Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year

The Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year is presented annually at Canada's Juno Awards to honour the best album of the year in the alternative rock and/or indie rock genres. The award was first presented in 1995 under the name Best Alternative Album, and adopted its current name in 2003.

Achievements

Arcade Fire and July Talk have won the award three times to date, while Broken Social Scene, Metric, Alvvays and Rufus Wainwright have won the award twice each. In addition to Broken Social Scene's wins as a band, three members have also won the award for separate projects — Emily Haines and James Shaw have also won the award twice with their band Metric, and Leslie Feist has won for a solo album. Arcade Fire have been nominated for the award four times overall, while July Talk, Broken Social Scene, Metric, Alvvays, Stars, Chad VanGaalen, and Tegan and Sara have received three nominations each.

Only two French-language albums have ever been nominated (Malajube's Trompe-l'œil and Karkwa's Les Chemins de verre) and none has ever won.

Recipients

Best Alternative Album (1995–2002)

Year	Winner(s)	Album	Nominees
1995	Rose Chronicles	Shiver	Smilin' Buddha Cabaret – 54-40 Forever Again – Eric's Trip Project Twinkle – King Cobb Steelie Naveed – Our Lady Peace Twice Removed – Sloan
1996	Art Bergmann	What Fresh Hell Is This?	Somebody Spoke – The Hardship Post Kombinator – The Inbreds Fluke – Rusty Mock Up, Scale Down – The Super Friendz
1997	Sloan	One Chord to Another	Purple Blue – Eric's Trip It's Sydney or the Bush – The Inbreds Limblifter – Limblifter Self Title – Treble Charger
1998	Bran Van 3000	Glee	Love Story – Copyright Stuff – Holly McNarland Get Outta Dodge – Huevos Rancheros Maybe It's Me – Treble Charger
1999	Rufus Wainwright	Rufus Wainwright	Bring Yourself Up – Bodega BTK – BTK Breath from Another – Esthero The Closer I Get – Hayden
2000	Julie Doiron and Wooden Stars	Julie Doiron and the Wooden Stars	My Love Is Bold – Danko Jones You Can't Stop the Bum Rush – Len Clayton Park – Thrush Hermit Sometimes I Cry – Tricky Woo
2001	The New Pornographers	Mass Romantic	Carpal Tunnel Syndrome – Kid Koala Mayday – King Cobb Steelie The East Infection – Ramasutra Left and Leaving – The Weakerthans
2002	Rufus Wainwright	Poses	Constantines – Constantines (Last Night We Were) The Delicious Wolves – Hawksley Workman Down at the Khyber – Joel Plaskett Emergency Night of the Shooting Stars – Rheostatics

Alternative Album of the Year (2003–present)

Year	Winner(s)	Album	Nominees
2003	Broken Social Scene	You Forgot It in People	Square – Buck 65 Make Up the Breakdown – Hot Hot Heat The New Deal – The New Deal Alone at the Microphone – Royal City
2004	Buck 65	Talkin' Honky Blues	Shine a Light – Constantines Truthfully Truthfully – Joel Plaskett Heart – Stars Reconstruction Site – The Weakerthans
2005	Feist	Let It Die	The Slow Wonder – A.C. Newman Funeral – Arcade Fire Now, More Than Ever – Jim Guthrie Set Yourself on Fire – Stars
2006	Broken Social Scene	Broken Social Scene	Elevator – Hot Hot Heat Live It Out – Metric Twin Cinema – The New Pornographers So Jealous – Tegan and Sara
2007	City and Colour	Sometimes	Skelliconnection – Chad VanGaalen Return to the Sea – Islands Trompe-l'œil – Malajube Not Saying/Just Saying – Shout Out Out Out Out
2008	Arcade Fire	Neon Bible	LP – Holy Fuck Close to Paradise – Patrick Watson The Con – Tegan and Sara Welcome to the Night Sky – Wintersleep
2009	The Stills	Oceans Will Rise	In the Future – Black Mountain Soft Airplane – Chad VanGaalen The Chemistry of Common Life – Fucked Up Parc Avenue – Plants and Animals
2010	Metric	Fantasies	Face Control – Handsome Furs Post-Nothing – Japandroids I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day – Julie Doiron Sainthood – Tegan and Sara
2011	Arcade Fire	The Suburbs	Forgiveness Rock Record – Broken Social Scene Les Chemins de verre – Karkwa Heartland – Owen Pallett Champ – Tokyo Police Club
2012	Dan Mangan	Oh Fortune	Native Speaker – Braids Kaputt – Destroyer David Comes to Life – Fucked Up Creep on Creepin' On – Timber Timbre
2013	Metric	Synthetica	Hannah Georgas – Hannah Georgas Celebration Rock – Japandroids Little Mountain – Said the Whale The North – Stars
2014	Arcade Fire	Reflektor	The Poet's Dead – Rah Rah Today We're Believers – Royal Canoe Warring – The Darcys UZU – Yamantaka // Sonic Titan
2015	July Talk	July Talk	Alvvays – Alvvays Shrink Dust – Chad VanGaalen Animism – Tanya Tagaq Hot Dreams – Timber Timbre
2016	BRAIDS	Deep in the Iris	Poison Season – Destroyer Are You Alone? – Majical Cloudz Half Free – U.S. Girls Viet Cong – Viet Cong
2017	July Talk	Touch	IV – Black Mountain Sore – Dilly Dally Art Angels – Grimes Weaves – Weaves
2018	Alvvays	Antisocialites	Everything Now – Arcade Fire Life After Youth – Land of Talk Retribution – Tanya Tagaq Wide Open – Weaves
2019	Dizzy	Baby Teeth	Ken – Destroyer Dose Your Dreams – Fucked Up TPC – Tokyo Police Club In a Poem Unlimited – U.S. Girls
2020	PUP	Morbid Stuff	Destroyer – Black Mountain Foxwarren – Foxwarren Here Comes the Cowboy – Mac DeMarco Pony – Orville Peck
2021	July Talk	Pray for It	Heavy Light — U.S. Girls Pity Party — Curtis Waters The Sun and Her Scorch — Dizzy This Place Sucks Ass — PUP
2022	Mustafa	When Smoke Rises	Death of an Optimist — Grandson The Fool — SATE Hope for Sale — Chiiild If It Comes Down to It — Ruby Waters
2023	Alvvays	Blue Rev	Duality — Luna Li Sewn Back Together — OMBIIGIZI Tongues — Tanya Tagaq The Unraveling of PUPTheBand — PUP
2024	Aysanabee	Here and Now	Dizzy, Dizzy Leith Ross, To Learn Softcult, See You in the Dark TALK, Lord of the Flies & Birds & Bees

References

"Best Alternative Album: Yearly summary: 1995". JunoAward.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
"Best Alternative Album: Yearly summary: 1996". JunoAward.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
"Best Alternative Album: Yearly summary: 1997". JunoAward.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
"Best Alternative Album: Yearly summary: 1998". JunoAward.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
"Best Alternative Album: Yearly summary: 1999". JunoAward.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
"Best Alternative Album: Yearly summary: 2000". JunoAward.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
"Best Alternative Album: Yearly summary: 2001". JunoAward.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
"Best Alternative Album: Yearly summary: 2002". JunoAward.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
"Yearly summary: 2003". JunoAwards.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
"Yearly summary: 2004". JunoAwards.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
"Yearly summary: 2005". JunoAwards.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
"Yearly summary: 2006". JunoAwards.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
"Yearly summary: 2007". JunoAwards.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
"Yearly summary: 2008". JunoAwards.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
"Yearly summary: 2009". JunoAwards.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
"Yearly summary: 2010". JunoAwards.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
"Yearly summary: 2011". JunoAwards.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
"Yearly summary: 2012". JunoAwards.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
"Yearly summary: 2013". JunoAwards.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
"Yearly summary: 2014". JunoAwards.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
"Yearly summary: 2015". JunoAwards.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
"Juno Awards: Drake, The Weeknd and Shawn Mendes Lead With Five Noms Each". The Hollywood Reporter, February 8, 2017.
"Arcade Fire and Daniel Caesar lead 2018 Juno Award nominations" Archived 2018-02-08 at the Wayback Machine. CBC Music, February 6, 2018.
"Shawn Mendes and the Weeknd lead the 2019 Juno nominations". CBC Music, January 29, 2019.
Melody Lau, "Alessia Cara and Tory Lanez lead the 2020 Juno nominations". CBC Music, January 28, 2020.
Holly Gordon and Andrea Warner, "Here are the 2021 Juno Award winners". CBC Music, June 4, 2021.
Holly Gordon, "Here are all the 2022 Juno Award winners". CBC Music, May 14, 2022.
Jenna Benchetrit and Arti Patel, "The Weeknd picks up 4 wins on Junos 2023 opening night". CBC News, March 11, 2023.
"Junos 2024: full list of winners". CBC Music, March 23, 2024.

v t e Juno Awards
Awards to individuals	Artist of the Year Fan Choice Group of the Year Breakthrough Artist of the Year Breakthrough Group of the Year Producer Recording Engineer Songwriter
Awards for recordings	Album of the Year Adult Alternative Adult Contemporary Alternative Blues Children's Comedy Classical – Large Ensemble Classical – Small Ensemble Classical – Solo Classical Composition CCM/Gospel Contemporary Indigenous Artist Contemporary R&B/Soul Contemporary Roots Country Dance Electronic Francophone Global Music Heavy Metal Instrumental International Jazz – Solo Jazz – Group Jazz – Vocal Pop Rap Album/EP Rap Single Reggae Rock Single of the Year Traditional Indigenous Artist Traditional R&B/Soul Traditional Roots Underground Dance
Awards for technicality	Music DVD Recording Package Video
Discontinued categories	Classical Album of the Year (1977–1985) Classical – Solo or Chamber Ensemble (1985–2021) Classical – Vocal or Choral Performance (1994–2021) Indigenous Artist or Group (1994–2021) Jazz Album (1977–1993) Jazz – Contemporary (1994–2014) Jazz – Traditional (1994–2014) Rap Recording (1991–2021) R&B/Soul Recording (1985–2020) Roots and Traditional Album (1989–1995) Roots & Traditional Album – Solo (1996–2015) Roots & Traditional Album – Group (1996–2015)
Special awards	Canadian Music Hall of Fame Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award Juno Humanitarian Award
Years	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Leadership	Walt Grealis Stan Klees Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
Notes	Due to the rescheduling of the ceremony from late fall to early spring, no ceremony was held in 1988.
See also Music of Canada Polaris Music Prize Much Music Video Awards Félix Awards East Coast Music Awards Western Canadian Music Awards

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