The Grammy Award for Best R&B Album is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality works on albums in the R&B music genre. Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by The Recording Academy of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position". According to the category description guide for the 54th Grammy Awards, the award is reserved for albums "containing at least 51% playing time of newly recorded contemporary R&B vocal tracks" which may also "incorporate production elements found in rap music". From 2003 to 2011, a separate category was formed, the Best Contemporary R&B Album, meant for R&B albums that had modern hip-hop stylings to them, while more traditional and less electronic-styled R&B music still fell under the Best R&B Album category. After the 2011 Grammy season, the Best Contemporary R&B Album category was discontinued and recordings that previously fell under this category were shifted back to the Best R&B Album category. This was part of a major overhaul of the Grammy Award categories. In 2020, a sister category titled Best Progressive R&B Album was debuted. The award goes to the artist, producer and engineer/mixer, provided they are credited with at least 50% of playing time on the album. A producer or engineer who are responsible for less than 50% of playing time, as well as the mastering engineer, can apply for a Winners Certificate. Alicia Keys and John Legend are the biggest recipients in this category with three wins. TLC, D'Angelo and Robert Glasper have won the award twice. Mary J. Blige holds the record for the most nominations, with six in total. In 2015, Norwegian singer Bern/hoft became the first non-American artist to be nominated.
