter to win the award twice, winning for "Rolling in the Deep" and "Hello".
Lorde is the youngest songwriter to win in the category, winning for "Royals" in 2014 at the age of 17.
Christopher Cross and Billie Eilish are the only artists to receive the Grammys for Song of the Year as well as Record of the Year, Album of the Year, and Best New Artist in a single ceremony. Adele is the first artist to receive the award for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, Best New Artist, and Album of the Year, nonconsecutively, and first woman to accomplish this feat. Only six artists have won the Song of the Year and Best New Artist awards the same year: Christopher Cross, Alicia Keys, Amy Winehouse, Fun, Sam Smith and Billie Eilish ; Marvin Hamlisch is only composer to win the Song of the Year and Best New Artist awards the same year in 1975 for "The Way We Were".
The song "Nel blu, dipinto di blu ", winner in 1959, written by Domenico Modugno and performed in Italian, is the only foreign-language song to win this award, although the 1967 winner "Michelle" penned by Lennon–McCartney for The Beatles to perform, has a critical part of its lyrics in French.
The first and only tie in this category in Grammy history took place in 1978, when both Barbra Streisand's & Paul Williams' "Evergreen " and Joe Brooks' "You Light Up My Life" win the award.
The Ernest Gold's song "Theme of Exodus", which won in 1961, is the only instrumental song to ever receive this award.
The first time in Grammy history that two different songs with the same title have been nominated in this category happened with "Hello" written by Lionel Richie in 1985 and "Hello" by Adele & Greg Kurstin in 2017.
Since creation of this category, no songwriter has won Song of the Year twice in a row.
Process
Members of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences nominate their choices for song of the year. A list of the top twenty records is given to the Nominations Review Committee, a specially selected group of anonymous members, who then select the top eight records to gain a nomination in the category in a special ballot. The rest of the members then vote a winner from the five nominees. In 2018, it was announced the number of nominated tracks will be increased to eightRecipients
| Year | Winner | Nationality | Work | Performing artist | Nominees | Ref. |
| 1959 | Domenico Modugno | Italy | "Nel blu, dipinto di blu " * | Domenico Modugno | ||
| 1960 | Jimmy Driftwood | United States | "The Battle of New Orleans" | Johnny Horton | ||
| 1961 | Ernest Gold | United States Austria | "Theme of Exodus" | Instrumental | ||
| 1962 | Henry Mancini Johnny Mercer | United States | "Moon River" * | Henry Mancini | ||
| 1963 | Leslie Bricusse Anthony Newley | United Kingdom | "What Kind of Fool Am I?" | Sammy Davis Jr. | ||
| 1964 | Henry Mancini Johnny Mercer | United States | "Days of Wine and Roses" * | Henry Mancini | ||
| 1965 | Jerry Herman | United States | "Hello, Dolly!" | Louis Armstrong | ||
| 1966 | Paul Francis Webster Johnny Mandel | United States | "The Shadow of Your Smile" | Tony Bennett | ||
| 1967 | John Lennon Paul McCartney | United Kingdom | "Michelle" | The Beatles | ||
| 1968 | Jimmy Webb | United States | "Up, Up, and Away" * | The 5th Dimension | ||
| 1969 | Bobby Russell | United States | "Little Green Apples" | O. C. Smith | ||
| 1970 | Joe South | United States | "Games People Play" | Joe South | ||
| 1971 | Paul Simon | United States | "Bridge over Troubled Water" * | Simon & Garfunkel | ||
| 1972 | Carole King | United States | "You've Got a Friend" | James Taylor & Carole King | ||
| 1973 | Ewan MacColl | United Kingdom | "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" * | Roberta Flack | ||
| 1974 | Norman Gimbel Charles Fox | United States | "Killing Me Softly with His Song" * | Roberta Flack | ||
| 1975 | Alan and Marilyn Bergman Marvin Hamlisch | United States | "The Way We Were" | Barbra Streisand | ||
| 1976 | Stephen Sondheim | United States | "Send in the Clowns" | Judy Collins | ||
| 1977 | Bruce Johnston | United States | "I Write the Songs" | Barry Manilow | ||
| 1978 | Barbra Streisand Paul Williams | United States | "Evergreen " | Barbra Streisand | ||
| 1978 | Joe Brooks | United States | "You Light Up My Life" | Debby Boone | - | |
| 1979 | Billy Joel | United States | "Just the Way You Are" * | Billy Joel | ||
| 1980 | Kenny Loggins Michael McDonald | United States | "What a Fool Believes" * | The Doobie Brothers | ||
| 1981 | Christopher Cross | United States | "Sailing" * | Christopher Cross | ||
| 1982 | Donna Weiss Jackie DeShannon | United States | "Bette Davis Eyes" * | Kim Carnes | ||
| 1983 | Johnny Christopher Mark James Wayne Carson | United States | "Always on My Mind" | Willie Nelson | ||
| 1984 | Sting | United Kingdom | "Every Breath You Take" | The Police | ||
| 1985 | Graham Lyle Terry Britten | United Kingdom Australia | "What's Love Got to Do with It" * | Tina Turner | ||
| 1986 | Michael Jackson Lionel Richie | United States | "We Are the World" * | USA for Africa | ||
| 1987 | Burt Bacharach Carole Bayer Sager | United States | "That's What Friends Are For" | Dionne Warwick & Friends | ||
| 1988 | James Horner Barry Mann Cynthia Weil | United States | "Somewhere Out There" | Linda Ronstadt & James Ingram | ||
| 1989 | Bobby McFerrin | United States | "Don't Worry, Be Happy" * | Bobby McFerrin | ||
| 1990 | Larry Henley Jeff Silbar | United States | "Wind Beneath My Wings" * | Bette Midler | ||
| 1991 | Julie Gold | United States | "From a Distance" | Bette Midler | ||
| 1992 | Irving Gordon | United States | "Unforgettable" * | Natalie Cole with Nat King Cole | ||
| 1993 | Eric Clapton Will Jennings | United Kingdom United States | "Tears in Heaven" * | Eric Clapton | ||
| 1994 | Alan Menken Tim Rice | United States United Kingdom | "A Whole New World" | Peabo Bryson & Regina Belle | ||
| 1995 | Bruce Springsteen | United States | "Streets of Philadelphia" | Bruce Springsteen | ||
| 1996 | Seal | United Kingdom | "Kiss from a Rose" * | Seal | ||
| 1997 | Gordon Kennedy Wayne Kirkpatrick Tommy Sims | United States | "Change the World" * | Eric Clapton | ||
| 1998 | Shawn Colvin John Leventhal | United States | "Sunny Came Home" * | Shawn Colvin | ||
| 1999 | James Horner Will Jennings | United States | "My Heart Will Go On" * | Celine Dion | ||
| 2000 | Itaal Shur Rob Thomas | United States | "Smooth" * | Santana featuring Rob Thomas | ||
| 2001 | Adam Clayton David Evans Larry Mullen Jr. Paul Hewson | Ireland | "Beautiful Day" * | U2 | ||
| 2002 | Alicia Keys | United States | "Fallin'" | Alicia Keys | ||
| 2003 | Jesse Harris | United States | "Don't Know Why" * | Norah Jones | ||
| 2004 | Richard Marx Luther Vandross | United States | "Dance with My Father" | Luther Vandross | ||
| 2005 | John Mayer | United States | "Daughters" | John Mayer | ||
| 2006 | Adam Clayton David Evans Larry Mullen Jr. Paul Hewson | Ireland | "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own" | U2 | ||
| 2007 | Emily Robison Martie Maguire Natalie Maines Dan Wilson | United States | "Not Ready to Make Nice" * | Dixie Chicks | ||
| 2008 | Amy Winehouse | United Kingdom | "Rehab" * | Amy Winehouse | ||
| 2009 | Guy Berryman Jonny Buckland Will Champion Chris Martin | United Kingdom | "Viva la Vida" | Coldplay | ||
| 2010 | Thaddis Harrell Beyoncé Knowles Terius Nash Christopher Stewart | United States | "Single Ladies " | Beyoncé | ||
| 2011 | Dave Haywood Josh Kear Charles Kelley Hillary Scott | United States | "Need You Now" * | Lady Antebellum | ||
| 2012 | Adele Adkins Paul Epworth | United Kingdom | "Rolling in the Deep" * | Adele | ||
| 2013 | Nate Ruess Jack Antonoff Jeff Bhasker Andrew Dost | United States | "We Are Young" | Fun featuring Janelle Monáe | ||
| 2014 | Joel Little Ella Yelich-O'Connor | New Zealand | "Royals" | Lorde | ||
| 2015 | James Napier William Phillips Sam Smith | United Kingdom | "Stay with Me" * | Sam Smith | ||
| 2016 | Ed Sheeran Amy Wadge | United Kingdom | "Thinking Out Loud" | Ed Sheeran | ||
| 2017 | Adele Adkins Greg Kurstin | United Kingdom United States | "Hello" * | Adele | ||
| 2018 | Christopher Brody Brown James Fauntleroy Philip Lawrence Bruno Mars Ray Charles McCullough II Jeremy Reeves Ray Romulus Jonathan Yip | United States | "That's What I Like" | Bruno Mars | ||
| 2019 | Donald Glover Ludwig Göransson Jeffery Lamar Williams | United States Sweden | "This Is America" * | Childish Gambino | ||
| 2020 | Billie Eilish O'Connell & Finneas O'Connell | United States | "Bad Guy" * | Billie Eilish |
- Each year is linked to the article about the Grammy Awards held that year.
- The performing artist is only listed but does not receive the award.