Grammy Album of the Year: Will Adele, Sturgill Simpson or Someone Else Beat Beyonce? [POLL, VIDEO]
Adele, Beyoncé, Justin Bieber, Drake and Sturgill Simpson will face off in Album of the Year at the Grammys, but which artist will win?
The Grammy for Album of the Year is perhaps the most coveted award in music, signifying broad support among your music peers. This year's nominees certainly have support from their respective musical subgenres and beyond, and any one of them could conceivably win.
Which artist do you think will win Album of the Year? Here are our rankings from least likely to most likely to take home that Grammy:
5. Justin Bieber - Purpose
Bieber has increased his credibility immensely over the past few years, putting out songs with major crossover appeal like "Sorry", "Love Yourself", "What Do You Mean" and "Where Are Ü Now". All of those songs happen to come from Purpose, giving him his first Album of the Year nomination. While the album and its various singles were huge commercial successes, it is also the worst reviewed of all five nominees and his past reputation in the tabloids probably counts him out for a victory here.
4. Drake - Views
Drake's fourth album, Views, is another bestselling record for the Canadian hip-hop artist. The album spawned single successes like "Hotline Bling", "One Dance", "Pop Style" and "Too Good" and like Bieber, helped give him his first Album of the Year nomination. Drake is a popular artist who continues to grow in popularity, but the album itself doesn't necessarily stand out as much as others in the category.
3. Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide to Earth
Most Grammy years have at least one rock or country-oriented artist in Album of the Year, and this year it's Simpson. The country singer-songwriter may not have had any major hits with A Sailor's Guide to Earth but he has received a lot of critical acclaim for the nine-track album, which includes a cover of Nirvana's "In Bloom". We've seen upsets from rock/country artists before in this category (Beck beating Beyoncé in 2015, for example), so it wouldn't be surprising to see Adele, Beyoncé, Drake and Bieber split the pop vote and Simpson win with the rock-oriented voters, but his album may still be too minor to take victory.
2. Adele - 25
Adele's 25 became another worldwide juggernaut like 21, selling 9.2 million copies in the U.S. since its release in November 2015. The album spawned songs like "Hello", "When We Were Young", "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)" and "Water Under the Bridge", giving Adele even more chart-topping singles. Adele's major success cannot be underestimated here, but we think because she won Album of the Year with 21 back in 2012, Grammy voters won't feel as much urgency to give her another one so soon.
1. Beyoncé - Lemonade
Lemonade was one of the biggest pop culture events of 2016 - a multimedia experience that saw one of the world's greatest entertainers working through anger, betrayal and forgiveness and what it means to be black and female in America. The album spans several musical genres and ultimately received widespread critical acclaim and commercial success. This really should be Beyoncé's year to take home the big prize. If not, she will likely never come close to victory again with this awards body.
The Grammys will air live Sunday at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on CBS.
