Grammy Award for Best Global Music Album


The Grammy Award for Best Global Music Album is an honor presented to recording artists for influential music from around the globe at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. 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".

History

The award for Best Global Music Album, reserved for international performers exhibiting "non-European, indigenous traditions", was first presented to Mickey Hart in 1992 for the album Planet Drum. In 1996, Academy trustees attempted to solve the problem of "compressing 75% or more of the world's music into a single award category" by broadening the definition of "world music" to include non-Western classical music. Beginning in 2001, award recipients included the producers, engineers, and/or mixers associated with the nominated work in addition to the recording artists. Following the 45th Grammy Awards, the award was split into two separate categories for Best Traditional World Music Album and Best Contemporary World Music Album. In 2012, the two categories were merged back to Best World Music Album. In 2020, The Recording Academy announced it would be changing the name of the category to Best Global Music Album.
Angelique Kidjo has won the category the most, with five wins. The second group to win most often is Ladysmith Black Mambazo, who have won four times during the combined history of Global/World categories. Soweto Gospel Choir have three wins in the Global/World categories. In the single merged category, Ravi Shankar and Ry Cooder have both won twice. Angelique Kidjo also has the most nominations in the combined Global/World history with twelve additional nominations. Anoushka Shankar has the second most nominations in the combined categories with nine nominations.
In the single, merged Global category, artists from Brazil have won the most times with five wins, the USA have won four times, Benin has also won on four occasions, India and South Africa each have three wins, Mali and France have both had artists win twice.

Recipients

YearPerforming artistNationalityWorkNomineesRef.
1992United States
1993Brazil
1994 and Vishwa Mohan BhattUnited States
India
1995 and Ali Farka TouréUnited States
Mali
1996Deep ForestFrance
1997Ireland
1998Brazil
1999Brazil
2000Brazil
2001Brazil
2002India
2003Panama
2012TinariwenMaliTassili
2013Ravi ShankarIndiaThe Living Room Sessions Part 1
2014Gipsy KingsFranceSavor Flamenco
2014Ladysmith Black MambazoSouth AfricaLive: Singing for Peace Around the World
2015Angelique KidjoBeninEve
2016Angelique KidjoBeninSings
2017Yo-Yo Ma & The Silk Road EnsembleUnited StatesSing Me Home
2018Ladysmith Black MambazoSouth AfricaShaka Zulu Revisited: 30th Anniversary Celebration
2019Soweto Gospel ChoirSouth AfricaFreedom
2020Angelique KidjoBeninCelia
2021Burna BoyNigeriaTwice as Tall
2022Angélique KidjoBeninMother Nature
2023Masa TakumiJapanSakura
2024ShaktiIndia
United Kingdom		This Moment
2025Matt B featuring Royal Philharmonic OrchestraUnited States
United Kingdom		Alkebulan II
2026

Each year is linked to the article about the Grammy Awards held that year.