1981 Grammy Awards
Updated February 21, 2017 | Factmonster Staff 
| Record of the Year | “Bette Davis Eyes,” Kim Carnes | |
| Double Fantasy, John Lennon and Yoko Ono (Warner Bros/Geffen) | |
| Song of the Year | “Bette Davis Eyes,” Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon, songwriters | |
| Best New Artist | Sheena Easton | |
| Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male | Breakin Away, Al Jarreau | |
| Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female | Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music Live On Broadway, Lena Horne | |
| Best Pop Vocal Performance By a Duo or Group With Vocal | “Boy From New York City,” Manhattan Transfer | |
| Best Pop Instrumental Performance | “The Theme From Hill Street Blues,” Mike Post featuring Larry Carlton | |
| Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male | “Jessie's Girl,” Rick Springfield | |
| Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female | “Fire and Ice,” Pat Benatar | |
| Best Rock Performance By a Duo or Group With Vocal | “Don't Stand So Close to Me,” Police | |
| Best Rock Instrumental Performance | “Behind My Camel,” Police | |
| Best Rhythm and Blues Song | “Just the Two of Us,” Bill Withers, William Salter and Ralph MacDonald, songwriters | |
| Best Rhythm and Blues Performance, Male | “One Hundred Ways,” James Ingram | |
| Best Rhythm and Blues Vocal Performance, Female | “Hold On I'm Comin',” Aretha Franklin | |
| Best Rhythm and Blues Performance By a Duo or Group With Vocal | The Dude, Quincy Jones | |
| Best Rhythm and Blues Instrumental Performance | “All I Need Is You,” David Sanborn | |
| Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Male | “Blue Rondo a la Turk,” Al Jarreau | |
| Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female | Digital III at Montreux, Ella Fitzgerald | |
| Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Duo or Group | “Until I Met You” (Corner Pocket), Manhattan Transfer | |
| Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Soloist | Bye Bye Blackbird, John Coltrane | |
| Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Group | Chick Corea and Gary Burton in Concert, Zurich, October 28, 1979, Chick Corea and Gary Burton | |
| Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Big Band | Walk on the Water, Gerry Mulligan and His Orchestra | |
| Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental | Winelight, Grover Washington, Jr. | |
| Best Country Song | “9 to 5,” Dolly Parton, songwriter | |
| Best Country Vocal Performance, Male | (There's) “No Gettin' Over Me,” Ronnie Milsap | |
| Best Country Vocal Performance, Female | “9 to 5,” Dolly Parton | |
| Best Country Performance By a Duo or Group With Vocal | “Elvira,” Oak Ridge Boys | |
| Best Country Instrumental Performance | Country, After All These Years, Chet Atkins | |
| Best Gospel Performance, Contemporary or Inspirational | Priority, Imperials | |
| Best Gospel Performance, Traditional | The Masters V, J.D. Sumner, James Blackwood, Hovie Lister, Rosie Rozell and Jake Hess | |
| Best Soul Gospel Performance, Contemporary | Don't Give Up, Andrae Crouch | |
| Best Soul Gospel Performance, Traditional | The Lord Will Make a Way, Al Green | |
| Best Latin Recording | “Guajira Pa la Jeva,” Clare Fischer (Pausa) | |
| Best Inspirational Performance | Amazing Grace, B.J. Thomas | |
| Best Ethnic or Traditional Recording | There Must Be a Better World Somewhere, B.B. King (MCA) | |
| Best Arrangement of an Instrumental Recording | “Velas,” Quincy Jones and Johnny Mandel, arrangers | |
| Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s) | “Ai No Corrida,” Quincy Jones and Jerry Hey, arrangers | |
| Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices | “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square,” Gene Puerling, arranger | |
| Best Instrumental Composition | “The Theme From Hill Street Blues,” Mike Post, composer | |
| Best Cast Show Album | Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music Live on Broadway, various composers and lyricists (Qwest/Warner Bros.) | |
| Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special | Raiders of the Lost Ark, John Williams, composer (Columbia/CBS) | |
| Best Classical Album | Mahler, Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, Sir Georg Solti conducting Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus (London) | |
| Best Classical Orchestral Recording | Mahler, Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, Sir Georg Solti conducting Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus (London) | |
| Best Chamber Music Performance | Tchaikovsky, Piano Trio in A Minor, Itzhak Perlman, Lynn Harrell and Vladimir Ashkenazy | |
| Best Classical Performance, Instrumental Soloist(s) (With Orchestra) | Isaac Stern 60th Anniversary Celebration, Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman; Zubin Mehta conducting New York Philharmonic Orchestra | |
| Best Classical Performance, Instrumental Soloist(s) (Without Orchestra) | The Horowitz Concerts 1979/80, Vladimir Horowitz | |
| Best Opera Recording | Janácek, From the House of the Dead, Sir Charles Mackerras conducting Vienna Philharmonic; solos: Zahradnicek, Zitek and Zidek (London) | |
| Best Choral Performance (Other Than Opera) | Haydn, The Creation, Neville Marriner conducting Chorus of Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields | |
| Best Classical Vocal Soloist Performance | Live From Lincoln Center, Sutherland-Horne-Pavarotti, Joan Sutherland, Marilyn Horne and Luciano Pavarotti | |
| Best Comedy Recording | Rev. Du Rite, Richard Pryor (Laff) | |
| Best Spoken Word, Documentary or Drama Recording | Donovan's Brain, Orson Welles (Radiola) | |
| Best Recording for Children | Sesame Country, Muppets, Glen Campbell, Crystal Gayle, Loretta Lynn, Tanya Tucker; Jim Henson (Sesame Street) | |
| Best Album Package | Tatoo You, Peter Corriston, art director (Rolling Stones/Atlantic) | |
| Best Album Notes | Erroll Garner, Master of the Keyboard, Dan Morgenstern, annotator (Book-of-the-Month Records) | |
| Best Historical Album | Hoagy Carmichael: From “Star Dust” to “Ole Buttermilk Sky” (Book-of-the-Month Records) | |
| Video of the Year | “Michael Nesmith in Elephant Parts,” Michael Nesmith | |
| Producer of the Year (Non-Classical) | Quincy Jones | |
| Classical Producer of the Year | James Mallinson |
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