Which artist won the Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album in 2020?

Michelle Obama won the 2020 Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for the audiobook Becoming.

The award recognized her narration of Becoming, her 2018 memoir about growing up on Chicago’s South Side, her education and legal career, and her years as First Lady of the United States. The audiobook’s personal delivery made the story especially suited to a spoken-word category.

The 62nd Annual Grammy Awards took place on January 26, 2020, honoring recordings from the relevant eligibility period. Obama’s competitors included John Waters, whose memoir Mr. Know-It-All was nominated, along with the Beastie Boys Book team, Eric Alexandrakis, and Sekou Andrews & The String Theory.

The category’s name has changed over time and now uses the title Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording. That can cause confusion in historical quizzes, but Michelle Obama is the correct winner for the 2020 ceremony. She later won the renamed category again for The Light We Carry in 2024.