The first time an album cover won a Grammy, the trophy went to Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely. Now, a whole new crop of artists are vying for an honor that the Grammy Awards ditched in the Seventies.
In 2026, the awards show is reviving the Best Album Cover category, with Tyler, the Creator, Djo, Bad Bunny, Perfume Genius, and Wet Leg battling it out: The award will ultimately go to the album’s art directors. “Music is so ephemeral — like the air,” says Mary Banas, who was nominated for Best Album Package in 2021 for Mitski’s Be the Cowboy. “When people make a photograph, or they make a design for something, and it’s additive to the world, I think that’s really joyful.”
We asked Banas and noted photographer Danny Clinch to eye up 2026’s five contenders.
Moisturizer — Wet Leg
Mary Banas: “I’m super excited about this one. It’s kind of uncanny. I read this image as almost like these two figures are the same person. Like two sides? Are there just two aspects of the same person?” —Hester Chambers, Ellis Durand, Henry Holmes, Matt de Jong, Jamie-James Medina, Joshua Mobaraki, and Rhian Teasdale, art directors
Chromakopia — Tyler, the Creator
Danny Clinch: “I’m a fan of the record covers of Tyler, the Creator. This one is interesting because it is so simple, and in this day and age of digital everything — and people looking on their phones — it’s a graphic and strange image that you could stare at for a while.” —Shaun Llewellyn and Luis “Panch” Perez, art directors
Glory — Perfume Genius
Clinch: A successful album cover, be it a design or a photograph, captures attention, Clinch says. “You want to draw people in, like, ‘I want to hear this record.’ What is going on there? Is this person in distress? What’s happening outside the window? It’s a striking image.” —Cody Critcheloe and Andrew J.S., art directors
The Crux — Djo
Banas: “You’re getting a lot of narrative from the scene. It reminds me of the Beastie Boys [cover for Paul’s Boutique]. [It’s] another artistic experience that connects with the music itself — something tangible that you can give [listeners] for this thing that’s pretty intangible.” —William Wesley II, art director
Debí Tirar Más Fotos — Bad Bunny
Clinch: Clinch says this calls back to the Nas Illmatic cover, which he shot, featuring a childhood photo superimposed over a city block. “He wanted to show where he was from. Bad Bunny could have done a ‘Hey, look at me now’-type situation. And he didn’t.” —Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, art director
