Best
Art Vinyl
The Best Art Vinyl Award is the annual search for the most creative and well-designed record cover of the year. These pages include an archive of past winners and all 50 nominations from each year.
Congratulations to the Best Art Vinyl 2025 Award Winners
Left to right:
1st – Photography by Scarlett Carlos Clarke for ‘Complicated Woman’ by Self Esteem
2nd – Photography by Cody Critcheloe (SSION) for ‘Glory’ by Perfume Genius. Art direction and design by Andrew JS at Éditions.
3rd – Artwork by Célestin Krier for ‘Songs from the Free House’ by Smote
A big thank you goes out to our judging panel for another outstanding shortlist this year and three incredible winning covers.
The first place photography by Scarlett Carlos Clarke is for Complicated Woman, the third studio album by English singer and songwriter Self Esteem (Rebecca Lucy Taylor). It was released on 25 April 2025 via Polydor. The bold image shows Self Esteem screaming, her blonde hair in braids, sporting a Crucible-style bonnet made from a man’s shirt. “It’s my nod to women being hanged for having opinions,” she says. “History has no empathy for everything women go through. I’ll always scream about that.”
The Second place photography by Cody Critcheloe (also known as Ssion) is for Glory, the seventh studio album by American musician Perfume Genius (Mike Hadreas), released on March 28 2025, through Matador Records. Critcheloe photographed the iconic cover, depicting Hadreas in a staged, domestic scene that reflects the album’s tension between private comfort and public persona. Collaborating with art director Andrew J.S. on the album’s striking cover art, Critcheloe captures visuals that evoke conflicting emotions and “competing information,” that draws inspiration from intense film scenes to create something beautiful yet unsettling.
In third place is French illustrator and graphic designer, Célestin Krier’s artwork for ‘Songs from the Free House,’ the fifth release by Smote out 17 October 2025 on Rocket Recordings. Smote, once a solo endeavour by Daniel Foggin, is now expanded to a fuller ensemble. Foggin describes the latest release as “a step in a new sonic direction.”
Krier’s cover art is part of his portfolio of work that is influenced by archaeological and antique artefacts and almost exclusively about the dark ages. He aims to bring back the mesmerising mysteries of old-world images into our present day.
Art Vinyl Founder, Andrew Heeps comments, “These winning sleeves remind us why the vinyl format still matters. When music, image and intent collide, the record becomes a canvas, an instant cultural artefact. Huge congratulations to all our 2025 winners for creating outstanding cover art that invites the owner in to study the detail and enjoy the art.”
Now in its 21st year, the Best Art Vinyl Award celebrates the best in art, photography, and graphic design within modern music culture. Our 2025 winners join an impressive Art Vinyl archive of celebrated visual artists. Notably including the Hipgnosis design studio, legendary classical Dutch artist Pieter Bruegel, as well as the many unknown, unsung heroes of the music industry, who create modern-day visual icons. Full Archives Here.
BEST ART VINYL 2025 SHORTLISTED RECORDS DETAILS AND DESIGN CREDITS
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