Elton John and Brandi Carlile’s new collaborative album Who Believes in Angels?seems to have a good shot at a Grammy nomination for album of the year. Carlile was nominated in the category with both of her last two solo studio albums – By the Way, I Forgive You (at the 2019 ceremony) and In These Silent Days (2023). John was nominated three times in his 1970s heyday, with Elton John (1971), Caribou (1975) and Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (1976).
Who Believes in Angels? was produced by Andrew Watt, who won a Grammy for producer of the year, non-classical in 2021 and was nominated for album of the year the following year for his work on the deluxe edition of Justin Bieber’s Justice.
What’s more, Ben Winston, one of the executive producers of the annual Grammy telecast, also served as an executive producer of An Evening With Elton John and Brandi Carlile, which aired on CBS on Sunday April 6. Does that give the album an edge in the Grammy voting process? No. But it shows that it’s front-and-center in terms of Grammy consciousness.
It may seem early to be thinking in terms of Grammy nominations, but it’s actually not all that early. We’re more than seven months into the Grammy eligibility year, which runs from Aug. 31, 2024 to Aug. 30, 2025.
If Who Believes in Angels? receives an album of the year nod, John will have a 55-year span of nominations in that category, which would put him in second place on the list of artists with the longest span of nods in that category. Tony Bennett has the longest span – 59 years from I Left My Heart in San Francisco (a nominee at the 1963 ceremony) to Love for Sale, his collab with Lady Gaga (a nominee at the 2022 ceremony). Ray Charles would fall to third place. His nods span 43 years, from Genius + Soul = Jazz (1962) to Genius Loves Company (2005).
Who Believes in Angels? is vying to become the 12th collaborative album to receive a Grammy nod for album of the year. It would be the third pairing where one artist was a generation older than the other. John is 35 years older than Carlile. There was a 60-year age gap between Bennett and Gaga; a 23-year age gap between Robert Plant and Alison Krauss.
You may have noticed that John’s double-album opus Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, widely regarded as his most classic work, was not listed among his nominees for album of the year. You may be wondering: How can that be? The album was released on Oct. 5, 1973, just 10 days before the end of the eligibility year, a bit late for it to register its full impact. John was nominated the following year with Caribou, a solid album, but not in the same league with Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. While Goodbye Yellow Brick Road should have been nominated, it probably wouldn’t have won. Stevie Wonder, then at his creative and commercial peak (and on a history-making Grammy roll), won that year for Innervisions.
Here’s a complete list of the 11 collaborations that have received album of the year nods, working backwards. Will Who Believes in Angels? join them? Place your bets. All chart references are to the Billboard 200; the years shown are the years of the Grammy ceremony.
2022: Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga, Love for Sale
Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for LN
In addition to the album of the year nod, this won for best traditional pop vocal album. “I Get a Kick Out of You” from the project was also up for record of the year, best pop duo/group performance and best music video. The album was comprised of Cole Porter standards, including “Night and Day” and “It’s De-Lovely.” The pair first teamed to record Rodgers & Hart’s “The Lady Is a Tramp” for Bennett’s 2011 album Duets II. This was the pair’s second joint album. The first, Cheek to Cheek, reached No. 1 and won a Grammy for best traditional pop vocal album (2015). Love for Sale debuted and peaked at No. 8. Bennett was 95 on Grammy night in 2022. Gaga was 35.
2009: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Raising Sand
In addition to winning album of the year, this won best contemporary folk/Americana album, while “Please Read the Letter” won record of the year. Three more tracks– “Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On),” “Rich Woman” and “Killing the Blues” — won in performance categories. The album debuted and peaked at No. 2 in November 2007 and returned to its No. 2 peak in February 2009 after it swept the Grammys. The pair’s long-awaited follow-up album, Raise the Roof, debuted and peaked at No. 7 in December 2021. Plant was 60 on Grammy night in 2009. Krauss was 37.
1995: The Three Tenors, The 3 Tenors in Concert 1994
In addition to the album of the year nod, this was nominated for best pop album. This was the second live concert album by the 3 Tenors — Jose Carreras, then 48; Placido Domingo, then 53; and Luciano Pavarotti, then 59. The album was recorded at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles in July 1994. It debuted and peaked at No. 4 two months later. The album included both classical favorites such as “Nessun dorma” and pop standards such as “My Way,” “Moon River” and “Singin’ in the Rain.” The superstars reunited to record two more live concert albums — The Three Tenors Paris 1998 and The 3 Tenors Christmas (2000).
1990: The Traveling Wilburys, Volume One
In addition to the album of the year nod, this won for best rock performance by a duo or group with vocals. The supergroup consisted of George Harrison, then 46; Bob Dylan, then 48; Tom Petty, then 39; Jeff Lynne of ELO, then 42; and Roy Orbison, who died at 52 in December 1988, six weeks after the album’s release. The key track was “Handle With Care.” The album logged six weeks at No. 3 from January into April 1989. A mischievously titled sequel, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3, was released in 1990.
1988: Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris, Trio
Image Credit: Paul Harris/Getty Images
This is the only all-female collab to land an album of the year nod. In addition, the album won for best country performance by a duo or group with vocals. Parton and Ronstadt were both 41 at the time; Harris was 39. Standout tracks include “Telling Me Lies” and a remake of the 1958 hit “To Know Him Is to Love Him.” The album peaked at No. 6 in May 1987. A sequel, Trio II, was released in 1999. The Complete Trio Collection (2016) consisted of newly remastered versions of both albums and a third disk consisting of alternate takes and unreleased recordings.
1986: USA for Africa, We Are the World
In addition to being nominated for album of the year, USA for Africa (represented by producer Quincy Jones) won record of the year, best pop duo/group performance and best music video, short form. Most of the artists who have tracks on the album took part in the all-star single, but the album also featured tracks by Prince & the Revolution (Prince was invited to be part of the single, but didn’t make it), Chicago and Northern Lights, a group of Canadian artists who recorded a similar charity single, “Tears Are Not Enough.” The album logged three consecutive weeks at No. 1 in April and May 1985.
1982: John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Double Fantasy
Image Credit: Jack Mitchell/Getty Images
In addition to winning album of the year along with his wife, Lennon was nominated for record of the year for “(Just Like) Starting Over” and best pop vocal performance, male for his tracks on the album. This album was released on Nov. 17, 1980, three weeks before Lennon was shot to death in New York. Lennon was 40 at the time; Ono was 47. This was the couple’s sixth full-length collab. The album spent eight consecutive weeks at No. 1 beginning in the last week of 1980. Three songs from the album reached the top 10 on the Hot 100 – “(Just Like) Starting Over,” “Woman” and “Watching the Wheels.”
1968: Frank Sinatra & Antônio Carlos Jobim, Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim
Sinatra, 52 at the time, was of course one of the greatest singers in recording history; Jobim, 40 at the time, was the architect of the bossa nova sound which swept the globe in the ‘60s. The album included seven Jobim songs and three by such masters as Irving Berlin and Cole Porter. Sinatra and Jobim re-teamed for seven tracks that were released on Sinatra and Company (1971) and for “Fly Me to the Moon” on Sinatra’s Duets II (1994). The album reached No. 19 in May 1967.
1965: Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto, Getz/Gilberto
This was the first jazz album to win album of the year. It also won best instrumental jazz performance – small group or soloist with small group. In addition, its lead single, “The Girl From Ipanema,” won record of the year. Getz, 37 at the time, was a tenor saxophonist; Gilberto, 33, was a singer and the then-husband of Astrud Gilberto, who sang “The Girl From Ipanema.” The album reached No. 2 in August 1964. (It was blocked from the No. 1 spot by The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night soundtrack – though Getz/Gilberto got even when “The Girl From Ipanema” beat “I Want to Hold Your Hand” for record of the year.) Getz and Gilberto re-teamed for three more albums, starting with Getz/Gilberto Vol. 2 (1966).
1963: Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd, Jazz Samba
In addition to the album of the year nod, the album’s hit single, “Desafinado,” was nominated for record of the year and won for best jazz performance. The album also included “Samba de Uma Nota Só,” known in English as “One Note Samba.” Getz, the only artist to receive album of the year nods with two collabs, was 35 at the time. Byrd, 37 at the time, was a jazz and classical guitarist. The album hit No. 1 in March 1963.
1962: The Si Zentner Orchestra & the Johnny Mann Singers, Great Band With Great Voices
In addition to the album of the year nod, this brought Mann a Grammy for best performance by a chorus. The album consisted of traditional pop songs such as “Dream,” “Ol’ Man River” and “Baubles, Bangles and Beads.” Zentner, 44 at the time, was a jazz trombonist; Mann, then 33, was a TV musical director. The album didn’t chart.
