Ranking every Best Country Album Grammy winner

Previously, the Best Country Album category at the Grammy Awards was known as Best Country & Western Album. Roger Miller won the inaugural trophy in 1966, and the category existed for only two years before it was discontinued by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. 

Lady A repeated its Best Country Album success in 2012 with a win for its third studio album, "Own the Night." Despite mixed reactions from country music critics, the album’s singles “We Owned the Night” and “Wanted You More” really resonated with fans. 

Already a major success by 2013, the Zac Brown Band was rewarded for its sonic experimentation on "Uncaged" with the Best Country Album Grammy that year. Blending country, Southern rock, reggae and jam band influence, the record debuted at No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200 and earned near-universal critical acclaim. 

Country trio Lady Antebellum’s 2010 album "Need You Know" was a major crossover success, thanks in large part to its smash-hit title track. The song “Need You Now” was somehow even more successful, winning four Grammy Awards including Song of the Year and Record of the Year. 

After scoring a Best Country Album win for 2016’s "Traveller," Chris Stapleton did it again in 2018 with "From A Room: Volume 1." Bolstered by popular singles like “Broken Halos” and “Second One To Know,” the album also won CMA and ACM awards for Album of the Year. 

Pop-country’s takeover of the genre was official in 2001 when Faith Hill’s Breathe took home Best Country Album against more traditional contenders like Vince Gill, Alan Jackson and Lee Ann Womack. The record’s title track and lead single was a No. 1 hit on both the country and pop charts. 

Produced by country legend Carl Jackson, "Livin’, Lovin’ Losin’: Songs of the Louvin Brothers," is a gorgeous tribute to one of the genre’s most formative duos and boasts contributions from Merle Haggard, Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton and more. The duo’s iconic song, “How’s The World Treating You,” recorded by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, also brought home a Grammy for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals that year. 

The Chicks repeated their Best Country Album success in 2000 with "Fly," which debuted at No. 1 when it was released in June of that year. Even though it didn’t win, Fly was also nominated for the all-genre Album of the Year trophy at the 2000 Grammys. 

It’s almost surprising that it took George Strait until 2009 to take home his first Grammy Award, considering that he’d been racking up Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music Awards since the 1980s. With 2008’s Troubadour, Strait proved that he was still the King of Country Music with hits like “I Saw God Today” and the record’s title track. 

A genre-bending record that really pushes the definition of “country” while staying fiercely true to its traditional roots, Kacey Musgraves’s "Golden Hour" scored a Grammy for Best Country Album and Album of the Year at the CMA Awards. 

With her sophomore album, "Fearless," Taylor Swift became the youngest artist in history to win Best Country Album in 2010. Including the tracks “Love Story” and “Fifteen,” the album is still the most-awarded record in country music history, also taking home the ACM and CMA Award for the year’s best country album. 

Marking the Dixie Chicks’s third Best Country Album win, the trio kind of surprised everyone when they took home the trophy for "Home" in 2003. It’s a great (and commercially successful) album, to be sure, but it was released right around the time that frontwoman Natalie Maines’ comments criticizing President George W. Bush thrust the band into a controversy that still keeps their songs off the radio today. 

The much-anticipated follow-up to 2011’s "Four The Record"'," Miranda Lambert scored her first all-genre No. 1 and Best Country Album Grammy Award with 2014’s "Platinum." Fittingly, the album has since been certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America while earning acclaim from fans and critics alike. 

Bridging the gap between country and bluegrass, Alison Krauss & Union Station’s "Lonely Runs Both Ways" won big at the 2006 Grammy Awards. In addition to the Best Country Album trophy, the album’s single “Restless” won Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, and “Unionhouse Branch” scored the Best Country Instrumental Performance trophy. 

A truly stunning compilation album worthy of a Best Country Album win, "Timeless: A Hank Williams Tribute" features legendary artists like Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Keith Richards and Lucinda Williams covering Hank Sr.’s most beloved classics. 

Lyle Lovett took home his first Best Country Album Grammy in 1997 with “The Road to Ensenada,” a record that’s still beloved by country music purists. The album stays true to Lovett’s traditional sonic ethos while blending elements of Western swing, country, folk and rock. 

The Dixie Chicks won their first of a record four Best Country Album Grammy awards, in 1999 with "Wide Open Spaces," the band’s fourth full-length record and the album that launched them to mainstream country success. The album, which includes Chicks hits like “There’s Your Trouble” and “Ready to Run,” has since moved more than 14 million units. 

There’s plenty of debate in country music circles over whether Sturgill Simpson’s 2017 stunner, "A Sailor’s Guide to Earth" is exclusively a country album, but there’s no denying that it’s one of the best albums of the past decade in any genre. Produced by Simpson himself, the album is an instructional love letter to the artist’s young son and includes a cover of Nirvana’s “In Bloom,” which will go down as one of the best covers in music history. 

A truly massive work that encompasses 43 tracks across four individual albums, Vince Gill’s "These Days" is a stunning study in the musical influences of one of country’s most prolific and talented artists. 

The first winner of the newly created Best Country Album category in 1995, the success of Mary Chapin Carpenter’s “Stones in the Road” can be attributed in large part to the incredible success of “Shut Up and Kiss Me,” Carpenter’s lone No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. 

A successful songwriter before beginning his solo career, Chris Stapleton’s "Traveller" was an unexpected surprise hit that thrust one of the genre’s most talented artists into the mainstream. Alongside Stapleton-penned hits like “Fire Away” and “Traveller,” the record also includes a cover of George Jones’ “Tennessee Whiskey,” which became a crossover favorite after Stapleton covered the song on the CMA Awards alongside Justin Timberlake. 

Now one of the biggest names in country music, Kacey Musgraves stormed onto the scene in 2014 with "Same Trailer Different Park." Truly the best album of that year, every track on the album was co-written by Musgraves and its most successful single, “Follow Your Arrow.” 

In 2007, the Dixie Chicks became the winningest act in the Best Country Album category, with four wins to date. "Taking The Long Way" marked the band’s comeback after the fallout following Natalie Maines’ statements critical of President George W. Bush at a London concert, and the Chicks came out swinging with tracks like “Not Ready to Make Nice,” which won three Grammy Awards that year. 

Teaming up with The White Stripes’ Jack White to produce "Van Lear Rose," Loretta Lynn proved that she was as creatively and vocally sharp as ever with 2005’s Van Lear Rose. Bringing together two of music’s brightest talents, the album is arguably the best crossover record of all time. 

Now certified as one of the best-selling albums of all time, Shania Twain’s 1995 album, “The Woman in Me,” has sold more than 20 million copies across the globe. It also included smash-hits like “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under” and “Any Man of Mine” and was mostly co-written by the artist. 

The second of Johnny Cash’s American Recordings series produced by Rick Rubin, "Unchained" is a gorgeous retrospective of one of country music's most legendary careers. It features songs written by everyone from Beck to Tom Petty, alongside Cash classics like “I’ve Been Everywhere” and “Country Boy.” The Chris Cornell-penned track, “Rusty Cage,” scored Cash another Grammy nod in 1998 for Best Male Country Vocal Performance. 

Back in November, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences introduced the nominees for the 62nd annual Grammy Awards, and Tanya Tucker, Reba McEntire, Eric Church, Thomas Rhett, and the Pistol Annies are nominated. Our money's on Tucker, whose 2019 album, "While I'm Livin'," was a major critical success.