Music fans have short memories, usually. But if you bring up the album of the year 2017 nominations at a dive bar or on a music forum today, someone is going to get heated. It was one of those years where the Recording Academy didn't just pick a winner; they drew a line in the sand. On one side, you had Adele’s 25, a vocal powerhouse that felt like a warm, safe hug for the entire planet. On the other, you had Beyoncé’s Lemonade, a visual and sonic manifesto that felt like a revolution.
It was tense.
The Grammys have a history of playing it safe, but 2017 felt like a breaking point for their credibility. When the nominations were announced on December 6, 2016, for the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, the list looked like a battleground. You had the commercial titans, the critical darlings, and that one "wait, who?" pick that always keeps things weird. Looking back, those five albums tell the story of a music industry in total flux, caught between the old world of CD sales and the new world of streaming dominance.
The Big Five: A Breakdown of the 2017 Class
Let's look at the actual lineup. It wasn't just Adele and Bey. The full list for album of the year 2017 nominations included 25 by Adele, Lemonade by Beyoncé, Purpose by Justin Bieber, Views by Drake, and A Sailor's Guide to Earth by Sturgill Simpson.
Sturgill was the wild card. Honestly, most casual pop fans had no clue who he was when his name flashed on the screen. He was the "alt-country" guy who didn't sound like Nashville radio. His album was soulful, brassy, and weirdly experimental. It was the "integrity" pick. Meanwhile, Drake and Bieber were the streaming giants. Views was basically inescapable that year. You couldn't walk into a grocery store without hearing "One Dance," and Purpose was the project that finally made it okay for "serious" music critics to admit they actually liked Justin Bieber.
But really, everyone knew this was a two-horse race.
Adele’s 25 was a juggernaut. It sold 3.38 million copies in its first week in the US alone. That is a number that feels fake in the Spotify era, but she did it. It was the definition of a "Grammy Album." It was well-produced, technically flawless, and appealed to your grandma and your teenage cousin at the same time. Then there was Lemonade. Beyoncé didn't just drop an album; she dropped a cultural event. It tackled infidelity, Black womanhood, and American history. It was messy, beautiful, and genre-bending. When the nominations came out, the narrative was already set: Traditionalism vs. Innovation.
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Why the Industry Still Argues About These Picks
The controversy wasn't about who got nominated, really. It was about who won. But to understand the win, you have to look at the landscape of the album of the year 2017 nominations as a whole.
The Academy has a demographic problem. We know this. The voting body tends to lean older and more traditional. That's why a record like 25—which felt like a throwback to the mega-records of the 90s—was always going to have an edge over Lemonade. Lemonade was "scary" to some voters. It was political. It was experimental. It used rock, country, avant-garde pop, and hip-hop.
There’s a nuance here people miss.
Adele herself knew it. When she eventually won, she spent a good chunk of her acceptance speech crying and telling the world that Beyoncé deserved it. "I can’t possibly accept this award," she said. It was awkward. It was heartfelt. It was a rare moment of a winner acknowledging that the system might be broken. This wasn't just about "who is better." It was about what the Grammys represent. By choosing Adele over Beyoncé, the Academy basically said they value craft and sales over cultural impact and boundary-pushing.
The Snubs That Nobody Remembers
Everyone talks about the five that made it, but the ones that didn't make the album of the year 2017 nominations list are just as interesting.
David Bowie’s Blackstar was right there.
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Bowie died just days after the album was released. It was a masterpiece of jazz-rock and a haunting meditation on death. It won in every other category it was up for, but it didn't get the big one. Why? Some say the Academy doesn't like to give "legacy" awards in the top category, but that’s a weak excuse considering their history. Then you had Frank Ocean’s Blonde. Frank famously didn't even submit his album for consideration. He called the Grammys "nostalgic" and out of touch. He wasn't wrong. By pulling himself out of the running, he highlighted the growing rift between the artists who define the culture and the institutions that claim to reward them.
Then there was The Life of Pablo by Kanye West. Say what you want about Kanye now, but in 2016/2017, that album was a chaotic masterpiece of "living" art. It was constantly being updated on streaming services. It didn't fit the Academy's "finished product" box.
The Math Behind the Music
If you look at the stats, the 2017 race was lopsided.
Adele's 25 was the top-selling album of 2015 and 2016. It was a statistical anomaly. Drake's Views was the king of the "Album Equivalent Unit," a metric that counts streams as sales. It stayed at number one on the Billboard 200 for 13 non-consecutive weeks. Bieber's Purpose gave him three number-one singles. From a purely commercial standpoint, these were the correct nominations.
But music isn't math.
The Grammy's job—theoretically—is to honor artistic excellence. When you put Sturgill Simpson next to Justin Bieber, you're trying to compare a hand-crafted wooden chair to a high-tech gaming throne. They both serve a purpose, but they aren't trying to do the same thing. The 2017 list felt like the Academy trying to be everything to everyone and failing to satisfy anyone.
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How to Evaluate the 2017 Field Today
If you're trying to dive back into these albums or settle an argument about who should have won, you have to look at longevity.
- Listen to the "Deep Cuts." Don't just play "Hello" or "Formation." Go listen to Adele's "River Lea" or Beyoncé's "All Night." That's where the real artistry shows.
- Consider the Production. Views sounds like 2016 in a bottle. It’s "the 6" sound. Lemonade sounds like it could have come out yesterday or twenty years from now.
- Watch the Visuals. You can't separate the album of the year 2017 nominations from their visual components. Beyoncé's film changed how we think about music videos. Adele's simplicity was her strength.
- The Sturgill Factor. If you haven't heard A Sailor's Guide to Earth, do it. It’s a concept album written as a letter to his son. It’s the most "human" record on the list.
The 2017 Grammys were a turning point. They led to major changes in how the voting committees are formed and how diversity is handled within the Academy. It was the year the "old guard" won the battle, but arguably lost the war for relevance among younger, more diverse audiences.
Looking back at these nominations isn't just a trip down memory lane. It's a look at the gears of the music industry grinding together. We saw the peak of the "blockbuster" era and the beginning of the "curated" era. Whether you think Adele deserved the sweep or Beyoncé was robbed, the 2017 race remains the most significant musical debate of the late 2010s.
To really understand the impact, go back and play Lemonade and 25 back-to-back. The contrast is startling. One is an internal dialogue of a woman finding herself; the other is an external projection of a woman expressing universal grief. Both are valid. Both are icons. But only one could take home the gramophone, and that decision changed the Grammys forever.
Next Steps for Music Buffs:
- Audit the Credits: Check the producer lists for Lemonade vs. 25. You’ll see a massive difference in the number of collaborators, which often influences Grammy voters who prefer "singular" visions.
- Track the Evolution: Listen to Adele’s 30 and Beyoncé’s Renaissance to see how both artists responded to the 2017 outcome in their subsequent work.
- Check the Snubs: Dive into David Bowie’s Blackstar and Radiohead’s A Moon Shaped Pool—two albums that many critics believe should have bumped Bieber or Drake from that 2017 list.