Grammys flashback: What happened to these artists AFTER they won Album of the Year?
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Winning the Grammy for Album of the Year is definitely an achievement. However, perhaps an even bigger achievement is to do well with the Grammys after you win. Indeed, many artists fail to replicate their Grammy success after Album of the Year victories, less due to a “curse” and more due to how hard it is to have multiple culturally impactful eras. To analyze this, let’s consider the follow-up records to every 21st century Album of the Year winner, divided into three categories: the successes, mixed results, and disappointments.
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The Successes
These are follow-ups to Album of the Year winners that managed to win at least one Grammy out of multiple nominations. While most weren’t as successful as their Album of the Year predecessors, they still did well.
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Adele has two albums on this list, as she won Album of the Year twice. “25,” the follow-up to Album of the Year champ “21,” was a huge success at the Grammys, and perhaps is the only album on this list that was a true heavy-hitter. The album swept the Grammys just like “21” did, winning all of its nominations including Album, Record, and Song of the Year. Adele’s other album in this successes category, “30” (the follow-up to “25”), did not have quite that level of success. Still, it maxed out on nominations, including all three eligible general field bids, and it won one award: Best Pop Solo Performance for her hit “Easy On Me.” That was definitely a decline, as Adele was predicted to sweep again by many Grammy pundits, but it still did relatively well.
Another album in this category is Taylor Swift’s “Speak Now.” It was the follow-up to Swift’s first Album of the Year winner, “Fearless.” “Speak Now” failed to receive general field nominations, but it got three noms overall and won two, both for her hit single “Mean” in the country categories. And hey, considering “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” is eligible for awards this year, maybe it’ll win more in 2024.
Another two-time-winning follow-up is Beck’s “Colors,” which came immediately after his Album of the Year winner, “Morning Phase.” “Colors” got three nominations, winning Best Alternative Music Album and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. The extra nomination was for Best Pop Solo Performance for the title track.
There are two more albums on this list, both from artists close to the jazz community. Herbie Hancock’s “The Imagine Project” was the follow-up to his Album of the Year winner, “River: The Joni Letters.” “Imagine Project” won two awards: Best Improvised Jazz Solo for “A Change is Gonna Come” and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for “Imagine,” which also got a nomination for its arrangement. Finally, Norah Jones’s “Feels Like Home,” which followed-up her Grammy sweeper “Come Away with Me,” won one award, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for its lead single “Sunrise.” The album also received two additional nominations.
Honorable mention here goes to Bruno Mars’s “An Evening With Silk Sonic,” which followed his Album of the Year winner “24k Magic.” Technically, “Silk Sonic” itself didn’t win any Grammys since it wasn’t submitted (perhaps Mars didn’t want to jeopardize his long winning streak). However, the album’s lead single, “Leave the Door Open,” swept the previous year’s Grammys, winning four awards including Record and Song of the Year.
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Mixed Results
In this category I’ll include two kinds of follow-up albums: those that were nominated for multiple awards but failed to win any, and those that were nominated for just one award, but won it.
Perhaps the best known follow-up to fit these criteria is Billie Eilish’s “Happier Than Ever.” The album did relatively well commercially; it was another number-one debut for Eilish on the Billboard 200, although it didn’t really have the cultural impact of its Grammy-winning predecessor, “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” With “When We All Fall Asleep,” Eilish swept the Grammys, winning five of her six nominations, including all of the big four categories, which was just the second time that had ever happened (following Christopher Cross in 1981). The following year she won Record of the Year again, for her hit “Everything I Wanted.” Then the year after that “Happier Than Ever” got six nominations, including Album of the Year, which many predicted it would take. Eilish ended up getting goose-egged, though, perhaps due to a lack of enthusiasm to reward her again so soon and the more muted reception of the album’s singles.
Another album that fits this category that competed the same year as “Happier Than Ever” was Kacey Musgraves’s “Star-Crossed.” It was a decline from her Grammy-sweeping “Golden Hour” in terms of its critical reception, so Grammy expectations for “Star-Crossed” weren’t that high. Furthermore, the album was controversially moved from the country to the pop category by the Grammys, a decision which, although fair, did not sit well with the artist. Still, when noms were announced, “Star-Crossed” got two nominations in the country field: Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song, both for her single “Camera Roll.” Musgraves didn’t win either category, though, losing to Chris Stapleton’s “You Should Probably Leave” and “Cold,” respectively.
Similarly, Arcade Fire’s “Reflektor,” the follow-up to their Album of the Year-winning “The Suburbs,” got two nominations, Best Alternative Album and Best Music Video, but failed to win either.
Four other albums round out this category. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’s “Raise the Roof” did not do as well as their Grammy sweeper, “Raising Sand,” but it still earned the duo three nominations, including Best Americana Album.
U2’s “No Line on the Horizon,” which followed up their eight-time Grammy-winning “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb,” also received three nominations, including Best Rock Album.
OutKast’s “Idlewild,” their final album as a duo and the successor to their highly acclaimed Album of the Year winner, “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below,” got only two nominations, both for singles rather than for the album itself. This was likely due to the album’s mixed reception overall, especially for such a highly celebrated group like OutKast.
Finally, there’s Santana’s “Shaman.” The album followed up his Grammy-sweeping “Supernatural,” which won nine awards, more than any other album ever. “Shaman,” however, received just one nomination, for its single “The Game of Love” featuring Michelle Branch, which won for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. Santana has not received any nominations since.
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The Disappointments
This last category is for albums that received one or no nominations. Taylor Swift actually has two records on this list. “Evermore,” which followed-up her Grammy-winning “Folklore,” only got one nomination, for Album of the Year. It wasn’t really a huge shock that the album performed poorly, as it was released without promotion and was her least successful singles-wise. What’s more, the album probably served more as a way to promote “Folklore” during Grammy voting.
Swift’s other album here is “Reputation” (her follow-up to “1989”), which only got nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album; it actually missed out on nominations for two years, as its lead single “Look What You Made Me Do” was shut out completely the year prior. “Reputation” might’ve just barely squeaked into Best Pop Vocal Album too, as there was a tie (hence the six nominees in that race instead of the usual five) and the album was the only one that had not received a nomination for any of its songs either that year or the year prior.
Finally, three more records. Mumford and Sons’ “Wilder Mind,” which was the successor to their Grammy-winning smash “Babel,” got completely shut out, and the band has not received any nominations since.
The Chicks’ comeback record, “Gaslighter,” also received no nominations, likely due to limited promotion for the album and how long it had been (14 years) since the band had released “Taking the Long Way,” their Album oft the Year winner, which completely swept its nominations.
Lastly, “Everything Must Go,” the final album by Steely Dan and the follow-up to their Grammy-winning “Two Against Nature,” got no nominations. It was one of the band’s only albums to get shut out completely.
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