The Grammys have long earned plenty of flak for how it awards its pool of music talent with no category generating as much confusion as Album of the Year.
Taylor Swift’s fourth win in the category on Sunday night for Midnights reignited the conversation (at no fault of Swift’s), as yet another album award for a pop titan like Swift or Adele meant yet another deserving artist with a critically acclaimed album was left without the honor.
You think back to when Swift’s album 1989 topped Kendrick Lamar’s historic To Pimp a Butterfly in 2016, which is widely regarded as one of the best albums in recent memory. It’s not that 1989 wasn’t deserving as much as To Pimp a Butterfly is one of those artistic achievements that stands alone.
Heck, generational music icon Beyoncé has actually never won in the category, which her husband and fellow icon Jay-Z astutely pointed out at Sunday’s ceremony. That still doesn’t feel real.
That’s always been the problem with the Recording Academy: While it has awarded plenty of talented musicians over the years, it’s always out of step with the culture and the daring, forward-thinking pieces of art that wind up defining their times. It’s usually way past due when an artist like Beyoncé finally wins in the category, if at all.
We’ve gone through the history of the awards show to find 30 albums that didn’t get recognized in the category (including perhaps Swift’s biggest risk of an album, fascinatingly enough). Some of these ignored albums will absolutely shock you.