Mumford & Sons, 'Babel,' Album Of The Year Grammy Winner, Bests Jack White, Frank Ocean, Fun., The Black Keys

Mumford & Son's 'Babel' Takes Album Of The Year
Lead singer Marcus Mumford performs with Mumford & Sons during a concert at the Barclays Center, Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013, in New York. (Photo by Jason DeCrow/Invision/AP)
Lead singer Marcus Mumford performs with Mumford & Sons during a concert at the Barclays Center, Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013, in New York. (Photo by Jason DeCrow/Invision/AP)

Mumford & Son's "Babel" took home the trophy for Album of the Year at Sunday's 55th Annual Grammy Awards, besting Frank Ocean's "channel ORANGE," the Black Keys' "El Camino", fun.'s "Some Nights," and Jack White's "Blunderbuss."

In pre-awards buzz, "Babel" was somewhat of a favorite, in part because the album strikes the right balance of commercial success and critical appeal. The album sold 600,000 copies in its first week, the year's best until Taylor Swift's "Red" debuted with a million-unit week.

It's worth noting that none of this year's Album of the Year nominees were female, a seeming omission that has not gone unnoticed. The Recording Academy votes on nominees and winners. Dubbed Music's Biggest Night, the awards broadcast is intended to be the gold standard for the industry. While the Academy has often been chided for its peculiar way of including and excluding certain artists and genres, "Grammy-winner" remains music's biggest plaudit.

According to the Academy, 39.9 million viewers watched last year's show -- the largest TV audience for the event since 1984. An average of 160,341 tweets per minute were posted during the broadcast.

Last year's Grammy winners included Kanye West and Adele, who combined for ten awards.

For more on the Grammys, click here. Find more Grammy award 2013 winners in the liveblog below.

The 55th Annual GRAMMY Awards - Show

Grammy Awards 2013

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