Bridge Over Troubled Water is the fifth and final studio album by American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, released in January 1970 on Columbia Records. Following the duo's soundtrack for The Graduate, Art Garfunkel took an acting role in the film Catch-22, while Paul Simon worked on the songs, writing all tracks except Felice and Boudleaux Bryant's "Bye Bye Love" (previously a hit for the Everly Brothers).

With the help of producer Roy Halee, the album followed a similar musical pattern as their Bookends LP, partly abandoning their traditional style to incorporate elements of rock, R&B, gospel, jazz, world music, pop and other genres. It was described as their "most effortless record and their most ambitious"
The duo then returned to New York to record the vocals.[18][19][20] The vocal style in "Bridge over Troubled Water" was inspired by Phil Spector's technique in "Old Man River" by the Righteous Brothers.[21] After two months the song was finalized. Simon himself admitted that it sounded like the Beatles' "Let It Be", stating in a Rolling Stone interview: "They are very similar songs, certainly in instrumentation ..."[22] The song has been covered by over 50 artists since then,[23] including Elvis Presley and Johnny CashBridge over Troubled Water won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, as well as for Best Engineered Recording, while its title track won the Grammys for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Contemporary Song and Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) in 1971. Bridge over Troubled Water was nominated at the first Brit Awards for Best International Album and its title track for Best International Single in 1977.[82] In 2000 it was voted number 66 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.[83] In 2003, it was ranked at No. 51 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time,[84] maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list; in a 2020 revision, the album was ranked at No. 172.[85][5] In December 1993, The Times ranked the album at number 20 on its "The Vultures 100 Best Albums of all Time".[86] The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[87]

Chris Charlesworth, author of The Complete Guide to the Music of Paul Simon and Simon & Garfunkel, gave a mixed reception, noting that seven songs ("Bridge over Troubled Water", "El Condor Pasa", "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright", "The Boxer", "The Only Living Boy in New York", "Bye Bye Love" and "Song for the Asking") were outstanding or good, while the rest, mainly uptempo ones, were for him "throwaway" recordings. He was surprised at its success