Taylor Swift Becomes First Woman to Win Album of the Year Grammy Three Times

Taylor Swift became the first woman to win the award for album of the year three times when “Folklore” triumphed in that marquee category at the Grammy Awards Sunday night.

She previously won the prize for her sophomore album, “Fearless,” in 2010, and scored again in 2016 for her fifth album, “1989.” “Folklore” is her eighth album, meaning she’s batting better than .333 for winning album of the year in her career so far.

The only previous triple winners in the category to win as artists are Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder.

Referring to how the album was made entirely in quarantine, without her even having met some of her collaborators, Swift gave a shout-out to duet partner Justin Vernon, saying, “I’m so excited to meet you someday.” Swift accept the award with her two primary cowriters and coproducers on “Folklore,” Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff, with whom she was seen performing a medley of songs from the album earlier in the telecast.

Swift won in the category after having been shut out of nominations in the division for her two previous albums, “Reputation” and “Lover.”

When she triumphed with “Fearless,” she was the youngest artist ever to win album of the year, at 20, although Billie Eilish subsequently picked it up at an even younger age last year, when she was 18.

Although Swift enters very rarefied territory as one of only four performers ever to win album of the year three times, there are a number of producers and engineer/mixers who’ve also gone down as triple winners in the category, including David Foster, Daniel Lanois, Ryan Tedder and Phil Ramone.

“Folklore” beat out albums by Dua Lipa, Post Malone, Jhene Aiko, Black Pumas, Coldplay, Jacob Collier and her friends in Haim to claim the top honor.

It was just one of two original studio albums that Swift recorded and released under quarantine conditions in 2020 with the help of producer/co-writers Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff. The “sister” album to “Folklore,” a July 2020 release, was “Evermore,” which came out in December and gives her another shot at the prize next year, as it falls into the eligibility period for the 2022 Grammys.