Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album

Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album
Awarded for	quality contemporary R&B music albums
Country	United States
Presented by	National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
First awarded	2003
Last awarded	2011
Official website	grammy.com

The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards,^[1] to recording artists for quality works on albums in the contemporary R&B music genre. Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position".^[2]

The award for Best Contemporary R&B Album, which recognizes R&B albums with more contemporary musical stylings, was first presented to Ashanti at the 45th Grammy Awards in 2003 for her self-titled debut album. Prior to the creation of this category, contemporary R&B albums were eligible for the more general category Best R&B Album.^[3] According to the category description guide for the 52nd Grammy Awards, the award is reserved for albums "containing at least 51% playing time of newly recorded contemporary R&B vocal tracks" which may also "incorporate production elements found in rap music".^[4] Award recipients included the producers, engineers, and/or mixers associated with the nominated work in addition to the recording artists.

Beyoncé holds the record for the most wins, with three (all of her first three solo albums have earned her the award). Usher is the only other artist to receive the award more than once. The award has been presented to artists from the United States each year to date. Beyoncé and Ne-Yo share the record for the most nominations, with three each. In addition, Beyoncé earned a nomination as a member of the group Destiny's Child for the album Destiny Fulfilled. Brandy, Chris Brown, Janet Jackson and R. Kelly share the record for the most nominations without a win, with two each.

From 2012, this category was discontinued as part of a major overhaul of the Grammy Award categories. Recordings in this category were shifted to the Best R&B Album category.^[5]

Recipients

First award recipient Ashanti at the Red Dress Collection fashion show in 2008

Three-time award winner Beyoncé in 2008

Year^[I]	Performing artist(s)	Work	Nominees	Ref.
2003	Ashanti	Ashanti	Brandy – Full Moon Faith Evans – Faithfully Floetry – Floetic Meshell Ndegeocello – Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape	[6]
2004	Beyoncé	Dangerously in Love	Ashanti – Chapter II Mary J. Blige – Love & Life Anthony Hamilton – Comin' from Where I'm From R. Kelly – Chocolate Factory	[7] [8]
2005	Usher	Confessions	Brandy – Afrodisiac Janet Jackson – Damita Jo Christina Milian – It's About Time Mario Winans – Hurt No More	[9]
2006	Carey, MariahMariah Carey	The Emancipation of Mimi	Amerie – Touch Destiny's Child – Destiny Fulfilled Mario – Turning Point Omarion – O	[10]
2007	Beyoncé	B'Day	Chris Brown – Chris Brown Janet Jackson – 20 Y.O. Kelis – Kelis Was Here Ne-Yo – In My Own Words	[11]
2008	Ne-Yo	Because of You	Akon – Konvicted Keyshia Cole – Just like You Fantasia – Fantasia Emily King – East Side Story	[12]
2009	Blige, Mary J.Mary J. Blige	Growing Pains	J. Holiday – Back of My Lac' Karina – First Love Ne-Yo – Year of the Gentleman Jazmine Sullivan – Fearless	[13]
2010	Beyoncé	I Am... Sasha Fierce	Jamie Foxx – Intuition Pleasure P – The Introduction of Marcus Cooper Trey Songz – Ready T-Pain – Three Ringz	[14]
2011	Usher	Raymond v. Raymond	R. Kelly – Untitled Chris Brown – Graffiti Ryan Leslie – Transition Janelle Monáe – The ArchAndroid	[15]

^{^[I]} Each year is linked to the article about the Grammy Awards held that year.

See also

• List of Grammy Award categories
• List of R&B musicians
• Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums

References

General

• "Grammy Award Winners". National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Retrieved January 16, 2011. Note: User must select the "R&B" category as the genre under the search feature.
• "Grammy Awards: Best Contemporary R&B Album". Rock on the Net. Retrieved February 7, 2011.

Specific

1. "Grammy Awards at a Glance". Los Angeles Times (Tribune Company). Retrieved January 6, 2011.
2. "Overview". National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Retrieved January 11, 2011.
3. Cinquemani, Sal (January 21, 2003). "The 45th Annual Grammy Awards: Winner Predictions". Slant Magazine. Retrieved February 12, 2011.
4. "52nd OEP Category Description Guide" (PDF). National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. p. 2. Retrieved February 12, 2011.
5. "Full Category List". National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. 2011. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
6. "Complete list of Grammy nominees; ceremony set for Feb. 23". San Francisco Chronicle. January 8, 2003. p. 3. Retrieved February 7, 2011.
7. "46th Annual GRAMMY Award – Best Contemporary R&B Album" (video). National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Retrieved January 6, 2011.
8. "Grammy nominations". St. Petersburg Times. February 8, 2004. Retrieved March 20, 2013.
9. "Grammy Award nominees in top categories". USA Today. Gannett Company. December 7, 2004. Retrieved February 12, 2011.
10. "Complete list of Grammy Award nominations". USA Today. Gannett Company. December 8, 2005. Retrieved January 6, 2011.
11. "49th Annual Grammy Awards Winners List". National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Retrieved January 6, 2011.
12. "2008 Grammy Award Winners and Nominees". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. February 9, 2008. Retrieved January 31, 2011.
13. "Grammy 2009 Winners List". MTV. February 8, 2009. Retrieved January 31, 2011.
14. Bruno, Mike (January 31, 2010). "Grammy Awards 2010: The winners list". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
15. "Grammy Nominees 2011". AOL Music. Retrieved February 7, 2011.

External links

• Official site of the Grammy Awards