Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga’s Love for Sale is the 11th collaboration to receive a Grammy nomination for album of the year. It’s the third male/female collab to receive a nod, following John Lennon & Yoko Ono’s Double Fantasy and Robert Plant & Alison Krauss’ Raising Sand, both of which went on to win the award.
There’s a 60-year age gap between Bennett, 95, and Gaga, 35, the widest of any of these collabs. It surpasses the 23-year age gap between Plant and Krauss. Plant was 60 at the time of the 2008 Grammys; Krauss was 37.
Here’s a complete list of the collaborations that have received album of the year nods, working backward. All chart references are to the Billboard 200.
2021: Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga, Love for Sale. In addition to the album of the year nod, this is nominated for best traditional pop vocal album. “I Get a Kick Out of You” from the project is also up for record of the year, best pop duo/group performance and best music video. The album is 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 is the pair’s second joint album. The first, Cheek to Cheek, reached No. 1 and won a Grammy for best traditional pop vocal album (2014). Love for Sale debuted and has so far peaked at No. 8.
2008: 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 in after it swept the Grammys. The pair’s long-awaited follow-up album, Raise the Roof, debuts at No. 7 this week.
1994: 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).
1989: 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.
1987: Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris, Trio. 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. All three artists have received lifetime achievement awards from the Recording Academy. 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.
1985: 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. The album logged three weeks at No. 1 in April and May 1985.
1981: John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Double Fantasy. 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 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.”
1967: 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. Both artists have received lifetime achievement awards from the Recording Academy. 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.
1964: 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. Getz and Gilberto re-teamed for three more albums, starting with Getz/Gilberto Vol. 2 (1966).
1962: 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.
1961: 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.
