The Best Albums That Lost Album of the Year Grammys

We’ve compiled 13 of the best albums that got strangely passed over for the coveted Album of the Year award at the Grammys.

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Complex Original

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The Grammy Awards are the biggest event in American music, and it seems like the surrounding debate around winners, losers, and snubs grows louder every year. They’re the musical equivalent of the Super Bowl—except that the results are calculated not by objective statistics, but by a panel of aging industry experts who aren’t necessarily known for having their finger on the pulse. Naturally, they don’t always get it right, and the history of the Grammys over nearly six decades is riddled with upsets, controversies, and decisions that provoke no other response than “WTF?” Biggie, Tupac, Bjork, Nas, Depeche Mode, Public Enemy, the Strokes, Justin Bieber, and Nicki Minaj? None of these iconic artists have ever won a Grammy, hard as it may be to believe. Kanye West has yet to win Album of the Year even once; even Macklemore seemed perplexed when he beat Kendrick Lamar in 2014. And let’s not forget the year Christopher Cross swept all four main award categories. We’ve compiled 13 of the best albums that got strangely passed over for the coveted Album of the Year award. Sure, the Grammys may not always make the most logical choices, but isn’t ripping on their bizarre decisions the best part of every year, anyway?

Kendrick Lamar, Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City

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Frank Ocean, Channel ORANGE

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Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III

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Amy Winehouse, Back to Black

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Kanye West, The College Dropout

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Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP

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TLC, FanMail

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The Fugees, The Score

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Mariah Carey, Daydream

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Janet Jackson, Control

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Whitney Houston, Whitney Houston

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Prince and the Revolution, Purple Rain

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Pink Floyd, The Wall

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