# Record of the Year vs Album of the Year. What's the difference? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 22, 2001, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-of-the-year-vs-album-of-the-year-whats-the-difference/55471 "2001-02-22T15:16:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2001, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-of-the-year-vs-album-of-the-year-whats-the-difference/55471/1 "2001-02-22T15:16:01Z")
Last night, on the Grammys, U2 won for record of the year with “It’s a beautiful day” while Steely Dan took the award for album of the year with “Two against nature”. What the hell is the difference between record and album? …and while I’m at it, why the hell are the Grammys so lame? (I only watched the awards during commercials of West Wing). Finally, why doesn’t somebody bitch slap eminem to death? That guy has negative tallent. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2001, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-of-the-year-vs-album-of-the-year-whats-the-difference/55471/2 "2001-02-22T15:32:20Z")
U2 won the award for a single, not an album. ---
**Author:** ![Palmyra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/57b2e6/32.png) [@Palmyra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palmyra)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2001, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-of-the-year-vs-album-of-the-year-whats-the-difference/55471/3 "2001-02-22T15:41:40Z")
Then, the not-so-important-yet-annoying question is this: what’s the difference between “record of the year” and “song of the year”? ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2001, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-of-the-year-vs-album-of-the-year-whats-the-difference/55471/4 "2001-02-22T16:10:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mattk \* > U2 won the award for a single, not an album. Not according to this on yahoo …and I quote: > [@](#): > > Thursday February 22 2:40 AM ET > Steely Dan upsets Eminem at Grammys > > By Phil Gallo > > HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Once again, the Grammys (news - web sites) went the safe route. Truly, no static at all. > > Pop veterans Steely Dan had a surprising run Wednesday night at the 43rd annual Grammy Awards, taking home three awards for `Two Against Nature'' and the single `Cousin Dupree.’’ > > Steely Dan’s first album of new material in two decades earned **album of the year trophy** , besting Eminem (news - web sites)‘s ``The Marshall Mathers LP’’ and albums by Paul Simon, Radiohead and Beck. > > …blah…blah…blah… > > U2, whose ``Beautiful Day’’ single was released at the very end of the eligibility period of Oct. 1999 to Sept. 30, 2000, walked off with the other **two major awards** of the night – **song and record of the year**. > > …blah…blah…blah… So good question **Palmyra** , what is the diff and since when is a single called a record? More importantly, why do I even give a shit? It’s the music awards, not the Nobel Peace prize awards. ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2001, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-of-the-year-vs-album-of-the-year-whats-the-difference/55471/5 "2001-02-22T17:34:53Z")
“Record of the Year” is an award given to the artist and the producers/engineers. “Song of the Year” is an award given to the songwriters. In this case, the songwriters happened to be the band, but it isn’t always so. Last year, the Song of the Year was “My Heart Will Go On.” The award went to James Horner and Will Jennings, not to Celine Dion. “My Heart Will Go On” was also Record of the Year, and the award went to Celine Dion, Humberto Gatica, James Horner, David Gleeson, Walter Afanasieff and Simon Franglen. ---
**Author:** ![Marvel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marvel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvel)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-of-the-year-vs-album-of-the-year-whats-the-difference/55471/6 "2001-02-23T00:40:56Z")
Thanks for clearing up the differences for me, everyone! Now see if you can answer this one…who knew Steely Dan even released a CD this year, much less knew it was up for a Grammy!!! Confused in Cleveland, Patty ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-of-the-year-vs-album-of-the-year-whats-the-difference/55471/7 "2001-02-23T00:56:38Z")
I knew. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-of-the-year-vs-album-of-the-year-whats-the-difference/55471/8 "2001-02-23T03:22:56Z")
OK, so why do the Grammies call it “Record” rather than “Single” of the year, so as to avoid confusion? ---
**Author:** ![Revedge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecae2f/32.png) [@Revedge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revedge)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-of-the-year-vs-album-of-the-year-whats-the-difference/55471/9 "2001-02-23T04:26:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duke \* > \*\*OK, so why do the Grammies call it “Record” rather than “Single” of the year, so as to avoid confusion? \*\* Tradition. Originaly, records were only long enough to have a single song on them. (Remember 45’s) Then RCA (I think) came out with the 33 rpm recording that could have more than one song on them. These were called long playing albums. So, a record had one song on each side, and an album could have many.