The Recording Academy has designated a new standalone category for Best Album Cover at the 2026 Grammys.
Alongside several important dates and rule changes for this year’s 68th annual awards, the Academy announced last week that it will revive the standalone category for album art, and combine two preexisting categories, Best Recording Package and Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package.
Designed to account for cover design as well as an album’s overarching visual presentation, Best Recording Package was established in 1994 as the third iteration of the Grammys’ original Best Album Cover award, while limited editions and box sets got their own category in 1995.
Now, as lengthy album rollouts, vinyl specials, multi-format releases, and guerrilla marketing dominate the industry, these attributes will be judged under a singular Best Recording Package category, while Best Album Cover will spin off on its own to honor cover imagery exclusively.
The change comes after a carefully orchestrated campaign for Charli XCX’s Brat helped the album grab the 2025 Grammy for Best Recording Package, despite its album cover’s famously minimal artistic composition.
Other Grammy changes include a new category for Best Traditional Country Album, with the previous best country album category set to be renamed Best Contemporary Country Album. Best New Artist has also expanded its scope to include artists who were featured on previous album of the year nominees, as long as they fall below 20% of the music on the album.
The 2026 Grammy Awards will be held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on February 1. Nominations are set to be announced on November 7. For more information, visit grammy.com.
Featured image courtesy: The Recording Academy.
