1981 Gramophone Awards

Chamber	Bartók, String Quartets nos. 1–6, Tokyo Quartet (Deutsche Grammophon)
Choral	Delius, Fenby Legacy, Eric Fenby conducting Royal Philharmonia Orchestra (Unicorn-Kanchan)
Concerto	Beethoven, Violin Concerto in D Minor, Carlo Maria Giulini conducting Philharmonia; solo: Perlman (EMI)
Contemporary	Tippett, King Priam, David Atherton conducting London Sinfonietta (Decca)
Early Music	Various artists, German Chamber Music, Cologne Music Antiqua (Archiv)
Engineering	Massenet, Werther, Sir Colin Davis conducting Royal Opera House Orchestra (Philips)
Historical Vocal	Various artists, Hugo Wolf Society Lieder, various artists (HMV)
Historical Non-Vocal	Brahms, Chamber Works, Busch Quartet, Rudolf Serkin, Reginald Kell and Aubrey Brain (World Records)
Instrumental	Liszt, Piano Works, Alfred Brendel (Philips)
Operatic (Record of the Year)	Wagner, Parsifal, Herbert von Karajan conducting Deutsche Opera and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (Deutsche Grammophon)
Orchestral	Mahler, Symphony No. 9, Herbert von Karajan conducting Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (Deutsche Grammophon)
Solo Vocal	Liszt, Lieder, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Daniel Barenboim (Deutsche Grammophon)