GuideBallotsDataToolsBlog

Every Grammys Best Classical Solo Vocal Album winner

26 ceremonies, 2000–2025. 19 different winners. The longest run was Cecilia Bartoli, 2 years straight (2001–2002).

Best Classical Solo Vocal Album was previously known as Best Classical Vocal Performance.

It went by Best Classical Vocal Solo from 2012 to 2014, and has been an album-only award since 2015.

Cecilia Bartoli ×3Joyce DiDonato ×3Lorraine Hunt Lieberson ×2Renee Fleming ×2Renée Fleming ×2
Each band is one winner’s reign. Wider means a longer run. Colored by label; hover for details.
Anne Sofie von Otter & Thomas Quasthoff'00
Cecilia Bartoli'01–'02×2
Renée Fleming'03
Thomas Quasthoff & Anne Sofie von Otter'04
Susan Graham'05
Thomas Quasthoff'06
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson'07–'08×2
Hila Plitmann'09
Renee Fleming'10
Cecilia Bartoli'11
Joyce DiDonato'12
Renee Fleming'13
Dawn Upshaw'14
Anne Sofie von Otter'15
Joyce DiDonato'16
Dorothea Röschmann'17
Barbara Hannigan'18
Karim Sulayman'19
Joyce DiDonato'20
Sarah Brailey & Dashon Burton'21
Sangeeta Kaur & Hilla Plitmann'22
Renée Fleming'23
Julia Bullock'24
Karen Slack'25

Who kept losing

Counting nominations in this category only, 2000–2025.

Most nominated, never won

  • Ian Bostridge4 noms
  • Nicholas Phan4 noms
  • Matthias Goerne3 noms
  • Natalie Dessay3 noms
  • Philippe Jaroussky3 noms
  • Will Liverman3 noms

Most losses

  • Anne Sofie von Otter7L · 1W
  • Joyce DiDonato7L · 3W
  • Cecilia Bartoli5L · 3W
  • Thomas Quasthoff5L · 1W
  • Ian Bostridge4L · 0W
  • Nicholas Phan4L · 0W

The full list

YearWinnerLabel
2025Karen Slack (Beyond the Years - Unpublished Songs of Florence Price)
beat 4 others
  • Nicholas Phan (A Change Is Gonna Come)
  • Fotina Naumenko (Newman: Bespoke Songs)
  • Will Liverman (Show Me The Way)
  • Joyce DiDonato (Wagner: Wesendonck Lieder)
Unrecorded
2024Julia Bullock (Walking in the Dark)
beat 4 others
  • Reginald Mobley (Because)
  • Karim Sulayman (Broken Branches)
  • Laura Strickling (40@40)
  • Lawrence Brownlee (Rising)
Unrecorded
2023Renée Fleming (Voice of Nature - The Anthropocene)
beat 4 others
  • Joyce DiDonato (Eden)
  • Sasha Cooke (How Do I Find You)
  • Will Liverman (Okpebholo: Lord, How Come Me Here?)
  • Nicholas Phan (Stranger - Works for Tenor by Nico Muhly)
Unrecorded
2022Sangeeta Kaur & Hilla Plitmann (Mythologies)
beat 4 others
  • Laura Strickling (Confessions)
  • Will Liverman (Dreams of a New Day - Songs by Black Composers)
  • Joyce DiDonato (Schubert: Winterreise)
  • Jamie Barton (Unexpected Shadows)
Unrecorded
2021Sarah Brailey & Dashon Burton (Smyth: The Prison (Experiential Chorus & Experiential Orchestra))
beat 4 others
  • Stephen Powell (American Composers At Play)
  • Nicholas Phan (Clairères - Songs by Lili & Nadia Boulanger)
  • Brian Giebler (A Lad's Love)
  • Cecilia Bartoli (Farinelli)
Unrecorded
2020Joyce DiDonato (Songplay)
beat 4 others
  • Susan Narucki (The Edge of Silence - Works For Voice by György Kurtág)
  • Philippe Jaroussky & Céline Scheen (Himmelsmusik)
  • Matthias Goerne (Schumann: Liederkreis op. 24, Kerner-Lieder op. 35)
  • Stephen Costello (A Te, O Cara)
Unrecorded
2019Karim Sulayman (Songs of Orpheus - Monteverdi, Caccini, D'India & Landi)
beat 4 others
  • Anthony Roth Costanzo (Arc)
  • Philippe Jaroussky (The Händel Album)
  • Sabine Devieilhe (Mirages)
  • Randall Scarlata (Schubert: Winterreise)
Unrecorded
2018Barbara Hannigan (Crazy Girl Crazy - Music by Gershwin, Berg & Berio)
beat 4 others
  • Philippe Jaroussky (Bach & Telemann: Sacred Cantatas)
  • Nicholas Phan (Gods & Monsters)
  • Joyce DiDonato (In War & Peace - Harmony Through Music)
  • Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Sviridov: Russia Cast Adrift)
Unrecorded
2017Dorothea Röschmann (Schumann & Berg)
beat 3 others
  • Magdalena Kožená (Monteverdi)
  • Sabine Devielhe (Mozart: The Weber Sisters)
  • Anna Netrebko (Verismo)
Unrecorded
2016Joyce DiDonato (Joyce & Tony - Live From Wigmore Hall)
beat 4 others
  • Mark Padmore (Beethoven: An Die Ferne Geliebte; Haydn: English Songs; Mozart: Masonic Cantata)
  • Jonas Kaufman (Nessun Dorma - The Puccini Album)
  • Talise Trevigne (Rouse: Seeing; Kabir Padavali)
  • Cecilia Bartoli (St. Petersburg)
Unrecorded
2015Anne Sofie von Otter (Douce France)
beat 4 others
  • Philippe Jaroussky (Porpora: Arias)
  • Florian Boesch (Schubert: Die Schöne Müllerin)
  • Joyce DiDonato (Stella di Napoli)
  • Lawrence Brownlee (Virtuoso Rossini Arias)
Unrecorded
2014Dawn Upshaw (Winter Morning Walks)
beat 4 others
  • Joyce DiDonato (Drama Queens)
  • Cecilia Bartoli (Mission)
  • Christoph Prégardien (Schubert: Winterreise)
  • Jonas Kaufmann (Wagner)
Unrecorded
2013Renee Fleming (Poèmes)
beat 4 others
  • Natalie Dessay (Debussy: Clair de Lune)
  • Joyce DiDonato (Homecoming - Kansas City Symphony Presents Joyce DiDonato)
  • Ute Lemper (Paris Days, Berlin Nights)
  • Anne Sofie von Otter (Sogno Barocco)
Unrecorded
2012Joyce DiDonato (Diva Divo)
beat 4 others
  • Marianne Beate Kielland (Grieg/Thommesen: Veslemoy Synsk)
  • Natalie Dessay (Handel: Cleopatra)
  • Andreas Scholl (Purcell: O Solitude)
  • Ian Bostridge (Three Baroque Tenors)
Unrecorded
2011Cecilia Bartoli (Sacrificium)
beat 4 others
  • Anne Sofie von Otter (Ombre de Mon Amant – French Baroque Arias)
  • Lucia Duchonová (Turina: Canto A Sevilla)
  • Vivica Genaux (Vivaldi: Opera Arias – Pyrotechnics)
  • Measha Brueggergosman (Wagner: Wesendonck-Lieder)
Unrecorded
2010Renee Fleming (Verismo)
beat 4 others
  • Anne Sofie von Otter (Bach)
  • Juan Diego Flórez (Bel Canto Spectacular)
  • Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (Recital At Ravinia)
  • Susan Graham (Un Frisson Français)
Unrecorded
2009Hila Plitmann (Corigliano: Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan)
beat 4 others
  • Cecilia Bartoli (Maria)
  • Isabel Bayrakdarian (Gomidas Songs)
  • Sanford Sylvan (Charles Fussell: Wilde)
  • Anne Sofie von Otter (Terezín: Theresienstadt)
Unrecorded
2008Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Sings Peter Lieberson: Neruda Songs)repeat
beat 4 others
  • Sarah Connolly (Sea Pictures)
  • Renée Fleming (Homage: The Age of the Diva)
  • Anna Netrebko (Russian Album)
  • Rolando Villazón (Gitano: Zarzuela Arias)
Unrecorded
2007Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (Rilke Songs)
beat 4 others
  • Ian Bostridge (Britten: Song Cycles)
  • Bernarda Fink and Marcos Fink (Canciones Argentinas)
  • Patrick Mason (Songs of Amy Beach)
  • Thomas Quasthoff (Consider, My Soul)
Unrecorded
2006Thomas Quasthoff (Bach: Cantatas)
beat 4 others
  • Cecilia Bartoli (Opera Proibita)
  • Natalie Dessay (Strauss: Amor)
  • Carole Farley (Bolcom: Songs)
  • Rolando Villazón (Gounod -- Massenet: Arias)
Unrecorded
2005Susan Graham (Ives: Songs)
beat 4 others
  • Angela Maria Blasi and Stella Doufexis (Marx: Orchestral Songs)
  • Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (Handel: Arias)
  • Karita Mattila (Grieg and Sibelius Songs)
  • Thomas Quasthoff (A Romantic Songbook (Strauss, Schumann, Schubert, Mendelssohn, etc))
Unrecorded
2004Thomas Quasthoff & Anne Sofie von Otter (Schubert: Lieder with Orchestra)
beat 4 others
  • Barbara Bonney (Im Chambre Separee - The Operetta Album)
  • Ian Bostridge (Britten: The Canticles)
  • Montserrat Caballé (Songs of the Spanish Renaissance, Vol. 1)
  • Frederica von Stade (Argento: Casa Guidi)
Unrecorded
2003Renée Fleming (Bel Canto)
beat 4 others
  • Vivica Genaux (Arias for Farinelli)
  • Susan Narucki (Carter: Tempo E Tempi)
  • Christine Schäfer (Boulez: Pli Selon Pli)
  • Anne Sofie von Otter (Chaminade: Melodies - Mots D'Amour)
Unrecorded
2002Cecilia Bartoli (Dreams & Fables - Gluck Italian Arias)repeat
beat 4 others
  • Barbara Bonney (Fairest Isle)
  • Ian Bostridge (Henze: Six Songs From The Arabian; Three Auden Songs)
  • Thomas Quasthoff (Schubert: Schwanengesang/Brahms: Vier Ernste Gesänge)
  • Anne Sofie von Otter (Beethoven/Meyerbeer/Spohr: Lieder - Mélodies)
Unrecorded
2001Cecilia Bartoli (The Vivaldi Album)
beat 4 others
  • María Bayo (Handel: Opera Arias & Cantatas)
  • Matthias Goerne (Bach: Cantatas BWV 82, 158 & 56)
  • Thomas Quasthoff (Brahms/Liszt: Lieder)
  • Anne Sofie von Otter (Folksongs)
Unrecorded
2000Anne Sofie von Otter & Thomas Quasthoff (Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn)
beat 4 others
  • David Daniels (Handel: Operatic Arias)
  • Matthias Goerne (Eisler: The Hollywood Songbook)
  • Ben Heppner (German Romantic Opera)
  • Thomas Quasthoff (Schubert: Winterreise)
Unrecorded

More Grammys categories

Country AlbumAlbumRecordSongContemp. Folk AlbumHawaiian AlbumNative American AlbumZydeco/Cajun AlbumRock PerformanceRock SongMetal PerformanceAlt PerformanceFemale Rock VocalMale Rock VocalSolo Rock VocalRock Duo or GroupAll 152 categories

Call next year’s winner before your friends do

You’ve seen the whole history. Now put a pick on the record and run a live pool when the Grammys come back around.

Start a free party