This evening, Art Vinyl reveals the winner of the 20th Best Art Vinyl Award, the definitive annual art prize for the best record cover design of the year. The expert judging panel awarded first place to Toronto-based multimedia artist, Rajni Perera for her artwork on the cover of Australian Jazz/funk band, Hiatus Kaiyote’s fourth studio album, ‘Love Heart Cheat Code’, released by Brainfeeder and Ninja Tune. Perera’s striking artwork highlights the power of visual storytelling in the world of vinyl and will receive the award at a presentation event this evening, held at the Hari in Belgravia, London.

In a year marked by album art becoming an integral part of the music artists’ brand, integrating cover artwork into tour campaigns and fan engagement (e.g. ‘Brat Summer’), the winning album artwork was chosen from a diverse shortlist of 50 of the most iconic and memorable vinyl cover art from 2024. The records were selected by an expert panel, representing the world of vinyl sleeve art, past and present, and collectively responsible for literally 10s of millions of iconic images now found in households around the globe as vinyl records.*

All 50 shortlisted nominees now form a striking art installation in the window of the Hari, London from 5 January – 1 February 2025.

The first place artwork by Rajni Perera is for the fourth studio album, ‘Love Heart Cheat Code’ by Australian jazz/funk band Hiatus Kaiyote, released by Brainfeeder. Perera’s work explores issues of hybridity, futurity, ancestorship, migrant and marginalized identities/cultures within the symbolistic style of her painting. Perera explains that the work on the album cover is about, “acknowledging the sacred female energy that drives this universe and restores balance to it. Even by painting it I have been blessed.”

On hearing of her success Perera said, “Thank you so much for this award. I have so much love for Nai (Palm) and Hiatus Kaiyote, their skill as artists, their generosity in sharing their gifts, and their incredible work. Thank you for this honour.”

The band’s singer/guitarist Nai Palm explains further, “I found the illustrious work of Rajni Perera years ago and hit her up to ask permission to tattoo some of her work. It was for my mastectomy scar which was super important for me to challenge beauty standards, and I wanted imagery that was both powerful but effeminate. The art for Love Heart Cheat Code was a piece of hers that already existed and was to be the final piece in my tattoo, but ended up being right for the album. It was sentimental to close that chapter of my life with this record and imagery. I love that the line work has strong design elements and the blue took many attempts with me working directly with the layout designer finding the right Pantone. I subsequently learnt A LOT about blue and how light affects how we perceive colour. The artwork is simple yet refined, and totally striking.”  

Second place is the artwork for ‘Romance’, the fourth album by Dublin band and 2024 Glastonbury Park stage headliners, Fontaines D.C. and is released on XL Recordings. The band licensed a series of Taiwanese artist Lulu Lin’s work for use across their ‘Romance’ album campaign. Lin’s body of work uses bold colour, adopting a bright, electric palette dedicated to distorted, stretched and warped faces, producing visuals to become just as iconic as the album itself.

Lulu Lin took up drawing as a child, as an escape and to lift their spirits, and went on to gain their Bachelor's degree in industrial design at Shih Chien University, Taiwan before completing a Masters in communication design at Designskolen Kolding, Denmark. During this time Lulu Lin officially launched their illustration career.

In third place is London born, now New York based, photographer and director, Louis Browne for his cover photography for Turkish-Italian DJ, producer and multi-instrumentalist Carlita (real name Carla Frayman) and her long-awaited debut album ‘Sentimental’, released on 15th November on Ninja Tune.

Louis Browne, known for his eclectic approach to visual storytelling, brings a unique sensitivity to the album artwork, which perfectly complements Carlita’s reflective vision. The cover image encapsulates Carlita’s musical shift, moving away from the high-energy aesthetics and instead embracing a softer, more nuanced visual language. Carlita has described her debut album as “a reflection of my inner world” and the album artwork perfectly translates Carlita’s exploration of  “the beauty found in the sentimental moments” of her life, into a visual experience.

Born in London, Louis Browne spent his teenage years chasing the music scene around England. Playing in bands, and then shifting to photographing them instead. Browne’s work has been celebrated in the music industry, having collaborated with artists including Billie Eilish, Mumford & Sons, Olivia Rodrigo and The 1975.

Best Art Vinyl founder, Andrew Heeps comments, “In our 20^th year of the Best Art Vinyl Award, we're proud to acknowledge the incredible art and design that looks so intriguing and different to any of its award-winning predecessors. Our Art Prize specific to vinyl records and the astonishing cultural phenomenon they have now become, explores the collaboration between musicians and visual artists and celebrates the renaissance in vinyl visual storytelling as an essential part of the listening experience.

As vinyl continues to thrive, the art that adorns its covers continues to evolve, and we welcome the international contributors to this year's shortlisted artworks to a fascinating ‘Best Art Vinyl’ archive of contemporary art and design, reflecting the continuous interplay between music, culture, and artistic expression.”

This is the 20^th winner of the Best Art Vinyl Award, the unique contemporary art prize that celebrates record cover design by compiling the best in art, photography and graphic design in modern music culture. Best Art Vinyl 2024 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 use design to create modern-day visual icons. Full Archives Here.

The 50 nominated Best Art Vinyl 2024 records with designer credits can be viewed at Artvinyl.com

A full list of winners from each year is also available on Artvinyl.com