The Best Record of the Year Winners, Ranked
Record of the Year is the Grammy the engineers take home too, and which of its winners deserved it most is yours to rank. Winning the award is the entry test, one winner per ceremony since May 1959. 1959 held two ceremonies and 1960 none, so entries name their ceremony. Tiers come from Mikael Wood's LA Times ranking of 31 January 2025, covering the 66 winners through 2024. Positions 1 to 22, his top third, make the upper tier; all other winners make the lower. A winner after the 2024 ceremony postdates his ranking, so it waits in the lower tier for a ranking able to include it. Entries state their LA Times position or that they won later; the vote orders each tier. Each link plays the recording the award names on its original album or single release, never a re-record or live take: the version the Academy named, if any, else the album cut unless the entry names a single version or edit. An entry on another edition (remaster, expanded or regional issue, compilation) names it.
Simon & Garfunkel — Bridge over Troubled Water (1970) is #1 on “The Best Record of the Year Winners, Ranked”.
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Simon & Garfunkel — Bridge over Troubled Water (1970)
Art Garfunkel sings it alone, and Simon later said he regretted not singing it himself. The Wrecking Crew cut the backing in California with Larry Knechtel on piano, the vocals were done in New York, and the extra verse and bigger ending came at the urging of Garfunkel and Roy Halee. Six weeks at number 1 preceded its 1971 ceremony win. In Mikael Wood's LA Times order it is 2nd of 66.
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Amy Winehouse — Rehab (2006)
Winehouse told Mark Ronson on a New York walk about her father trying to send her to rehab, and he heard a song in it; her father says the line sat in a notebook for years before that. The single peaked at 7 in Britain and 9 on the Hot 100; voters picked it at the February 2008 ceremony. The LA Times ranks it 3rd of 66 and opens on "Ten pounds of attitude in a five-pound bag".
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Whitney Houston — I Will Always Love You (1992)
Dolly Parton wrote it in 1973 and cut her version at RCA Studio B that June. Houston's recording held number 1 for 14 weeks and became the best-selling single by a woman in the US. In the LA Times it sits 1st of 66, with Babyface quoted on the vocal, and 1994 was its ceremony. Spotify's twelve-track issue of the soundtrack starts with it, lacks Waiting for You and lists Queen of the Night in its radio-edit form.
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Billie Eilish — bad guy (2019)
Finneas produced it and wrote it with his sister, and the record runs in two halves, 135 beats per minute and then 120, built from little more than a kick drum, finger snaps and 808 bass. It ended Old Town Road's 19-week hold on the Hot 100's top spot before its 2020 ceremony win. Wood has it 4th of 66 for the LA Times.
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Stan Getz & Astrud Gilberto — The Girl from Ipanema (1964)
The link plays the single version, a 2:48 cut Spotify carries as a bonus track on Getz/Gilberto (Expanded Edition); the album take runs 5:24. Astrud Gilberto sang the English lyric because she spoke the language best of the Brazilians in the room. The single reached number 5, and the 1965 ceremony honored it. Wood's LA Times ranking, 5th of 66, says: "Not a single note is out of place."
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Michael Jackson — Beat It (1982)
Eddie Van Halen played the solo as a favor, two takes, free of charge. Quincy Jones had pushed Jackson for a rock song in the vein of My Sharona, and Steve Lukather and Jeff Porcaro re-cut the backing to sit around the vocal and the solo. Three weeks on top of the Hot 100 came first, the 1984 ceremony after. LA Times rank: 7th of 66.
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Roberta Flack — The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (1969)
Ewan MacColl wrote it for Peggy Seeger, and Flack's February 1969 recording, far slower than Seeger's, waited on First Take until Clint Eastwood used it in Play Misty for Me. Atlantic issued it as a single in 1972, a minute shorter. Spotify's First Take carrier runs it 4:21, close to the 4:20 single edit, not the LP's 5:22. Voters chose it at the 1973 ceremony; LA Times position, 6th of 66.
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Tina Turner — What's Love Got to Do with It (1984)
Terry Britten and Graham Lyle offered it to Cliff Richard, who passed, and a Bucks Fizz version was shelved once Turner's came out. Britten produced hers. She was 44 when it reached number 1, the oldest solo woman to top the Hot 100 at that point. Spotify's copy is the 2015 remaster on Private Dancer (30th Anniversary Issue). LA Times position: 8th of 66. Award: the February 1985 ceremony.
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Carole King — It's Too Late (1971)
Toni Stern wrote the words, about a relationship ending with nobody to blame, and King wrote the music. It went out as a double A-side with I Feel the Earth Move, and Billboard counted the pair its number 3 record of 1971; Tapestry's third track is the link. Its LA Times position is 9th of 66, and the 1972 ceremony is where it won.
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Eagles — Hotel California (1976)
Don Felder's instrumental demo went by the working title Mexican Reggae before Don Henley and Glenn Frey wrote the words. The label balked at a single over six minutes long, and the band refused to shorten it. Ian Anderson later noted a chord likeness to Jethro Tull's We Used to Know, then called it a joke. Spotify's original-album track runs 6:30, and the single version runs 6:08. Wood: 10th of 66. Ceremony: 1978.
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The Doobie Brothers — What a Fool Believes (1978)
Kenny Loggins released it first, on Nightwatch in July 1978, five months ahead of Minute by Minute. The Doobies spent five or six days on rhythm takes they did not like, so Ted Templeman cut the master tape into sections and assembled one, and Michael McDonald built keyboards, vocals and strings on top. One week at number 1, in April 1979, then the 1980 award. Wood ranks it 11th of 66.
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USA for Africa — We Are the World (1985)
Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie wrote it, and Quincy Jones ran the session at A&M on 28 January 1985, with singers arriving from the American Music Awards past a sign reading "Check your ego at the door." Spotify's one-track release plays the full recording at 7:07 (Wikipedia: 7:02 on the album), not the 6:22 single. The LA Times, 12th of 66, calls it "the charity single to end all charity singles". Ceremony: 1986.
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TOTO — Rosanna (1982)
David Paich wrote it and arranged the horns with Jerry Hey, who plays trumpet beside Tom Scott and Jim Horn on saxophones. The lead passes from Steve Lukather to Bobby Kimball inside the verses. It is track one on Toto IV and spent five weeks as the Hot 100 runner-up. Ranked 13th of 66 by the LA Times, it gets a Lukather story: Toto's own members did not vote to nominate it. Voters at the 1983 ceremony chose it anyway.
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The 5th Dimension — Up, Up and Away (1967)
Jimmy Webb wrote it around hot air balloons, and Johnny Rivers and Marc Gordon produced it for Soul City. It peaked at number 7 in July 1967 and took five Grammys at the 1968 ceremony, the night the Beatles won Album of the Year. Spotify's carrier is an expanded edition of the Up, Up and Away album, three bonus tracks past the LP's eleven. It comes 14th of 66 in the LA Times ranking.
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Bobby Darin — Mack the Knife (1959)
Darin cut it on 19 December 1958 for That's All, Richard Wess arranging and Tom Dowd engineering, after Dick Clark had advised him not to record it. It was issued as a single in August 1959, though Darin was reluctant. The second ceremony, in November 1959, gave him this award and named him the first Best New Artist. Darin's original That's All album starts with it. LA Times: 15th of 66.
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Céline Dion — My Heart Will Go On (1997)
James Cameron thought a pop song was wrong for the end of Titanic until he heard the demo. James Horner wrote the music and Will Jennings the words. The version here is the one Walter Afanasieff produced for Let's Talk About Love and the commercial single; Horner and Simon Franglen produced the film's. Spotify's carrier is the album's European, Australian and Asian edition. The LA Times has it 16th of 66, a 1999 ceremony winner.
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Sheryl Crow — All I Wanna Do (1993)
The words are adapted from Wyn Cooper's 1987 poem Fun, and the writing credit runs to Crow, Cooper, David Baerwald, Bill Bottrell and Kevin Gilbert, with Bottrell producing. It spent six straight weeks at number 2 in late 1994 and won at the 1995 ceremony. Ranking it 17th of 66, the LA Times says Crow "triangulates the sound among Marvin Gaye, Bob Dylan and Stealers Wheel". Tuesday Night Music Club places it ninth.
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Henry Mancini — Moon River (1961)
Audrey Hepburn sang it in Breakfast at Tiffany's, but Mancini's orchestra recorded the album version without her on 8 December 1960. Johnny Mercer wrote the words. After the Oscar and a number 11 Hot 100 peak came the 1962 ceremony. The 12-track 1961 soundtrack LP begins with it. Mikael Wood placed it 18th of 66.
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Roberta Flack — Killing Me Softly with His Song (1973)
Flack first heard Lori Lieberman's original on in-flight audio. Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel are credited; Lieberman, whose Don McLean story seeded the words, is not. It led the Hot 100 for five weeks in 1973. Spotify's digital edition of the single labels it the 45 Version. The LA Times, ranking it 19th of 66, notes she was the first to win the award twice in a row; this record's win was the second, at the 1974 ceremony.
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Simon & Garfunkel — Mrs. Robinson (1968)
Before it was Mrs. Robinson it was Mrs. Roosevelt, and The Graduate used fragments of it, not the whole song. The full song came out on Bookends and as a Columbia single on 5 April 1968, went to number 1, and at the 1969 ceremony became the first rock song to win the award. Spotify labels the 4:07 Bookends track as from The Graduate soundtrack, and that Bookends track is the link. LA Times: 20th of 66.
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George Benson — This Masquerade (1976)
Leon Russell wrote it, and Benson's version, produced by Tommy LiPuma, reached number 10 and was his first big hit. The single was a 3:17 edit of the 8:03 album take, and that edit is what plays here, an extra track on Spotify's Breezin' (Expanded). Its Grammy night was the 1977 ceremony. Wood's LA Times order has it 21st of 66.
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Adele — Rolling in the Deep (2010)
Paul Epworth wrote it with Adele in one afternoon after her breakup, and he produced it. It spent seven weeks at number 1, finished as Billboard's year-end number 1 single of 2011, and opens the album 21. The 2012 ceremony gave it the award, and the LA Times puts it 22nd of 66, the last place inside its top third.
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Kendrick Lamar — Not Like Us (2024)
Mustard produced it and Lamar aimed it at Drake, releasing it on 4 May 2024 as a single, which is what the link plays; it entered the Hot 100 in first place. At the 2025 ceremony it won all five categories it was up for. The LA Times ranking ran two days before that ceremony and covered winners through 2024, so it gives this record no position.
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Kendrick Lamar & SZA — luther (2024)
Built on a sample of Luther Vandross and Cheryl Lynn's 1982 If This World Were Mine, a Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell song first, with Sounwave, Jack Antonoff and Kamasi Washington among its producers. Thirteen straight weeks on top followed. Its win came at the February 2026 ceremony, a year after the LA Times ranking, which had no way to place it. GNX is the carrier.
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Lady A — Need You Now (2009)
Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood wrote it with Josh Kear, and Kelley is among the past winners named in the introduction to the LA Times piece, which ranks the record 23rd of 66, one place outside its top third. It ran five weeks atop Hot Country Songs and reached second place on the pop chart. The band was still called Lady Antebellum at the 2011 ceremony.
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Santana feat. Rob Thomas — Smooth (1999)
Itaal Shur first had it as a track called Room 17, and Rob Thomas rewrote the melody and the words. Billboard's 60th-anniversary tally of the Hot 100 put it second of all time, and it sits fifth on Spotify's 13-track Supernatural, an issue that carries Maria Maria as a radio mix. Winner at the 2000 ceremony; the LA Times places it 24th of 66.
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Bruno Mars — 24K Magic (2016)
That voice at the top is a talk box, played by Byron "Mr. Talk Box" Chambers with Mars, after early reviewers guessed at Auto-Tune or a vocoder; the device goes back to Roger Troutman and Zapp. Debuting at 5, the single climbed to 4, and the 2018 ceremony made it the winner. Wood ranks it 25th of 66.
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Norah Jones — Don't Know Why (2002)
Jesse Harris put it out first, on his 1999 album Jesse Harris & the Ferdinandos, three years before Come Away with Me opened with it. Jones's version peaked at 30 on the Hot 100 and still took three awards at the 2003 ceremony; the original 14-track album supplies the link. Wood's list: 26th of 66.
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Gotye feat. Kimbra — Somebody That I Used to Know (2011)
Gotye made it in his parents' barn on the Mornington Peninsula, around a sample of Luiz Bonfá's 1967 instrumental Seville, and brought in Kimbra on his engineer's advice after another singer cancelled. Eight weeks running, it was America's number 1. Best Pop Duo/Group Performance came with this award at the 2013 ceremony. Making Mirrors holds it as track three. LA Times: 27th of 66.
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Eric Clapton — Change the World (1996)
Wynonna Judd recorded it first, as a country track on her 1996 album Revelations, and never released it as a single. Babyface produced Clapton's version for the Phenomenon soundtrack; it debuted at 55 and peaked at 5. Spotify's copy comes from Clapton Chronicles, a 1999 compilation. Its ceremony: 1997. LA Times: 28th of 66.
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Seal — Kiss from a Rose (1994)
Seal wrote it in 1987, felt embarrassed by it, and left the tape in a corner until Trevor Horn took it up during the second album. ZTT's 1994 single peaked at 20 in Britain; Joel Schumacher put it in Batman Forever and it reached number 1 in America in August 1995, and what plays is the 2024 remaster from the album's Deluxe Edition. The 1996 ceremony honored it; Wood ranks it 29th of 66.
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Frank Sinatra — Strangers in the Night (1966)
Bert Kaempfert wrote it as Beddy Bye, a theme for A Man Could Get Killed, and Sinatra, who despised it, cut it on 11 April 1966 with Ernie Freeman arranging and Jimmy Bowen producing. The scat over the fade is his. It topped the chart on 2 July 1966. Its carrier is the album's Expanded Edition, which adds live and alternate takes after the original ten. Ceremony 1967, LA Times 30th of 66.
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Miley Cyrus — Flowers (2023)
Kid Harpoon and Tyler Johnson produced it, and Columbia released it worldwide on 13 January 2023 as the lead single. It set Spotify's one-week streaming record in each of its first two weeks and spent eight weeks at number 1. These were the first Grammys of her career, at the 2024 ceremony. The link sits on an expanded August 2023 issue of Endless Summer Vacation whose 14 tracks include Used To Be Young. LA Times: 31st of 66.
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Steve Winwood — Higher Love (1986)
Steve Winwood wrote it with Will Jennings and produced it with Russ Titelman, with Chaka Khan singing behind him. It was his first Hot 100 number 1, and its award came at the 1987 ceremony. Back in the High Life carries the 5:51 album version, which is what plays; the 7-inch ran 4:14. For the LA Times it ranks 32nd of 66.
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Billy Joel — Just the Way You Are (1977)
Joel wrote it for his first wife, Elizabeth Weber, then also his business manager, and planned to leave it off The Stranger because he and the band did not like it. Phil Woods plays the saxophone solo. Its peak was number 3, and The Stranger (Legacy Edition), an expanded issue, supplies the link. Award year: the 1979 ceremony. LA Times: 33rd of 66.
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Christopher Cross — Sailing (1979)
Cross has said it came from an older school friend, Al Glasscock, who took him sailing as a teenager, and he told the story on The Howard Stern Show in 1995. It was recorded in 1979 on the 3M digital system and reached number 1 on 30 August 1980 for a week. The 1981 ceremony gave it the prize. Its LA Times place is 34th of 66.
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Tony Bennett — I Left My Heart in San Francisco (1962)
George Cory and Douglass Cross wrote it in Brooklyn in late 1953. Ralph Sharon carried the music on tour, Bennett first sang it in the Fairmont Hotel's Venetian Room in December 1961, and Columbia put it out as a B-side that disc jockeys flipped. San Francisco made it an official anthem in 1984. Spotify's issue of the 1962 album opens with this single version and labels two more tracks single versions. Ceremony: 1963. LA Times: 35th of 66.
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Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers — Get Lucky (2013)
Two 15-second spots during Saturday Night Live were the first anyone heard of it, and a Coachella trailer confirmed Pharrell Williams on vocals. Random Access Memories carries the 6:09 album version; the radio edit runs 4:07. Five weeks as America's runner-up preceded a win at the 2014 ceremony. The LA Times ranking: 36th of 66.
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The 5th Dimension — Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (1969)
Billy Davis Jr. left his wallet in a New York cab, and the man who returned it worked on Hair and invited the group to the show. Bones Howe joined two of its songs into one, and the Wrecking Crew tracked it in Hollywood while the vocals went down in Las Vegas. The link opens a remastered issue of The Age of Aquarius. LA Times: 37th of 66, from the 1970 ceremony.
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Silk Sonic — Leave the Door Open (2021)
Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak wrote it with D'Mile and Brody Brown and recorded it at Shampoo Press & Curl Studios. It entered at number 4 and reached number 1 in April 2021. At the 2022 ceremony it won four awards, one of them a tie with Jazmine Sullivan's Pick Up Your Feelings. It is track two of a ten-track issue of An Evening With Silk Sonic that includes the bonus Love's Train. LA Times: 38th of 66.
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Robert Plant & Alison Krauss — Please Read the Letter (2007)
Jimmy Page and Robert Plant first released it in 1998 on Walking into Clarksdale, their one studio album as a pair, and Plant came back to it with Alison Krauss nine years later. Spotify's credit line on the track names Page and the other co-writers alongside the two singers. Raising Sand carries it seventh, and it won at the 2009 ceremony. LA Times: 39th of 66.
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Adele — Hello (2015)
Adele and Greg Kurstin took six months to finish writing it. It opened at number 1, stayed there ten weeks, and was the first track to sell a million digital copies in a single week. At the 2017 ceremony it won three awards, and on the album 25 it comes first. Wood numbered it 40th of 66.
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Coldplay — Clocks (2002)
Chris Martin came up with the piano riff late one night in Liverpool, when the band thought A Rush of Blood to the Head was close to done, and the demo was nearly set aside with the songs marked for a third album. It got to 29 in America and won at the 2004 ceremony. LA Times: 41st of 66.
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Captain & Tennille — Love Will Keep Us Together (1975)
Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield wrote it, and Sedaka recorded it first, in 1973; the duo nodded to his comeback in the fade. Four weeks at number 1 from 21 June 1975, and Billboard ranked it first for the year. They also cut it in Spanish as Por Amor Viviremos. It won at the 28 February 1976 ceremony; it leads their 1975 album of the same name. Wood slotted it 42nd of 66.
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Bette Midler — Wind Beneath My Wings (1988)
Larry Henley and Jeff Silbar wrote it in 1982; Roger Whittaker released it first and Gary Morris took it to number 4 on the country chart. Midler's 1988 recording for Beaches reached number 1 for a week in June 1989, and that soundtrack album holds it second. It won at the February 1990 ceremony. LA Times: 43rd of 66.
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Lizzo — About Damn Time (2022)
Blake Slatkin and Ricky Reed started it in January 2022 and produced it, and NME's review singled out the flute melody. A TikTok dance by Jaeden Gomez spread it, and it climbed to the top in its 14th week. At the 2023 ceremony a remix of it also won Best Remixed Recording, and it is the second song on Special. It sits 44th of 66 for Wood.
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Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars — Uptown Funk (2014)
Mark Ronson spent seven months on it and passed out during one session trying to get the guitar part right. In May 2015 it was re-registered with Gap Band members added as writers, for its debt to Oops Up Side Your Head. Fourteen straight weeks at number 1, and a win at the 2016 ceremony. Uptown Special has it fourth. LA Times, 45th of 66.
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Kings of Leon — Use Somebody (2008)
The four Followills share the writing credit on the second single from Only by the Night, which gave the band their first Hot 100 top five, peaking at 4, and reached 2 in Britain, and at the 2010 ceremony it also won Best Rock Song. LA Times standing: 46th of 66.
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U2 — Beautiful Day (2000)
The Edge wanted a guitar tone from the band's early-1980s records, Bono resisted, and the Edge won. Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno produced, with Steve Lillywhite brought in for the final mix. Britain sent it to number 1, America to 21, and the 2001 ceremony gave it three awards. It leads off the 12-track international edition of All That You Can't Leave Behind. LA Times: 47th of 66.
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Olivia Newton-John — I Honestly Love You (1974)
Jeff Barry and Peter Allen wrote it, and John Farrar produced. On If You Love Me, Let Me Know, Spotify's track carries the title it first had in Australia, I Love You, I Honestly Love You. At the 1975 ceremony it lost Song of the Year to The Way We Were and won this award. A Lynn Anderson cover plays on Chief Brody's radio in Jaws. Wood's count has it 48th of 66.
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Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass — A Taste of Honey (1965)
The eight drum beats before the tempo picks up were meant as an editing cue, and Herb Alpert kept them. Bobby Scott and Ric Marlow wrote it as a theme for the 1960 Broadway staging of the play. It reached number 7 and won four awards at the 1966 ceremony. Whipped Cream & Other Delights begins with it. LA Times: 49th of 66.
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Natalie Cole & Nat King Cole — Unforgettable (1991)
Irving Gordon wrote it, and David Foster produced the 1991 record that made it a duet between Natalie Cole and her late father. It peaked at number 14, the same peak his 1951 original reached on Billboard's best-seller chart. Three awards followed at the 1992 ceremony. It closes Unforgettable: With Love. Wood's LA Times slot: 50th of 66.
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Eric Clapton — Tears in Heaven (1992)
Clapton and Will Jennings wrote it after his four-year-old son, Conor, died in March 1991. It closed the Rush soundtrack; Spotify's remastered issue of that soundtrack supplies the studio take, not the Unplugged one. Vanessa Williams's Save the Best for Last kept it in second place for four weeks, and he stopped playing it in 2004. Ceremony: 1993. LA Times: 51st of 66.
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Green Day — Boulevard of Broken Dreams (2004)
Billie Joe Armstrong wrote it while living alone in New York in 2003. It shares a chord progression with Oasis's Wonderwall, which drew criticism from Noel Gallagher. Its runner-up peak is Green Day's highest on the Hot 100. American Idiot puts it fourth. Wood rates it 52nd of 66; the ceremony was 2006.
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The Chicks — Not Ready to Make Nice (2006)
Natalie Maines, Martie Maguire and Emily Robison wrote it with Dan Wilson, and Robison said they "talked for days with Dan before putting pen to paper." On the Hot 100 it first stalled at 23, then re-entered at number 4 after the February 2007 ceremony, the band's highest placing there. They were still Dixie Chicks then. Taking the Long Way holds it third. LA Times: 53rd of 66.
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Paul Simon — Graceland (1986)
The Everly Brothers sing on it, Ray Phiri plays guitar and Bakithi Kumalo fretless bass. As a single it peaked at 81 in America, and it was the 1988 ceremony's pick; the original 11-track album carries it second. Ranked 54th of 66 by Wood, the LA Times entry points out that it won a year after the album did.
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Billie Eilish — everything i wanted (2019)
Eilish has said the whole song is about her and Finneas as siblings, and that it started from a dream. Darkroom and Interscope released it on 13 November 2019 as a standalone single, and that single plays here. It peaked at number 8, her second top ten in America, before its 2021 ceremony win. LA Times verdict: 55th of 66.
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Bobby McFerrin — Don't Worry, Be Happy (1988)
Its parts are all overdubbed voices and other sounds McFerrin made himself, and it became the first a cappella song to reach number 1 on the Hot 100. The title came from Meher Baba, and when George H. W. Bush's 1988 campaign used it without permission, McFerrin protested and dropped it from his shows. It is the first song on Simple Pleasures. Winner at the 1989 ceremony; LA Times, 56th of 66.
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U2 — Walk On (2000)
U2 wrote it about Aung San Suu Kyi, then under house arrest, and Burma banned the album over it. They played it on America: A Tribute to Heroes on 21 September 2001. Its win at the 2002 ceremony followed Beautiful Day's, the first time an act had won with songs from one album in consecutive years. On the album's 12-track international edition it sits fourth. LA Times: 57th of 66.
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Phil Collins — Another Day in Paradise (1989)
Collins wrote it about homelessness after seeing people sleeping near Capitol Hill, and David Crosby sings backing vocals. Collins and Hugh Padgham produced it, and both took the award at the 1991 ceremony. It was the last Hot 100 number 1 of the 1980s and the first of the 1990s. The original 12-track ...But Seriously carries it seventh. LA Times: 58th of 66.
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Kim Carnes — Bette Davis Eyes (1981)
Jackie DeShannon recorded it first, in 1974; Kim Carnes's version runs on a Prophet-5 riff Bill Cuomo came up with, produced by Val Garay. Nine weeks on top, and Billboard's biggest hit of 1981. Bette Davis, then 73, wrote to thank them for making her "a part of modern times." Mistaken Identity leads with it. Ceremony: 1982. LA Times: 59th of 66.
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Shawn Colvin — Sunny Came Home (1996)
Shawn Colvin wrote it with John Leventhal, who produced, and the lyric grew from her album's cover painting of a woman with a lit match and a fire behind her. It was her first Hot 100 entry and reached number 7. A Few Small Repairs opens with it. Wood puts it 60th of 66, a winner at the 1998 ceremony.
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Sam Smith — Stay with Me (Darkchild Version) (2014)
Rodney Jerkins produced the Darkchild Version, released in June 2014, and that version, the one the award went to, is the link. Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne were added as writers over a likeness to I Won't Back Down, though they were not eligible for a Grammy for it and received certificates instead; Smith, who also took Best New Artist, won at the 2015 ceremony. LA Times: 61st of 66.
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Childish Gambino — This Is America (2018)
Donald Glover released it in May 2018 while hosting Saturday Night Live, with Ludwig Göransson co-producing and Young Thug, 21 Savage and Quavo among the guest voices. It debuted as the Hot 100 leader. At the 2019 ceremony it won all four of its nominations and was the first rap song to win this award and Song of the Year; the link plays the original single. LA Times: 62nd of 66.
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Ray Charles & Norah Jones — Here We Go Again (2004)
Ray Charles first released it in 1967 on Ray Charles Invites You to Listen, and it spent 12 weeks on the Hot 100, peaking at 15. He recut it as a duet with Norah Jones for Genius Loves Company, with Billy Preston on Hammond organ, and that album opens with it. Its award came in February 2005, at that year's ceremony. In Wood's LA Times list it is 63rd of 66.
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Domenico Modugno — Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare) (1958)
Domenico Modugno wrote the music and, with Franco Migliacci, the Italian words, won Sanremo with it in early 1958, and placed third at Eurovision. It spent five non-consecutive weeks on top in America. The link is the A-side of a digital 45 of the original single. It won at the first ceremony, in May 1959. LA Times: 64th of 66.
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Percy Faith — Theme from A Summer Place (1959)
Max Steiner wrote the theme, and Percy Faith recorded it on 11 September 1959 at Columbia's 30th Street Studio. It held number 1 for nine weeks and was Billboard's top song of 1960. There was no ceremony in 1960, so it won at the 1961 one. Spotify's copy is a 2:24 track on a 2011 Rock 'N Roll Instrumentals compilation. LA Times: 65th of 66.
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Henry Mancini — Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
The title phrase comes from Ernest Dowson's poem Vitae Summa Brevis. Mancini and Johnny Mercer wrote it for the 1962 film and won the Oscar, and Mancini's own record reached number 33. His LP Our Man in Hollywood opens with it. It won at the 1964 ceremony and closes the LA Times ranking, 66th of 66.
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