The 38th Grammy Awards were held in 1996. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year.

Award winners:

• Record of the Year
  • Trevor Horn (producer) & Seal for "Kiss From a Rose"

• Album of the Year
  • Glen Ballard (producer) & Alanis Morissette for Jagged Little Pill

• Song of the Year
  • Seal (songwriter) for "Kiss From a Rose"

• Best New Artist
  • Hootie & the Blowfish

Alternative

• Best Alternative Music Performance
  • Nirvana for MTV Unplugged in New York

Blues

• Best Traditional Blues Album
  • John Lee Hooker for Chill Out
• Best Contemporary Blues Album
  • Buddy Guy for Slippin' In

Children's

• Best Musical Album for Children
  • J. Aaron Brown , David R. Lehman (producers) & Barbara Bailey Hutchison for Sleepy Time Lullabys
• Best Spoken Word Album for Children
  • Dan Broatman , Martin Sauer (producers) & Patrick Stewart for Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf

Classical

• Best Orchestral Performance
  • Pierre Boulez (conductor) & the Cleveland Orchestra for Debussy: La Mer
• Best Classical Vocal Performance
  • Christopher Hogwood (conductor), Sylvia McNair & the Academy of Ancient Music for The Echoing Air - The Music of Henry Purcell
• Best Opera Recording
  • Raymond Minshull (producer), Charles Dutoit (conductor), Gary Lakes , Francoise Pollet , Gino Quilico , Deborah Voigt & L'Orchestra Symphonie Montreal & Chorus for Berlioz: Les Troyens
• Best Choral Performance
  • Herbert Blomstedt (conductor), Vance George (choir director) & the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra & Chorus for Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem
• Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra)
  • Seiji Ozawa (conductor), Itzhak Perlman & the Boston Symphony Orchestra for The American Album - Works of Bernstein, Barber, Foss
• Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra)
  • Radu Lupu for Schubert: Piano Sonatas (B Flat Major and A Major)
• Best Chamber Music Performance
  • Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma & Richard Stoltzman for Brahms/Beethoven/Mozart: Clarinet Trios
• Best Classical Contemporary Composition
  • Olivier Messiaen (composer) & Myung-Whun Chung (conductor) for Messiaen: Concert a Quatre
• Best Classical Album
  • Karl-August Naegler (producer), Pierre Boulez (conductor) & the Cleveland Orchestra & Chorus for Debussy: La Mer; Nocturnes; Jeux

Composing and arranging

• Best Instrumental Composition
  • Bill Holman (composer) for "A View From the Side" performed by The Bill Holman Band
• Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television
  • Alan Menken & Stephen Schwartz (songwriters) for "Colors of the Wind" performed by Judy Kuhn & Vanessa Williams
• Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television
  • Hans Zimmer (composer) for Crimson Tide
• Best Instrumental Arrangement
  • Robert Farnon (arranger) for "Lament" performed by J. J. Johnson & the Robert Farnon Orchestra
• Best Instrumental Arrangement with Accompanying Vocal(s)
  • Rob McConnell (arranger) for "I Get a Kick Out of You" performed by Mel Tormé with Rob McConnell & The Boss Brass

Country

• Best Female Country Vocal Performance
  • Alison Krauss for "Baby, Now That I've Found You"
• Best Male Country Vocal Performance
  • Vince Gill for "Go Rest High on That Mountain"
• Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
  • The Mavericks for "Here Comes the Rain"
• Best Country Collaboration with Vocals
  • Alison Krauss & Shenandoah for "Somewhere in the Vicinity of the Heart"
• Best Country Instrumental Performance
  • Asleep at the Wheel, Béla Fleck & Johnny Gimble for "Hightower"
• Best Country Song
  • Vince Gill (songwriter) for "Go Rest High on That Mountain"
• Best Country Album
  • Robert John "Mutt" Lange (producer) & Shania Twain for The Woman In Me
• Best Bluegrass Album
  • The Nashville Bluegrass Band for Unleashed

Folk

• Best Traditional Folk Album
  • Ramblin' Jack Elliott for South Coast
• Best Contemporary Folk Album
  • Emmylou Harris for Wrecking Ball

Gospel

• Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album
  • Michael W. Smith for I'll Lead You Home
• Best Rock Gospel Album
  • Ashley Cleveland for Lesson of Love
• Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album
  • Shirley Caesar for Shirley Caesar Live - He Will Come
• Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album
  • CeCe Winans for Alone In His Presence
• Best Southern Gospel, Country Gospel or Bluegrass Gospel Album
  • Bill Hearn (producer) for Amazing Grace - A Country Salute to Gospel performed by various artists
• Best Gospel Album by a Choir or Chorus
  • Carol Cymbala (choir director) for Praise Him - Live! performed by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir

Historical

• Best Historical Album
  • John Pfeiffer (producer & notes writer), Ray Hall , Thomas MacCluskey , James P. Nichols, Anthony Salvatore , Jon M. Samuels , David Satz (engineers), J.J. Stelmach (art director), Gabriel Banat , Grant Beglarian , Robert Cowan , Mortimer W. Frank , Richard Freed , Erick Friedman , Harris Goldsmith , Josefa Heifetz , George Jellinek, Irving Kolodin , Jacob Lateiner , Laurence Lesser , Myra C. Livingston , John Maltese , John Anthony Maltese , Leonard Pennario & Brooks Smith (notes writers) for The Heifetz Collection performed by Jascha Heifetz & various artists

Jazz

• Best Jazz Instrumental Solo
  • Michael Brecker for "Impressions"
• Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Individual or Group
  • McCoy Tyner Trio & Michael Brecker for "Infinity"
• Best Large Jazz Ensemble Performance
  • Tom Scott for "All Blues" performed by the GRP All-Star Big Band
• Best Jazz Vocal Performance
  • Lena Horne for An Evening With Lena Horne
• Best Contemporary Jazz Performance
  • Pat Metheny Group for "We Live Here"
• Best Latin Jazz Performance
  • Jobim for Antonio Brasileiro

Latin

• Best Latin Pop Performance
  • Jon Secada for "Amor"
• Best Tropical Latin Performance
  • Gloria Estefan for "Abriendo Puertas"
• Best Mexican-American/Tejano Music Performance
  • Flaco Jimenez for "Flaco Jimenez"

Musical Show

• Best Musical Show Album
  • Arif Mardin, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller (producers) & the original Broadway cast for Smokey Joe's Cafe - The Songs of Leiber & Stoller

Music Video

• Best Music Video, Short Form
  • Cean Chaffin (producer), Mark Romanek (director), Janet Jackson & Michael Jackson for "Scream"
• Best Music Video, Long Form
  • Robert Warr (producer), Francois Girard (director) & Peter Gabriel for Secret World Live

New Age

• Best New Age Album
  • George Winston for Forest

Packaging and Notes

• Best Recording Package
  • Joni Mitchell & Robbie Cavolina (art directors) for Turbulent Indigo performed by Joni Mitchell
• Best Recording Package - Boxed
  • Frank Zappa & Gail Zappa (art directors) for Civilization Phaze III performed by Frank Zappa
• Best Album Notes
  • Rob Bowman (notes writer) for The Complete Stax/Volt Soul Singles, Vol. 3: 1972 - 1975 performed by various artists

Polka

• Best Polka Album
  • Jimmy Sturr for I Love to Polka

Pop

• Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
  • Annie Lennox for "No More 'I Love Yous'"
• Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
  • Seal for "Kiss From a Rose"
• Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
  • Hootie & the Blowfish for "Let Her Cry"
• Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals
  • The Chieftains & Van Morrison for "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?"
• Best Pop Instrumental Performance
  • Los Lobos for "Mariachi Suite"
• Best Pop Album
  • Larry Klein (producer) & Joni Mitchell (producer & artist) for Turbulent Indigo

Production and engineering

• Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical
  • David Bianco , Jim Scott , Richard Dodd & Stephen McLaughlin (engineers) for Wildflowers performed by Tom Petty
• Best Classical Engineered Recording
  • Jonathan Stokes , Michael Mailes (engineers), Herbert Blomstedt (conductor) & the San Francisco Symphony for Bartók: Concerto For Orchestra; " Kossuth" - Symphonic Poem
• Producer of the Year
  • Babyface
• Classical Producer of the Year
  • Steven Epstein

R&B

• Best Female R&B Vocal Performance
  • Anita Baker for "I Apologize"
• Best Male R&B Vocal Performance
  • Stevie Wonder for "For Your Love"
• Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
  • TLC for "Creep"
• Best Rhythm & Blues Song
  • Stevie Wonder (songwriter) for "For Your Love"
• Best R&B Album
  • TLC for CrazySexyCool

Rap

• Best Rap Solo Performance
  • Coolio for "Gangsta's Paradise"
• Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group
  • Mary J. Blige & Method Man for "I'll Be There for You"/"You're All I Need to Get By"
• Best Rap Album
  • Naughty by Nature for Poverty's Paradise

Reggae

• Best Reggae Album
  • Shaggy for Boombastic

Rock

• Best Female Rock Vocal Performance
  • Alanis Morissette for "You Oughta Know"
• Best Male Rock Vocal Performance
  • Tom Petty for "You Don't Know How It Feels"
• Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
  • Blues Traveler for "Run-Around"
• Best Rock Instrumental Performance
  • Allman Brothers Band for "Jessica"
• Best Hard Rock Performance
  • Pearl Jam for "Spin the Black Circle"
• Best Metal Performance
  • Nine Inch Nails for "Happiness in Slavery"
• Best Rock Song
  • Alanis Morissette & Glen Ballard (songwriters) for "You Oughta Know" performed by Alanis Morissette
• Best Rock Album
  • Glen Ballard (producer) & Alanis Morissette for Jagged Little Pill

Spoken

• Best Spoken Word or Non-musical Album
  • Maya Angelou for Phenomenal Woman
• Best Spoken Comedy Album
  • Jonathan Winters for Crank Calls

Trad Pop

• Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance
  • Frank Sinatra for Duets II

World

• Best World Music Album
  • Deep Forest for Boheme