Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Song explained

The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Song was awarded between 1959 and 1971. The award had several minor name changes:

• In 1959 the award was known as Best Performance by a "Top 40" Artist
• In 1961 it was awarded as Best Performance by a Pop Single Artist
• From 1962 to 1965 it was awarded as Best Rock & Roll Recording
• In 1966 it was awarded as Contemporary (R&R) Single
• In 1967 it was awarded as Best Contemporary (R&R) Recording
• In 1968 it was awarded as Best Contemporary Single
• From 1970 to 1971 it was awarded as Best Contemporary Song

Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were presented, for works released in the previous year.

Awards from 1959 to 1968

Year	Musician	Contemporary Song	Ref
1959	Nat King Cole	"Midnight Flyer"	^[1]
	Elvis Presley	"A Big Hunk o' Love"
	The Coasters	"Charlie Brown"
	Floyd Robinson	"Makin' Love"
	Neil Sedaka	"The Diary"
1961	Ray Charles	"Georgia on My Mind"	^[2]
	Ella Fitzgerald	"Mack the Knife"
	Elvis Presley	"Are You Lonesome Tonight?"
	Frank Sinatra	"Nice 'N' Easy"
	Peggy Lee	"Heart"
1962	Chubby Checker	"Let's Twist Again"	^[3]
	Chris Kenner	"I Like It Like That"
	Ike & Tina Turner	"It's Gonna Work Out Fine"
	James Darren	"Goodbye Cruel World"
	The Tokens	"The Lion Sleeps Tonight"
1963	Bent Fabric	"Alley Cat"	^[4]
	Mary Wells	"You Beat Me to the Punch"
	Neil Sedaka	"Breaking Up Is Hard to Do"
	Sam Cooke	"Twistin' the Night Away"
	The Drifters	"Up on the Roof"
	The Four Seasons	"Big Girls Don't Cry"
1964	April Stevens & Nino Tempo	"Deep Purple"	^[5]
	Chet Atkins	"Teen Scene"
	Lesley Gore	"It's My Party"
	Peggy March	"I Will Follow Him"
	Ruby & the Romantics	"Our Day Will Come"
1965	Petula Clark	"Downtown"	^[6]
	Bobby Vinton	"Mr. Lonely"
	Roy Orbison	"Oh, Pretty Woman"
	The Beatles	"A Hard Day's Night"
	The Righteous Brothers	"You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'"
1966	Roger Miller	"King of the Road"	^[7]
	Glenn Yarbrough	"Baby the Rain Must Fall"
	Jackie DeShannon	"What the World Needs Now Is Love"
	The Beatles	"Yesterday"
	Tom Jones	"It's Not Unusual"
1967	New Vaudeville Band	"Winchester Cathedral"	^[8]
	The Association	"Cherish"
	The Beach Boys	"Good Vibrations"
	The Beatles	"Eleanor Rigby"
	The Mamas & the Papas	"Monday, Monday"
	The Monkees	"Last Train to Clarksville"
1968	The 5th Dimension, Johnny Rivers and Marc Gordon (producers)	"Up, Up and Away"	^[9]
	Bobbie Gentry and Kelly Gordon (producers)	"Ode to Billie Joe"
	Glen Campbell and Al De Lory (producers)	"By the Time I Get to Phoenix"
	Petula Clark and Tony Hatch (producers)	"Don't Sleep in the Subway"
	Ray Charles and Joe Adams (producers)	"Yesterday"

Awards in 1970 and 1971

Year	Songwriter	Performer	Contemporary Song	Ref
1970	Joe South	Joe South	"Games People Play"	^[10]
	David Clayton-Thomas	Blood, Sweat & Tears	"Spinning Wheel"
	Hal David and Burt Bacharach	B. J. Thomas	"Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head"
	Mac Davis	Elvis Presley	"In the Ghetto"
	Rod McKuen	Oliver	"Jean"
1971	Paul Simon	Simon & Garfunkel	"Bridge over Troubled Water"	^[11]
	James Taylor	James Taylor	"Fire and Rain"
	John Lennon and Paul McCartney	The Beatles	"Let It Be"
	Paul Williams and Roger Nichols	The Carpenters	"We've Only Just Begun"
	Ray Stevens	Ray Stevens	"Everything Is Beautiful"

Notes and References

1. Web site: Grammy Awards 1959 . Grammy .
2. Web site: Grammy Awards 1961 . Grammy .
3. Web site: Grammy Awards 1962 . Grammy . 2016-02-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160602005611/http://www.awardsandshows.com/features/grammy-awards-1962-214.html . 2016-06-02 . dead .
4. Web site: Grammy Awards 1963 . Grammy . 2016-02-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161207105152/http://www.awardsandshows.com/features/grammy-awards-1963-215.html . 2016-12-07 . dead .
5. Web site: Grammy Awards 1964 . Grammy .
6. Web site: Grammy Awards 1965 . Grammy .
7. Web site: Grammy Awards 1966 . Grammy .
8. Web site: Grammy Awards 1967 . Grammy .
9. Web site: Grammy Awards 1968 . Grammy .
10. Web site: Grammy Awards 1970 . Grammy .
11. Web site: Grammy Awards 1971 . Grammy .