This Sunday, the music industry will gather in Los Angeles for the 68th edition of the Grammy awards. Despite scrutiny over the voting process, the ceremony has become the mainstay of the music awards calendar since its inception in 1959, and over the decades, iconic golden gramophones have been bestowed on everyone from Sesame Street’s Elmo to Mikhail Gorbachev. Here are the Observer’s picks for the very best of the best.
Beyoncé – Haunted
It would be a serious failure not to include Beyoncé on this list. Since her breakout single Crazy in Love in 2003, the singer has racked up 99 Grammy nominations and 35 wins, cementing her status as the most awarded artist in the awards’ history. While much of that hardware has come in recent years – thanks to her ambitious dance and country projects Renaissance and Cowboy Carter – there’s a strong argument that the academy was far too slow to acknowledge the Texan’s star power. There’s no better example of that than the ahead-of-its-time brilliance of Haunted, from her 2013 self-titled album.
Stevie Wonder – Higher Ground
When Stevie Wonder won album of the year for his 16th studio album Innervisions in 1974, he became the first Black artist to do so. The album is a masterpiece that set the standard for the future of commercial soul music, but it’s the anthem Higher Ground, a track about never backing down to those in power, that feels as relevant in 2026 as when it was released in 1972.
Bruce Springsteen – Highway Patrolman
Although he pocketed 20 awards and wins in every decade from the 80s to the 00s, the best tracks from the Boss have arguably slipped past the ears of the academy. If you are used to the crowd-raising anthems from Born In the USA, Springsteen’s lo-fi heartfelt musings on his 1982 album Nebraska may feel peculiar, but tracks such as Highway Patrolman are exquisite in their exploration of the life of the American man.
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John Williams – theme from Schindler’s List
The Grammy awards for classical artists and composers may lack the glamour of the pop categories, but they are no less important. John Williams has scored some of the most iconic films of the past 50 years: his haunting theme from Steven Spielberg’s 1993 film Schindler’s List is unmatched in capturing the incomprehensible terror of the Holocaust.
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Billie Eilish – Chihiro
Billie Eilish was barely 18 when she claimed the Grammy’s “big four” awards in 2020 (Best Album, Song, Record, and New Artist of the Year) for her debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?. Since then, she has evolved and refined her dark pop sound. This maturation, along with her innovative production techniques, is on full display in Chihiro, from her 2024 album Hit Me Hard and Soft.
Illustration by Charlotte Durance