Has anyone else ever wondered how the choices made by music's biggest night holds up against the critics? Not terribly well I'm afraid. In fact, most of the time the grammys stand alone in their picks. Here's a list of the grammy awards' album and record of the year winners and their respective yearly rankings according to henrik's site:

album
1959 - music from peter gunn - henry mancini - 22
1960 - come dance with me - frank sinatra - 20
1961 - button-down mind of bob newhart - bob newhart - n/a
1962 - judy at carnegie hall - judy garland - 6
1963 - the first family - vaughn meader - no spot
1964 - the barbra streisand album - barbra streisand - 13
1965 - getz/gilberto - stan getz and joao gilberto - 5
1966 - september of my years - frank sinatra - no spot
1967 - sinatra: a man and his music - frank sinatra - no spot
1968 - sgt. peppers lonely hearts club band - the beatles - 2
1969 - by the time I get to phoenix - glen campbell - 31
1970 - blood sweat and tears - blood sweat and tears - 33
1971 - bridge over troubled water - simon and garfunkel - 7
1972 - tapestry - carole king - 8
1973 - the concert for Bangla Desh - George Harrison & friends - 53
1974 - innervisions - stevie wonder - 2
1975 - fullfillingness' first finale - stevie wonder - 21
1976 - still crazy after all these years - paul simon - 24
1977 - songs in the key of life - stevie wonder - 2
1978 - rumours - fleetwood mac - 4
1979 - saturday night fever - various artists - 8
1980 - 52nd street - billy joel - no spot
1981 - christopher cross - christopher cross - no spot
1982 - double fantasy - john lennon & yoko ono - 27
1983 - toto IV - toto - 37
1984 - thriller - michael jackson - 1
1985 - can't slow down - lionel richie - 27
1986 - no jacket required - phil collins - no spot
1987 - graceland - paul simon - 2
1988 - the joshua tree - u2 - 2
1989 - faith - george michael - 13
1990 - nick of time - bonnie raitt - 14
1991 - back on the block - quincy jones - no spot
1992 - unforgettable...with love - natalie cole - no spot
1993 - unplugged - eric clapton - 29
1994 - mtv unplugged - tony bennett - no spot
1995 - jagged little pill - alanis morissette - 9
1996 - falling into you - eric clapton - no spot
1997 - time out of mind - bob dylan - 2
1998 - the miseducation of lauryn hill - lauryn hill - 1
1999 - supernatural - santana - no spot
2000 - two against nature - steely dan - no spot
2001 - o brother where art thou? - various - 31
2002 - come away with me - norah jones - 18
2003 - speakerboxxx/the love below - outkast - 2
2004 - genius loves company - ray charles - no spot
2005 - how to dismantle an atomic bomb - u2 - 22

record
1959 - nel blue dipinto di blu - domenico modugno - no spot
1960 - mack the knife - bobby darin - 6
1961 - theme from a summer place - percy faith - 20
1962 - moon river - henry mancini - 9
1963 - i left my heart in san francisco - tony bennett - 16
1964 - days of wine and roses - henry mancini - no spot
1965 - the girl from ipanema - stan getz and astrud gilberto - 11
1966 - a taste of honey - herb alpert and the tijuana brass - no spot
1967 - strangers in the night - frank sinatra - 46
1968 - up, up and away - 5th dimension - no spot
1969 - mrs. robinson - simon and garfunkel - 24
1970 - aquarius/let the sunshine in - 5th dimension - 36
1971 - bridge over troubled water - simon and garfunkel - 2
1972 - carole king - it's too late - 13
1973 - the first time ever I saw your face - roberta flack - no spot
1974 - killing me softly with his song - roberta flack - 12
1975 - I honestly love you - olivia newton-john - no spot
1976 - love will keep us together - captain and tenille - no spot
1977 - this masquerade - george benson - 21
1978 - hotel california - the eagles - 2
1979 - just the way you are - billy joel - 17
1980 - what a fool believes - the doobie brothers - 34
1981 - sailing - christopher cross - no spot
1982 - bette davis eyes - kim carnes - 11
1983 - rosanna - toto - no spot
1984 - beat it - michael jackson - 5
1985 - what's love got to do with it - tina turner - 7
1986 - we are the world - usa for africa - 18
1987 - higher love - steve winwood - 21
1988 - graceland - paul simon - 12
1989 - don't worry be happy - bobby mcferrin - 44
1990 - wind beneath my wings - bette midler - no spot
1991 - another day in paradise - phil collins - no spot
1992 - unforgettable - natalie cole and nat king cole - no spot
1993 - tears in heaven - eric clapton - 10
1994 - all i wanna do - sheryl crow - 9
1995 - kiss from a rose - seal - no spot
1996 - change the world - celine dion - no spot
1997 - sunny came home - shawn colvin - no spot
1998 - my heart will go on - celine dion - 18
1999 - smooth - santana feat. rob thomas - no spot
2000 - beautiful day - u2 - 12
2001 - walk on - u2 - no spot
2002 - don't know why - norah jones - 30
2003 - clocks - coldplay - 18
2004 - here we go again - ray charles feat. norah jones - no spot
2005 - boulevard of broken dreams - green day - 34

In 60 years the so-called definitive musical awards have only given two #1 albums the album of the year award. In fact, 30 of the album of the year winners aren't even in their year's top 10. 13 didn't even make Henrik's top 2500! The distance only grows greater in the record of the year category, with 40(!) winners that were not otherwise acclaimed enough to place in the top 10 of their year. If it weren't for the acclaim given the songs by the fact that they won a grammy, most of the winners wouldn't have even made the top 2500 songs of all time list!
Now I understand that it's difficult to be able to estimate the overall quality of a song only months after it is released, and I usually appreciate well-chosen lists full of surprises rather than the old fare, but for an organization that considers itself to be, "the premier outlet for honoring achievements in the recording arts" their choices are beyond odd. They are either way ahead of the curve or hopelessly irrelevant.

it's “Change The World" by Eric Clapton, isn't it? and “Smooth" still keeps his spot on #5 in 1999 on AM, but that's not the point at all, because i absolutely agree with you, jonmarck, and who wouldn't. it's such a hilarious tradition to watch record awards firmly stucking to their own dumb parallel universe of economical face values and lobbying craftmanship that even the worthy winners always leave that certain stale smell behind. and that latter one really bugs me. though, as i'm always off for the bright side of the tunnel, i'm, for instance, truly baffled how relatively genuinely the Mercury Price nominees are chosen compared to so many other dully equipped awards all over the planet. however, AM is STILL the only true award show on earth (anyone disagrees? )

lol celine dion and seal defeating radiohead. enough said. Its obviously a popularity contest based more on sales than talent, but really who cares people watch it and as long as that happens they will continue to be seen as "important".

Grammys: Mostly middle-aged academy members that filter out album of the year nominations that represent popularity of course, a standard sound that represents its genre, and recently an artist per generation so there would be guaranteed tv ratings.

Acclaimed Music: Mostly counts rock music sources from critics that focus on alternative music way more than they should just so they can make the average music fan believe that they know what they're talking about. When I search the web for music lists, there's mostly rock/alternative-based lists, making it seem that they either listen to alternative so they can brag about it (like the teenager on "Family Guy" who said he listens to Radiohead), or these critics keep making lists that reflect every other list that has been available. Acclaimed Music began as a rock albums site, and it has a lot of catching up to do to be referred to as a wide-ranging list.

Steely Dan's "Aja" album is one of the few albums to make the Grammy Hall of Fame in its first year eligible, even though I have never seen it make the top 100 out of hundreds of lists that I've seen.
I remember Henrik had it high on his Top 100 Albums list though.

So I wouldn't say that Acclaimed Music has more credibility, even though I prefer it to the Grammys.
You can't take most rock critics seriously, especially since they think they have to have the cocky Rock attitude, and discriminate against a lot of good music that doesn't fit in with being rebellious. I would say that jazz critics are even worse. When I pick up books about the history of jazz, it's like being in the "Twilight Zone" and no one recognizes you, that's how these books treat many great jazz artists & jazz styles. They are so caught
up in being intellectual jazz purists that they are blind to what jazz can be. Jazz is like water, it can become part of any music, yet these purists are jazz blind when it is part of any other sound that isn't what they expect from jazz.

take the "advice" of a critical concensus over anything to do with the Shammys. It has lots to live down and compendsate for over the years- small steps haveb een taken, but too, too much in the way of embarrassment in what's *supposed* to be considered "music's best."

Safe, non-threatening music/acts has been its MO on the whole.

Encountering 30 percent of AM's inhabits meaning immediately MOR is quite enough for me. And even though loads of bulbous rock critics obviously ARE snobbish, elitist and pitiable, at least their temporarily summed up best-of-lists offer me some real fine niche clues to come for from time to time. I like AM just the way it is... with all its schmaltzy question marks and its stuck-up opponents.

I'll tell you one thing, I've bought about a dozen and a half albums based on AM's recommendation and none based on the Grammy's. To me they represent all that's wrong in music.