As Music's Biggest Night, the GRAMMYs honor the year's most masterful musical contributions — and oftentimes, that includes those from the movies.

Of course, the GRAMMYs annually award four Categories dedicated to Hollywood: Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media, Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media (Includes Film And Television), Best Song Written For Visual Media, and Best Music Film. But every now and then, a movie soundtrack is so special that it earns the biggest recognition of the night: Album Of The Year.

Only 15 have ever been nominated for the coveted accolade over the course of the GRAMMYs' 67 years, and only three have ever been called as the winner. In fact, it took 21 ceremonies for a soundtrack to emerge victorious. And proving just how rare the nomination is, only one film has earned an AOTY nod this century.

There's no guaranteed formula, either. While the all-singing, all-dancing musical has inevitably spawned its fair share of nominees, the Category has also recognized everything from romantic comedies and rural satires to space operas and superhero favorites. Here's a closer look at this exclusive cinematic club.

Composed by Henry Mancini, Breakfast at Tiffany's was one of two film soundtracks to receive an AOTY nod in 1962. Although it lost to Judy Garland's seminal recording at Carnegie Hall, the classic rom-com didn't go home empty-handed. It won Best Sound Track Album Or Recording Of Score From Motion Picture Or Television and the short-lived Best Performance By An Orchestra – For Other Than Dancing.

"Moon River," meanwhile, picked up Best Arrangement and both Song and Record Of The Year. Remarkably, a Paramount Pictures exec had wanted to cut the swoonsome jazz ballad from the film before leading lady Audrey Hepburn reportedly remarked, "Over my dead body."

'West Side Story' (1962) 

From the patriotic showstopper "America" and balcony love song "Tonight" to the self-empowering anthem "I Feel Pretty" and wistful ballad "Somewhere," the West Side Story soundtrack spawned some of the most enduring songs of the early '60s. But even the dream team of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim couldn't wrestle the AOTY GRAMMY away from Judy Garland. Still, the Broadway maestros — and the producers who helped bring their showtunes from the stage to the silver screen — were able to console themselves with victories in Best Sound Track Album or Recording of Original Cast From a Motion Picture or Television, an Oscar, and a 54-week stint atop the Billboard 200.

'The Pink Panther' (1965) 

The Pink Panther's musical legacy extended beyond Plas Johnson's brilliantly playful tenor sax. As well as the main theme (which earned a Best Pop Instrumental Performance GRAMMY nomination and became a Top 10 Billboard Adult Contemporarychart hit), its original soundtrack also spawned the standard "It Had Better Be Tonight," bagged anOscar nod, and in 2001 entered the GRAMMY Hall of Fame. Henry Mancini's blend of lounge, noirish jazz and Latin even graced the Album Of The Year category in 1965, but lost out to the eponymous collaboration betweenStan Getz andJoão Gilberto.

A year after Mary Poppins won the Best Recording For Children GRAMMY, Julie Andrews again found herself at the center of the music industry's flagship event. Unfortunately, the national treasure (who voiced most of The Sound of Music OST as free-spirited nun Maria) didn't get to make an acceptance speech; Frank Sinatra's September of My Years was crowned AOTY.

Even so, the soundtrack — which adapted showtunes including yodel-heavy "The Lonely Goatherd," musical lesson "Do-Re-Mi," and holiday favorite "My Favorite Things" from the same-named Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway hit — was still nothing short of a phenomenon, spending a colossal 238 weeks on the Billboard 200.

'Doctor Zhivago' (1967) 

Sinatra also denied another film soundtrack, Doctor Zhivago, the coveted AOTY award a year later with re-recorded hits collection A Man And His Music. Maurice Jarre's score to the Russian Civil War epic also lost out in the one-off Best Instrumental Performance (Other Than Jazz) Category, but did reign supreme in Best Original Score Written For A Motion Picture Or Television Show.

Best known for its leitmotif "Lara's Theme," Jarre's homage to the classical romanticism of Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky was reportedly only finished eight days before its December 1965 premiere. In stark contrast to its last-minute inception, the soundtrack took over a year to reach the top of the Billboard 200.

The force was undoubtedly strong with John Williams' iconic contribution to the original, and many would say best, entry in the Star Wars franchise. His contemporary classical soundtrack won both Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media and Best Pop Instrumental Composition, while its lightsaber-friendly "Main Title," a Top 10 hit in both original symphonic form and Meco's space disco cover, was crowned Best Instrumental Composition. Williams had to settle for just a nomination in the Album Of The Year Category, though, as another record steeped in even more high drama, Fleetwood Mac's Rumors, was handed the major prize instead.

It took a trio of famously hirsute, falsetto-voiced brothers for a soundtrack to finally win AOTY. The Bee Gees wrote all seven of Saturday Night Fever's originals, and apart from Yvonne Elliman's "If I Can't Have You," performed them, too.

Encapsulating the joys of New York nightlife during the height of disco — and in particular, the escapism it afforded John Travolta's Tony Manero — the soundtrack also helped spawn three more wins at the 1979 GRAMMYs. The album itself won Best Pop Vocal Performance By A Duo Or Group; its signature Bee Gees smash "Stayin' Alive" was awarded Best Arrangement of Voices; and the masterful production team ofthe Bee Gees, Albhy Galuten, and Karl Richardson shared Producer Of The Year. Remarkably, the 40-million seller didn't get a single look in at the Oscars.

While Travolta only danced to the AOTY winner of 1979, he frequently performed on a fellow nominee. Despite blatantly looking (and being) far too old to play high schoolers, he and Olivia Newton-John stole the show as the loved-up leads in Grease — particularly with catchy originals like "Summer Nights," "You're the One That I Want," and the Oscar-nominated "Hopelessly Devoted to You."

Even with Frankie Avalon, Frankie Valli, rock and roll revivalistsSha-Na-Na, and eldest Gibb brother Barry all playing part in the film's monumental success, Grease was ultimately denied GRAMMY glory. But as the film's tagline went, "It don't matter if you win or lose, it's what you do with your dancin' shoes."

Only Michael Jackson's Thriller received more 1984 GRAMMY nominations than the soundtrack to Flashdance, a dancing welder drama that harnessed MTV's power like no film before.

Flashdance earned nine nominations in total, including a nod for Song Of The Year (Michael Sembello's "Maniac") and two for Record Of The Year ("Maniac" and Irene Cara's "Flashdance... What A Feeling"). Cara's Oscar-winningsix-week chart-topper helped her secure the win for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female; Giorgio Moroderpicked up a golden gramophone thanks to "Love Theme," which claimed Best Instrumental Composition. And while Album Of The Year inevitably went to the blockbuster Thriller, the Flashdance composers — including Cara, Moroder, Sembello, and Kim Carnes — still tasted victory thanks to Best Album Of Original Score Written For A Motion Picture Or A Television Special.

'Purple Rain' (1985)

Prince had become so dominant by 1985 that he'd have beaten Ronald Reagan to the U.S. Presidency (according to Billboard, anyway). It was undeniably Purple Rain, the soundtrack to his same-named film debut that spent 24 weeks atop the Billboard 200, that inspired such talk.

Its ambitious blend of pop, psychedelia and power ballads also spawned No. 1 singles "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy" and won the Original Song Score Oscar alongside GRAMMYs for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal and Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media. When it came to AOTY, though, Prince's magnum opus was defeated by Lionel Richie's Can't Slow Down.

'Beauty and the Beast' (1993)

Four years before Falling Into You was crowned AOTY, Celine Dion first enjoyed success as a contributor to the Disney Renaissance. Alongside Peabo Bryson, the diva lent her unmistakable vocals to Beauty and the Beast's title track, which earned Best Song Written For Visual Media and Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals (the alternative version also picked up Best Instrumental Composition Written For A Motion Picture Or For Television) at the 1993 GRAMMYs.

Meanwhile, the parent album received Best Album For Children and became the first ever soundtrack from an animated movie to earn a nod for AOTY. Sadly, Eric Clapton's Unplugged spoiled the fairytale ending.

'The Bodyguard' (1994)

Whitney Houston had twice received AOTY nominations for her previous self-titled LPs before 1994, but finally won the coveted golden gramophone that year thanks to an unlikely combination of Dolly Parton, Kevin Costner and Michelle Visage.

Parton had written "I Always Love You," the country number Houston transformed into a blockbuster pop ballad that won both Record Of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female at the 1994 GRAMMYs. Costner had personally vouched for an untested Houston during the casting of the 1992 thriller. Visage contributed to the film's soundtrack as a member of The S.O.U.L. S.Y.S.T.E.M.

Joe Cocker, Kenny G, Sass Jordan, Aaron Neville, Alvin Silvestri, Lisa Stansfield, and Curtis Stigers also featured on the album. But it was undoubtedly Houston's six numbers, including other GRAMMY nominees "Run to You" and "I'm Every Woman," that propeled The Bodyguard into the record books.

'Waiting to Exhale' (1997) 

Another Houston-led soundtrack looked like conquering the 1997 GRAMMYs when Waiting to Exhale picked up 11 nominations. Yet it only walked away with Best R&B Song for "Exhale (Shoop, Shoop)," which, alongside Toni Braxton's "Let It Flow," also topped the Billboard Hot 100.

Still, the Babyface-produced album serves as a fine time capsule of '90s R&B, with GRAMMY-nominated hits from Brandy ("Sittin' Up in My Room") and Mary J. Blige ("Not Gon' Cry") joining cuts from TLC, Faith Evans and SWV. The inspired inclusion of Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle and Chaka Khan, however, saw the romantic dramedy — in which Houston played unlucky-in-love TV producer Vannah — honoring the genre's pioneers, too.

'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' (2002) 

Boasting names contemporary (Alison Krauss) and classic (Harry McClintock), O Brother Where Art Thou? essentially served as a beginner's guide to bluegrass. Produced by T Bone Burnett, its traditionals and new recordings certainly imbued the Coen brothers' satire with a musical authenticity.

Indeed, even if the Soggy Bottom Boys were only lip-syncing to the professionals, GRAMMY-winning songs such asRalph Stanley's "O' Death" (Best Male Country Vocal Performance) and "I Am A Man of Constant Sorrow" (Best Country Collaboration with Vocals) fit perfectly with the 1930s American South setting. The Billboard 200 chart-topperalso defeated India.Arie, Bob Dylan,OutKast, andU2 to become only the third soundtrack to scoop AOTY to date.

Kendrick Lamar was supposed to only make a few contributions to MCU game-changer Black Panther, but was left so compelled by early footage he insisted on delivering a full-length album. The Super Bowl half-timer subsequently assembled his own Avengers-esque team including Jay Rock, Future and James Blake on the Best Rap Performance GRAMMY-winning "King's Dead" and SZA on the Record and Song Of The Year-nominated "All the Stars."

The Billboard 200 chart-topper also won an award itself, Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media, but was denied AOTY by Kacey Musgraves' Golden Hour. Despite the Category's permanent extension from five to eight-10 entries, however, no other soundtrack has been recognized since.

Notable Song & Record Of The Year Winners

As several films have proven, you don't need an Album Of The Year contender to score a major nomination. Many soundtrack hits have been nominated for Song and Record Of The Year — and several have won.

Alongside the previously mentioned cuts from Breakfast at Tiffany's and The Bodyguard, ROTY winners have emerged from A Summer Place (Percy Faith's "Theme from a Summer Place"), Days of Wine and Roses (Hency Mancini's title track), Beaches (Bette Midler's "Wind Beneath My Wings"), and Titanic (Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On").

Song Of The Year, meanwhile, has a long list of triumphant movie tie-ins kickstarted in 1961 by Ernest Gold's "Theme of Exodus." The '70s was a particularly prolific period thanks to the title tracks from The Shadow of Your Smile, You Light Up My Life, and The Way We Were, with the latter's Barbra Streisand also responsible for A Star Is Born's winner "Evergreen." Animated favorites An American Tail ("Somewhere Out There") and Aladdin ("A Whole New World") alongside Philadelphia (Bruce Springsteen's "Streets of Philadelphia") helped continue the trend in the '80s and '90s. The only 21st century example, however, is Billie Eilish's Barbie ballad "What Was I Made For?" — that is, for now.