2025 Grammys
This might have been the year that both The Beatles and The Rolling Stones won Grammy Awards, but older demographics who watched the show are wondering why rock music had such a low profile during the televised ceremony.
Sure, rock music had a token presence during the telecast: The show began with an uplifting performance from Dawes covering Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.,” backed by an all-star band consisting of Brad Paisley, John Legend, Sheryl Crow, Brittany Howard and St. Vincent as a tribute to the people of Los Angeles who are still trying to recover from the devastating wildfires in January. Also, the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Anthony Kiedis and Chad Smith presented the best pop vocal album Grammy to Sabrina Carpenter for Short n’ Sweet, while the alternative band Khruangbin played a very abbreviated segment of their shoe-gazing song “May Ninth”; and Coldplay’s Chris Martin played a ballad during the In Memoriam section.
But the awards for best rock album, best metal performance and best alternative music album, among others, were relegated to the non-televised afternoon Grammy Award presentation.
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Why weren’t there any artists from that genre rocking out during the telecast? After all, rock music still dominates the live show marketplace. And while there are many ways that various genres can be measured against one another, Luminate’s audio consumption album units genre report shows rock music is still the second biggest genre at 22.3%, Billboard calculates, when unassigned albums are deducted from the total. That’s almost two and a half times as large as Latin, which has an 8.3% market share; and slightly more than twice as large as country, which has a 10.4% market share.
In album units, rock is 50% larger than pop music, which has a 14.8% market share, but pop was featured prominently during the show. As was R&B/hip-hop, which is still the biggest genre at a 27.8% market share.
But even though rock may have a big presence collectively, it also has some missing ingredients that probably make it difficult to include it in the televised Grammy Awards these days.
Age is a factor — not only the demographics of the Grammy show viewers, which undoubtedly plays a role in what artists and music are featured on the TV broadcast, but the age of the rock music that makes up those market share numbers. Luminate tracks releases in two age brackets: current, which counts all sales and streaming activity in the first 18 months after a song or album is released; and catalog, which counts everything older than 18 months.
That is one of rock’s biggest issues: By the catalog category — again using audio consumption units minus activity from titles unassigned to a genre — its 25.5% of the market is comfortably No. 2 in the industry, still behind R&B/hip-hop. But by current releases, rock slips all the way to fourth, at 11.9%, behind R&B/hip-hop (27.2%), pop (18.7%) and country (14.8%) and barely ahead of Latin (10.6%).
And the Grammy Awards are all about current music; in fact, current music is literally written into the eligibility criteria of which music releases can be considered for its awards. For the 2025 Grammys, the Recording Academy only considered recordings released from Sept. 16, 2023, to Aug. 20, 2024. Mathematically speaking, all the releases that meet that criteria to be eligible for a Grammy Award, and thus to be included in the show, would be current releases.
But there could be another, more significant factor as to why rock music wasn’t front and center during the televised portion: The sales and streams for the nominees in the rock categories paled in comparison to those of other genres. Big sales and streaming activity clearly indicate widespread popularity and TV shows are all about drawing big viewing audiences. And the nominees in the rock categories turned in the weakest collective performance when it came to sales and streaming activity among the genres highlighted on the show.
Of the albums nominated for album of the year, only Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft could be remotely considered rock — and alternative at that, or more accurately dark pop. The other albums, not so much: Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department, Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of A Midwest Princess and Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet got pop covered; Charli XCX’s Brat represents electro-pop; and Andre 3000’s New Blue Sun and Jacob Collier’s Djesse Vol. 4 are R&B and jazz, with smatterings of funk thrown in. In fact, Beyoncé’s country album, Cowboy Carter, has been cited for bringing other genres into the mix.
Collectively, the eight albums nominated for album of the year averaged 2.043 million album consumption units in 2024, even with the Andre 3000 album only hitting 44,000 units and the Collier album lower, at 33,000 units.
Sales and streaming activity was also a likely distinguishing factor in determining if the big awards of the Latin, pop, country and R&B genres were featured on the televised show. Let’s take best pop vocal album, with the Grammy nod going to Carpenter’s Sweet album, which garnered 2.504 million U.S. album consumption units. Collectively, the five nominees in that category averaged 3.01 million album consumption units, with Swift’s Tortured Poets leading the way with 6.962 million.
In best rap album, Doechii’s Alligator Bites Never Heal won the Grammy, despite having the second-lowest sales/activity of the nominees at 133,000 album consumption units. Collectively, the five nominated albums averaged 712,000 units, led by Future & Metro Boomin’s We Don’t Trust You at 2.046 million units and Eminem’s The Death Of Slim Shady (Coup De Grace) at 1.01 million album consumption units.
In best country album, the Grammy nominees collectively averaged 856,000 album consumption units, with a pair of artists new to the genre leading the way in Post Malone’s F-1 Trillion, with 1.598 million units, and winner Cowboy Carter, with 1.42 million album consumption units.
Shakira, who performed and was acknowledged for her historic role in bringing Latin music to the masses, won best Latin pop album with her Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran album, which had 306,000 album consumption units. Collectively, her activity combined with the other four nominees for best Latin pop album averaged 171,000 album consumption units.
Even dance/electronic music, which ranks sixth with 3.8% in U.S. market share as calculated by Billboard based on Luminate data, made the cut for the televised portion of the show. While its overall market share is meager compared to rock, its collective current album consumption units were bolstered by Charli XCXs Brat album, which garnered 1.159 million album consumption units. In total, the five nominees in the category earned a collective average of 273,000 units.
Rock, in comparison, is a different story. The Rolling Stones won the best rock album award with 91,000 album consumption units for its Hackney Diamonds, while Green Day, which was the category leader, had 158,000 units. Collectively, the rock category nominees averaged just 81,000 units, by far the smallest of the bigger genres.
There may be plenty of reasons why rock was relegated to the back burner at this year’s Grammy Awards — the Stones and the Beatles, after all, are not the hottest names with kids these days. But the numbers certainly tell at least part of that story.
After years of linking up with the South’s buzziest rappers and crafting Billboard Hot 100 hits — like “Peaches & Eggplants” (No. 33), with longtime collaborator Young Nudy — ATL-bred producer Coupe added a very special accolade to his collection: his very first Grammy-nominated production.
At the 67th Annual Grammy Awards – which will be held on Feb. 2 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, and also serve as a fundraiser for those impacted by the devastating January fires – Latto’s “Big Mama,” which Coupe co-produced alongside Oz and Masterpiece, is nominated for best melodic rap performance. Should Billboard’s No. 5 Hottest Female Rapper of 2024 take home the trophy, Coupe will receive a winner’s certificate.
Half come-hither rap ballad and half high-octane trap banger, “Big Mama” served as the third single from Latto’s Sugar Honey Iced Tea album. The track reached No. 92 on the Hot 100 and No. 23 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. Buoyed by celebrated performances at WHTA (Hot 107.9) Birthday Bash and the 2024 BET Awards, “Big Mama” helped its parent album hit No. 15 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on Rap Albums, making Latto the first solo female rapper from ATL to ever top that ranking. In addition to “Big Mama,” Coupe also produced “Brokey” and “S/O to Me” from Sugar Honey Iced Tea.
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“Big Mama” will have to take down “Spaghettii” (Beyoncé, Shaboozey & Linda Martell), “3:AM” (Rapsody & Erykah Badu), “Kehlani” (Jordan Adetunji & Kehlani) and “We Still Don’t Trust You” (Future, Metro Boomin & The Weeknd) to take home the trophy, but the Recording Academy’s is still an incredible stamp for one of hip-hop’s most exciting producers.
Outside of his work with Latto in 2024, Coupe also contributed tracks to hit albums from 21 Savage (American Dream) and GloRilla (Glorious). For the former, he produced the Summer Walker-assisted “Prove It,” which spent two weeks atop Rhythmic Airplay.
With just days to go before Music’s Biggest Night, Coupe took a brief pause from working on a “Detroit R&B love record” for Real Boston Richey to speak with Billboard and reflect on working on his first Grammy-nominated song.
“I’m probably gonna miss the Grammys [because] I got some family stuff going on, but I definitely will be coming soon,” he promises. “It means even more to me, because [music is] something that my dad wanted to do. He’s kind of living his dream through me. [“Big Mama” taking] the Grammy home would be next level.”
Tell me about the first time you linked with Latto in the studio.
We had been trying to get together for a while, but our schedules weren’t aligning. But we finally got together at Doppler Studios, and I played her the beat for 21 Savage’s “Prove It” in our first session. She actually recorded something to that beat in the same vein as “Prove It.” We worked on a couple of other records too. The vibe was great, we told each other how much we were fans of each other. We just clicked instantly.
How did “Big Mama” come together?
When the first version of the track was made, it was still a two-part beat. She had the first part of it from Oz, and then the second part was from another producer. She had only recorded the first half of the song, and she had an idea of what she wanted based on what she and [producer] Go Grizzly did. She called me and was like, “I like this first part, but I’m not vibing to the second beat.” Her and Pooh Beatz, who was helping me out with the record, were like, “Bro, we need some Coupe stuff for the second part! We need something turnt to switch it up.”
They needed the beat that day. We had a session at 8 p.m., they called me at like 6 p.m. and I made the beat in 5-10 minutes. I headed to the studio early and that’s how we got the full beat to the song; Oz and Kid Masterpiece did the first portion, and I did the second. We put them together and they matched perfectly, and then we finished the song.
What went through your head the moment you heard the final track?
We were like, “This is the one for sure.” She had been working on the album for two years, and I came in a year into [the process]. She was like, “I need some lit vibes; let me know what I’m missing.” [“Big Mama”] has a mellow tone to it, but also a turn-up tone; I felt like that’s what was missing from the whole [Sugar Honey Iced Tea] album [at that point].
And I haven’t heard many girls do beat switches either. The males in hip-hop really love to do that, so to have a female rapper actually rap two different styles on one song felt groundbreaking to me.
When was the first time you saw her perform the song live?
The first time I saw her perform the song live was at [WHTA (Hot 107.9)] Birthday Bash – and that was before the song was officially out. That’s a big thing now in hip-hop, to have things leak or tease them early. She also performed it at the BET Awards and got a lot of positive comments. Those kinds of reactions let me know that the music is connecting.
Where were you when you found out about the nomination?
I was actually at my house with my family. I’m not gonna lie, it took me by surprise. I didn’t know what to do! It’s my first [Grammy-nominated] song and it’s a big thing, so I showed my kids, like, “Your daddy’s [song is] nominated for a Grammy!” They didn’t even know what it was because they’re so young. [Laughs.]
The Grammys mean everything to me. It’s like winning the championship ring. You work your whole life from [childhood] making music, and you build yourself up to this point where the highest honor you can get is the Grammy. There’s nothing greater than it. When you win that, that’s like winning the championship. To even be nominated is like going to the playoffs or the finals. We gotta win these finals!
How much of an influence was your father on your musical journey?
I’ve been doing music all my life. I played drums in church from 5-6 [years old], up until I was like 10 or 11, then I started playing piano and organ. My dad taught me all of that; he’s been playing since his younger days. As soon as I was born, they threw me on an instrument and was like, “You need to play.” And I’ve been doing it since birth. I used to sing in the choir too. As far as producing, I started doing that in 2014-15. But my dad was pivotal to it all; he loved the ‘70s and Earth, Wind & Fire and Rick James. That’s why ‘70s is my favorite type of music now.
What’s one ‘70s song that you’ve always wanted to sample?
“Reasons” by Earth, Wind & Fire.
You also worked on albums by 21 Savage and GloRilla last year. How do you adapt your sound for different artists while maintaining your artistic integrity?
As producers, our job is to serve the artist. I just try to stay true to the artist’s sound while implementing my sound. Every artist has a direction that they want to go in for their projects, so I try to fill that void they’re missing. But I still keep my integrity; I have weird drum patterns, my hi-hats are loud, my kicks hit hard!
GloRilla is from Memphis, for example. Three 6 Mafia loves Isaac Hayes, so that’s why I sampled “Ike’s Mood I” on “Let Her Cook.” That’s a traditional Memphis sound. 21 Savage loves R&B, so I wanted to sample Faith Evans’ “You Are My Joy,” which is one of the best R&B interludes ever to me. I use whatever tools they give me and then expound on them with my sound.
What was it like hearing “Prove It” on the radio for the first time?
Man, I loved it. It’s funny because I was in the car with a girl at the time. When it came on, she was like, “Ain’t this your song?” [Laughs.] It was definitely a moment for me. “Prove It” was one of those songs that, as soon as they sent it to me, I was like, “This is definitely going to be a radio record.” And once we got Summer Walker on it, it was a go.
Who’s left on your bucket list of collaborators?
Definitely SZA. She’s at the top of the list; I love her voice and her sound and the way her music reminds me of how I feel about Faith Evans back in the day. Of course, the GOATs Kendrick [Lamar] and Drake. André 3000 is definitely on that list too. I would love to do just one record with him. “Life of the Party” is a classic record to me, and I know he wasn’t even trying. He just needs to have fun and let it flow. Out of the older generation: he and Project Pat for sure.
What you got cooking up for 2025?
Me and [Young] Nudy are about to lock back in; we took a little hiatus to work on other things for the last two years. Might be a project between me and him, so I’m excited about that.
Me and JT just locked in for like two or three days and, I’m not going to lie, we made some crazy records. Her and Latto, female-wise, I love them. They’re so talented.
Who do you think will win best rap album? Who do you think should win?
That’s a hard question, because usually any time Eminem is in a “best rap” category, he wins. But I definitely think that Metro and Future should win, because they shifted culture last year. I’m always about that. Kendrick’s “Like That” verse shifted the whole culture, and the album itself is so good – especially with them not working together for so long.
Speaking of Kendrick, do you think he can pull off a win in record or song of the year (or both!) for “Not Like Us?”
For sure. Kendrick is a groundbreaking artist. He’s definitely going to win both of those — more than likely.
Nominees: Take It Easy (Collie Buddz); Party With Me (Vybz Kartel); Never Gets Late Here (Shenseea); Bob Marley: One Love – Music Inspired By The Film (Deluxe) (Various Artists); Evolution (The Wailers)
Technically, there are only two original reggae albums nominated here this year. Incredible.
Vybz Kartel and Shenseea scored their first career nominations for their own music this year with Party With Me and Never Gets Late Here, respectively, both dancehall records. Reggae legend Bob Marley is represented through the One Love soundtrack, which features covers of Marley classics from several artists, including Grammy winners Kacey Musgraves, Daniel Caesar, Leon Bridges and Wizkid.
Collie Buddz’s Take It Easy and The Wailers’ Evolution are the remaining nominees. This is Buddz’s second nod in this category in as many years, while Take It Easy features contributions from Caribbean music giants such as Bounty Killer, B-Real and Demarco. The Wailers — formed by former members of Bob Marley’s backing band — are nominated with Evolution, which hit No. 5 on Reggae Albums.
As previous nominees, Shenseea and The Wailers are likely the frontrunners here, but keep an eye out for Vybz Kartel. Last summer (July 31, 2024), the King of Dancehall walked out of prison a free man after serving 13 years of a now-overturned life sentence for the murder of Clive “Lizard” Williams. By New Year’s Eve, the legendary deejay mounted Freedom Street — his first performance since his release, and the biggest concert the country had seen in nearly 50 years. Though Party With Me lacks an all-out smash à la “Fever” and “Clarks,” Kartel’s narrative may prove too irresistible for any of his competitors to put up a fight. The Freedom Street concert dominated social media, but it happened near the very end of the voting period (Jan. 3), when many voters had presumably cast their ballots already.
Shenseea is probably his stiffest competition here. Never Gets Late Here reached No. 4 on Reggae Albums and incorporates notes of pop-dancehall, R&B, rap, Afrobeats and, most importantly, reggae. With Grammy-approved producers like Di Genius, Tricky Stewart, Ilya, Stargate and London On Da Track in tow, Never Gets Late Here could muster up enough support to pull ahead of Worl’ Boss.
Nonetheless, there’s also a scenario in which Marley’s legend and the film’s box office success lifts the One Love soundtrack to a victory — even if the more exciting win would be Buddz’s project. Traditional reggae projects tend to triumph here anyway, which counts against Kartel and Shenyeng despite their strengths elsewhere.
Prediction: Vybz Kartel, Party With Me
Look Out For: The Wailers, Evolution
Nominees: “After Hours” (Diovanna Frazier, Alex Goldblatt, Kehlani Parrish, Khris Riddick-Tynes & Daniel Upchurch); “Burning” (Ronald Banful & Temilade Openiyi); “Here We Go (Uh Oh)” (Sara Diamond, Sydney Floyd, Marisela Jackson, Courtney Jones, Carl McCormick & Kelvin Wooten); “Ruined Me” (Jeff Gitelman, Priscilla Renea & Kevin Theodore); “Saturn” (Rob Bisel, Carter Lang, Solána Rowe, Jared Solomon & Scott Zhang)
Analysis: It’s always a good sign when a song earns nominations in both songwriting and performance categories, which means Coco Jones (“Here We Go”) and SZA (“Saturn”) have particularly strong chances at taking this one home. Jones won best R&B performance last year with “ICU,” but lost best R&B song to SZA’s “Snooze.” “Saturn,” though a hit, wasn’t as big of a smash as “Snooze,” but SZA’s seemingly unstoppable momentum and forthcoming co-headlining North American stadium tour with Kendrick Lamar (a seven-time nominee this year), could help her win the trophy.
Nonetheless, the frontrunner across the R&B field is probably Muni Long. Revenge didn’t exactly light the charts on fire (it missed both the Billboard 200 and genre-specific album rankings), but the record spawned three consecutive top three Adult R&B Airplay singles, including the chart-toppers “Ruined Me” and “Make Me Forget.” With “Ruined Me” earning a lot of love from R&B circles and Long remaining a consistent cultural presence via performances and candid music industry revelations, this could very well be the Year of Muni Long.
Kehlani earned three nods this year, and this is her first nomination in this category. “After Hours” was one of the few uptempo R&B hits from the last year, which could help its chances in a songwriting category. Tems‘ “Burning” probably has the same chance of winning as “After Hours”; it’s a poignant track that finds the crossover star soaring in a leading role after being a key featured player on Grammy-approved hits like Future‘s “Wait For U” and Wizkid‘s “Essence.”
We’ll call this category for Muni Long; “Ruined Me” is fresh, commercially successful, critically acclaimed, and features the most-nominated R&B artist of the night.
Prediction: Muni Long, “Ruined Me”
Look Out For: SZA, “Saturn”
Nominees: “Asteroids” (Marlanna Evans); “Carnival” (Jordan Carter, Raul Cubina, Grant Dickinson, Samuel Lindley, Nasir Pemberton, Dimitri Roger, Tyrone Griffin Jr., Kanye West, and Mark Carl Stolinski Williams); “Like That” (Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, Kobe Hood, Leland Wayne, and Nayvadius Wilburn); “Not Like Us” (Duckworth); “Yeah Glo!” (Ronnie Jackson, Jaucquez Lowe, Timothy McKibbins, Kevin Andre Price, Julius Rivera III, and Gloria Woods)
Analysis: Let’s be real, it would probably be the most shocking moment of the night if Lamar’s “Not Like Us” doesn’t take home best rap song and performance. A two-week Hot 100 chart-topper that transcended its beef origins and became a cultural anthem, “Not Like Us” is far and away the frontrunner here — even if it’s the subject of Drake’s explosive, ongoing lawsuit against UMG.
Lamar is also nominated here alongside Future, Metro Boomin, and Kobe “BbyKobe” Hood for writing “Like That,” the Hot 100 chart-topped that kicked his feud with Drake into high gear. Future has earned three previous nods in this category, but he’s lost each time. A victory for “Like That” would give Future and Metro their first wins here, and help Kendrick break a tie with Jay-Z to become the rapper with the second-most triumphs in this category (five).
But what if “Like That” and “Not Like Us” split votes? Perhaps, the Academy goes for somebody familiar like Ye (formerly Kanye West), who boasts the most nominations (17) and wins (seven) in this category’s history. Ye’s nomination comes from “Carnival,” his first Hot 100 chart-topper as a part of ¥$ (his duo with Ty Dolla $ign). With Playboi Carti and Rich the Kid in featured roles, a win for “Carnival” would reward hip-hop icons and new class alike.
Rapsody and GloRilla are looking to join Megan Thee Stallion as the only female rappers to win this category. This is Glo’s first nod in a songwriting category, and while “Yeah Glo!” was undoubtedly one of her defining hits from last year, she probably won’t be able to beat out the stiff competition here. Rapsody earned her first nomination here in 2018 with “Sassy.” This year, she’s represented by “Asteroids,” the only song in this category outside of “Not Like Us” to feature just one credited writer. While she was able to score an accompanying nod in best melodic rap performance, missing out on a best rap album nod for Please Don’t Cry signals some weakness in her rap field support.
Prediction: Kendrick Lamar, “Not Like Us”
Look Out For: Future, Metro Boomin & Kendrick Lamar, “Like That”
On Sept. 13, 1988, the media assembled at the United Nations for a press conference. Representatives for the nonprofits Greenpeace, Cultural Survival and Rainforest Action Network sat before them, alongside the U.N. Environment Programme’s director and three, less expected emissaries: the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia, Bobby Weir and Mickey Hart.
The band was about to begin a multinight fall run at Madison Square Garden and had decided to make the ninth and final concert of the stint a rainforest benefit. Garcia, Weir and Hart weren’t at the U.N. as rock stars; they were there as activists.
“Somebody has to do something,” Garcia told the assembled crowd, before adding wryly, “In fact, it seems pathetic that it has to be us.” As the audience applauded and Hart and Weir voiced their agreement, Garcia cut through the din: “This is not our regular work!” Eleven days later, in a more familiar setting, the band invited Bruce Hornsby, Hall & Oates and Suzanne Vega, among other artists, onstage at the sold-out benefit show, which grossed $871,875, according to an October 1988 issue of Billboard.
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At the press conference, Garcia had said, “We hope that we can empower our own audience with a sense of being able to do something directly and actually having an effect that’s visible in some way.” But he’d also expressed the Dead’s trepidation concerning activism.
“We don’t want to be the leaders, and we don’t want to serve unconscious fascism,” he said. “Power is a scary thing. When you feel that you’re close to it, you feel like you want to make sure that it isn’t used for misleading. So all this time, we’ve avoided making any statements about politics, about alignments of any sort.” While Garcia’s comment wasn’t entirely accurate — the ’88 benefit was far from the first time the Dead had aligned itself with a cause — its sentiment was honest: He understood the influence his beloved band wielded.
“As a young fan, I really learned about the issue in the rainforest from the Grateful Dead when they did that press conference,” recalls Mark Pinkus, who started seeing the band in 1984 and was a college student in 1988. “If a band like the Grateful Dead took the time to care about a cause, it definitely got our attention as young fans.”
From left: Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart outside San Francisco’s New Potrero Theatre in 1968.
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For a then-17-year-old David Lemieux, who had started seeing the Dead the year before and whose father worked at the U.N. from 1953 to 1973, “it added this huge level of legitimacy to this band I was following around” for his parents. “It certainly had me go out and learn more about [the issue],” he reflects. “To this day, the way I view the world is very much what I learned from my days on tour — and seeing the Dead take a stance that was so big … meant a lot to me.”
At the time, Pinkus and Lemieux were impressionable young Deadheads. Today, they’re central to the Dead’s present and future business. Pinkus is president of Rhino Entertainment, the Warner Music Group branch that publishes the Dead’s archival releases, and Lemieux, the band’s legacy manager and archivist, is intimately involved in the curation of those releases.
It’s telling not just that the Dead’s business is shepherded by members of the very community it fostered, but that the band’s philanthropic work in particular resonated with Pinkus and Lemieux from the jump. The Dead’s members haven’t merely been philanthropically active since the band’s 1965 formation in the Bay Area — they have been forward-thinking, reimagining the potential of the good works musicians can do and inspiring other artists to follow in their footsteps. All the while, their activism has fed on — and been fed by — their passionate fans.
“We’re part of a community, and so the better the community is doing, the better we’re doing,” Weir says today. “Jerry always used to say, ‘You get some, you give some back.’ It just makes sense.” And since the beginning, “that’s been our mode of operation,” the Grateful Dead’s Bill Kreutzmann says. “We help people and give them stuff. It’s just a good way to live life. I wish that more people in the world lived life that way, instead of wars and bombings.”
From left: Randy Hayes of Rainforest Action Network (seated), Dr. Jason Clay of Cultural Survival, Jerry Garcia, Mickey Hart, Peter Bahouth of Greenpeace and Bob Weir at a New York press conference in 1988.
Marty Lederhandler/AP
Since Garcia’s death in 1995, the Dead’s surviving members have continued to tour — and continued to advocate for the causes that matter to them. That’s why MusiCares, the charitable organization that the Recording Academy founded in 1989 to support the music community’s health and welfare, is recognizing the Grateful Dead as its 2025 MusiCares Persons of the Year.
“It all follows in that tradition of teaching the industry what it should know about,” Hart says. “That’s that Grateful Dead kind of style, where we just did it because we knew it was the right thing to do. If we wanted to do this the rest of our lives was the idea, we have to do these things, because people support us — and we reciprocate.”
“Everybody had everybody’s back in the Haight-Ashbury, and we were a big functioning organism,” Weir recalls. “And we had roles within the community.”
It’s a crisp, mid-November evening in Chicago, where Weir, 77, has just spent the afternoon doing what he does best: playing Grateful Dead music. He’s in town for two shows at the Auditorium Theatre with the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra, which will accompany him and Wolf Bros, his current solo project, and after rehearsing “Weather Report Suite” and “Terrapin Station” — two of the Dead’s densest, most ambitious compositions — he’s back on his tour bus, reminiscing about the band’s early days.
Even then, philanthropy was core to the group. It began performing as The Warlocks in mid-1965, and while accounts differ about when, exactly, it changed its name later that year, many believe it debuted its famed moniker on Dec. 10 — at Mime Troupe Appeal II, the second in a series of benefits for a satirical San Francisco theater troupe that often clashed with local law enforcement over free speech.
From left: Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh and Mickey Hart onstage at the Oakland (Calif.) Auditorium in 1979.
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The first decade or so of the Dead’s philanthropy “is an incredibly eclectic mix,” Lemieux says. In San Francisco, the band gigged for radical activists, arts spaces, spiritual centers (a Hare Krishna temple, a Zen monastery) and music education. As the band grew, it played for hippie communes and music venues, for striking radio workers and bail funds, for the Black Panthers and the Hells Angels. It performed with the Buffalo (N.Y.) Philharmonic Orchestra in 1970 to support the ensemble; in a concert that became one of its most revered live recordings, the Dead played in Veneta, Ore., on Aug. 27, 1972, to save the local Springfield Creamery.
“We saw something in need, and we would just write a check,” Hart, 81, remembers today. “The Grateful Dead, we never thought of business. We just wanted to play, play, play.”
“That was really delicious for us, to make everybody happy,” says Kreutzmann, 78. “Because that’s the goal: Make everyone happy, not just the band.”
But as the band’s following grew throughout the ’70s, that charitable approach — guided by the band’s generous attitude, which meant lots of “yeses” and not many “nos” — became untenable. It needed to streamline its operation. “We had always been given to community service, but we just wanted to get organized about it,” Weir says, alluding to the tax burden of the band’s initial model.
So the Dead did something that was then novel for a musical act: It started a foundation. In 1983, the band’s early co-manager Danny Rifkin (who held a number of roles in the group’s orbit over the years) helped it launch The Rex Foundation, named for Rex Jackson, a roadie and tour manager for the band who had died in 1976. The foundation eliminated the need for the Dead to do the types of one-off, cause-based benefits it had done previously, instead directing earnings from its charitable initiatives into the foundation, which then disbursed that money — after approval by its board, which included the band’s members and others in its inner circle — to various grant recipients. By refusing to accept unsolicited grant proposals (applications were, and still are, submitted by the Rex board and those in the Dead’s extended community) and focusing its grants on organizations with small, sometimes minuscule, budgets, the Dead retained the homespun feel of its earlier charitable efforts.
The Rex Foundation quickly became the primary beneficiary of the Dead’s philanthropy. The band played its first Rex benefits in San Rafael, Calif., in spring 1984 and made a point of staging multishow Rex benefit runs — generally in the Bay Area or nearby Sacramento — annually for the rest of its career. “They were just regular gigs, there was no other fanfare, but the money would go to The Rex Foundation,” Lemieux says. “We all thought that was pretty darn cool. It wasn’t like the Dead played any less hard because it was a benefit gig. The Rex Foundation mattered to them.”
From left: Jerry Garcia, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir at Berkeley’s Greek Theatre in 1985.
Richard McCaffrey/ Michael Ochs Archive/ Getty Images
Over the next decade, the Dead played upwards of 40 Rex benefits. Without the requirement that a given show benefit a specific charity — and with the larger grosses Dead shows now earned — “it allowed the money to be spread a lot more,” Lemieux explains. A beneficiary “wouldn’t be like a multi-multimillion-dollar organization that needed $5,000. It was a $10,000 organization that needed $5,000. That makes a huge difference.” (Weir, Hart and Garcia’s widow, Carolyn, and daughter, Trixie, are among the present-day board members of Rex, which still holds benefits and disburses grants; in July, Dark Star Orchestra, which re-creates classic Dead shows, played a benefit at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif., to celebrate the foundation’s 40th anniversary.)
During this period, the Dead also continued to play non-Rex benefits for specific causes, including AIDS research and eye-care organization Seva. The 1988 rainforest benefit was a hybrid — the rare Rex benefit with pre-announced beneficiaries in Greenpeace, Cultural Survival and Rainforest Action Network. “Those were all people that we had already funded to in their infancy,” says Cameron Sears, who managed the band in the late ’80s and ’90s and is today Rex’s executive director. (As it happens, Sears’ entrée into the Dead’s world as a recent college grad in the early ’80s was through philanthropy: He’d pitched the band on getting involved in California water politics.) As Garcia put it at the U.N., “We’ve chosen these groups because we like that direct thing … We don’t like a lot of stuff between us and the work.”
The model continues to reverberate through a music industry where it’s now common for major artists to have charitable foundations. “The fact that all these bands now have looked to that model and replicated it, [the Dead] don’t need to take credit for it, even though it may rightly belong to them,” Sears says. “They’re just happy that people are doing it. Their vision has had a multiplier effect now around the world. What Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam are into might be different than what Phish is into and is maybe different than what Metallica is into. But together, the amount of philanthropy that’s being generated through all these different people makes an incredible difference.”
Pull up just about any bootleg of a Phil Lesh show from 1999 through his death in October, and you’ll see a track between the end of the second set and the start of the encore, usually called “Donor Rap.” Lesh received a life-saving liver transplant in 1998; henceforth, he used his platform to encourage Deadheads to turn to their loved ones and say that, if anything happened to them, they wanted to be an organ donor.
After Garcia’s death, the Dead’s surviving members remained active musically — and philanthropically. When The Other Ones — the first significant post-Garcia iteration of the Dead comprising Weir, Lesh, Hart and a cast of supporting musicians — debuted in 1998, it did so with a benefit, raising more than $200,000 for the Rainforest Action Network. They all championed causes important to them: Weir with the environment and combating poverty, Hart with music therapy and brain health, Kreutzmann with ocean conservation, Lesh with his Unbroken Chain Foundation, which benefited a litany of things including music education. The Rex Foundation has also remained active, supporting a range of organizations across the arts, education, social justice, Indigenous peoples’ groups and the environment.
And, over the years, the band members began to work more closely with MusiCares. Early in the pandemic, Dead & Company — the touring group formed in 2015 by Weir, Hart and Kreutzmann and rounded out by John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti — and the Grateful Dead launched weekly archival livestreams that raised $276,000 for the organization’s COVID-19 Relief Fund. Dead & Company expanded the affiliation to epic proportions on May 8, 2023, when the band kicked off its final tour at Cornell University’s Barton Hall in Ithaca, N.Y., where it played one of its most revered gigs 46 years earlier to the day; the 2023 show raised $3.1 million, with half going to MusiCares and half to the Cornell 2030 Project, a campus organization dedicated to sustainability.
“If you want to talk about making a statement in modern times,” Pinkus says, “here they return to the venue of arguably the most famous Grateful Dead show ever, play the tiniest show that they play on a farewell tour, which is all stadiums, and then they turn around and do it as a fundraiser. It really spoke to everything about the Grateful Dead and Dead & Company’s commitment to giving back.”
“The industry is a very dangerous place at times,” Hart says. “When you get engulfed with the harder side of the business and fall through the cracks or stumble and you need some help getting your mojo back, that’s really what MusiCares does.”
From left: Bruce Hornsby, Jeff Chimenti, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Phish’s Trey Anastasio, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann at one of the band’s Fare Thee Well shows at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.,
on June 28, 2015.
Jay Blakesberg/Invision for the Grateful Dead/AP
Over the last decade, Activist Artists Management has helped guide the band members’ philanthropic efforts. The company is both the manager of record for the Grateful Dead — a status conferred by Grateful Dead Productions, an entity comprising the band’s living members and representatives of Garcia’s and Lesh’s estates — and co-manages Dead & Company alongside Irving Azoff and Steve Moir of Full Stop Management. (Kreutzmann toured with Dead & Company from 2015 to 2022 but did not appear with the group on its final tour in 2023 or during its 2024 Las Vegas Sphere residency. On Dec. 4, Dead & Company announced it will play 18 shows at Sphere in spring 2025; a representative for the band confirmed the lineup will not include Kreutzmann.)
“There was this mosaic of incredible good works that this band was doing, and there was a feeling that we could help amplify those good works and those dollars by putting a little more structure and support around it and a little bit more intentionality around it, which is what Activist came in and did,” Activist founding partner Bernie Cahill says.
When discussing the Dead’s activism with the band and its affiliates, words like “apolitical” and “nonpartisan” come up often. As Kreutzmann puts it, “It’s much more fun to see all the people smiling, not half the people bickering at the other half.”
“These are objective things that I think everyone will agree with,” Lemieux says of causes ranging from rainforest preservation to AIDS research. “And that’s what the Dead were kind of getting on board with and raising awareness.”
Mickey Hart, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, Bob Weir, Tom Constanten (with a cut-out standee of Jerry Garcia) and Vince Welnick of the Grateful Dead at the 1994 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction.
Steve Eichner/WireImage
But while it’s true that, both before and after Garcia’s death, the Dead’s members have avoided the strident political rhetoric some other artists favor, the band has still advanced progressive causes. In the ’60s, it rubbed shoulders with radical groups in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury. In the ’80s, when AIDS was a stigmatized topic, it headlined a relief show for Northern California AIDS agencies.
That has continued in recent years. Dead & Company’s Participation Row — an area it allots at its shows for nonprofit and charitable partners — has featured entities like the voter registration organization HeadCount and the sustainable-touring group Reverb, among other social justice, environmental and public health organizations, helping the band to raise more than $15 million since its 2015 debut. But Dead & Company have not shied from using their touring to platform more contentious causes. The summer following the Parkland, Fla., high school shooting, Dead & Company included the gun control group March for Our Lives on Participation Row. And after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, the band displayed pro-choice messages at its shows and even sold a “Save Our Rights” shirt benefiting women’s health organizations.
“We support artists being authentic,” Cahill says. “If an artist feels called to speak out … our job is to make sure they have all the information so that they can speak intelligently on the matter. I think we’ve done a really good job with that over the years. We have both protected our clients and amplified their positions.”
And the Dead’s members have, judiciously, supported political candidates. Weir, Lesh and Hart played a February 2008 benefit dubbed “Deadheads for Obama,” and that fall, Kreutzmann joined them for another pro-Barack Obama gig. This fall, both Weir and Hart publicly endorsed Kamala Harris. While “you don’t want to tell people what to do,” Hart explains, “there are some issues you must speak out [about] if you feel right about it and if you’re really behind it.”
Bob Weir, Phil Lesh and Mickey Hart backstage at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco at a rally for Barack Obama in 2008.
Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The San Francisco Chronicle/Getty Images
As the Dead nears its 60th anniversary in 2025 and adds its MusiCares honor to a lengthy list of accomplishments — induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, recipients of Kennedy Center Honors, a recording included in the Library of Congress, among numerous others — its surviving members are emphatic that this is far from a denouement.
“Obviously, they’re quite humbled and honored by it all,” Cahill says. But “they always see these things as something that you get at the end of your career, when you’re done. And of course, these guys don’t feel like that’s where they are in their career. They feel like they have a lot more ahead of them, and I believe they do.”
Rhino continues to mine the Dead’s vault for new releases — its ongoing quarterly archival Dave’s Picks series helped the band break a record earlier this year previously held by Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley for most top 40 albums on the Billboard 200 — and orchestrate merchandising partnerships from Igloo coolers to Nike shoes that ensure the ongoing omnipresence of the band’s iconography. (“We’re always open for business — if it feels right,” Pinkus says.)
Most importantly to Deadheads, Weir, Hart and Kreutzmann are all resolute that they’ll remain on the road as long as they can; in 2024, Weir toured with Wolf Bros and, along with Hart, staged Dead & Company’s 30-show Sphere residency, while Kreutzmann kept his livewire Billy & The Kids act alive with Mahalo Dead, a three-day November event near his home in Kauai, Hawaii. Last year, Weir toured supporting Willie Nelson, whom he’s shared bills with for decades — and who at 91 is 14 years his senior. “His hands don’t work as well as they used to,” Weir says. “Nor do mine. But as the years go by, you learn to help the music happen through force of will. And Willie is as good as he’s ever been.”
Willpower is something the Dead’s surviving members have in spades. “These guys have always been the outsider,” Cahill says. “They’ve flourished by being the outsider and by being a maverick and doing things their own way. Because they’ve written their own rules, they’re not beholden to anybody. They’re not looking for anyone’s approval, and they continue to write their own rules and to do things that inspire them.”
That core ethos is what has driven, and continues to drive, the Dead’s approach to both its business and its philanthropy — two things that, as the band is still proving to the industry at large, need not be mutually exclusive.
“I would like to be able to have people who disagree with me still be fans of the music or the art that I make,” Weir says. “But at the same time, I’ve got to be true to myself, and I expect that they have to be true to themselves as well.”
This story appears in the Dec. 7, 2024, issue of Billboard.
There are five categories devoted to R&B nestled in the R&B, rap and spoken poetry field at the 67th annual Grammy Awards. Yesterday, we previewed three of them — best R&B performance, best R&B song and best traditional R&B performance. Today, we preview the other two — best R&B album and best progressive R&B album.
Best R&B Album
The upcoming Grammy cycle marks the 30-year anniversary of the best R&B album category, and this year’s contenders range from seasoned veterans to new-gen stars.
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Two previous winners — Chris Brown (2012) and Lalah Hathaway (2017) — are in contention this year. Brown is seeking his third nomination in this category with 11:11 (Deluxe), which reached No. 9 on the Billboard 200 and spawned hits such as “Residuals,” “Sensational” (with Lojay and Davido) and “Summer Too Hot,” which earned a best R&B performance nod at the 2024 Grammys. Hathaway is also looking for her third nod in this category with Vantablack, her first solo studio album in seven years.
Between the Super Bowl and his blockbuster tour, Usher has had a very successful year, so a nod for Coming Home could be in play. Although he’s never competed in this category, he has won best contemporary R&B album (before it was discontinued in 2012) twice (2005 and 2011). Muni Long, who collaborated with Usher on the remix for her Grammy-winning “Hrs & Hrs,” is also a leading contender with her Revenge LP.
Though he won best progressive R&B album for Table for Two in 2022, Lucky Daye lost his previous bids in this category in 2020 (Painted) and 2023 (Candydrip). With Algorithm, his third studio album, the NOLA crooner could earn his third nod for best R&B album. Andra Day (Cassandra), Eric Benét (Duets), BJ The Chicago Kid (Gravy), Ledisi (Good Life) and Tyrese (Beautiful Pain) are all previous nominees in this category who are in contention this year — and all have yet to win. With four nominations to her name, Ledisi is tied with PJ Morton as the artist with the most nominations in this category without a win.
Eric Bellinger (The Rebirth 3: The Party & The Bedroom) and Kehlani (While We Wait 2) have both been previously nominated for best progressive R&B album. A nod in best R&B album for either star would be their first in this category. Kenyon Dixon earned his first solo Grammy nod at the 2024 ceremony, and he could earn a bid here for The R&B You Love.
Two more entries to keep an eye on: Dopamine, Normani‘s long-awaited debut LP, and The Color Purple (Music From And Inspired By), which features contributions from Grammy winners such as Alicia Keys, Fantasia, Tamela Mann, Usher, H.E.R., Coco Jones, Megan Thee Stallion, Missy Elliott, Mary Mary, Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, Mary J. Blige and Black Thought.
Our Fearless Forecast
We’re betting on: Coming Home (Usher), Revenge (Muni Long), 11:11 – Deluxe (Chris Brown), Good Life (Ledisi) and Vantablack (Lalah Hathaway).
Best Progressive R&B Album
Since this category was first established in 2013 (originally as best urban contemporary album), four artists have emerged as its most-nominated acts. Beyoncé, Steve Lacy, Terrace Martin and Miguel have each earned three nods. Queen Bey and The Weeknd are tied as the all-time winners in this category, with two wins each.
If Martin can pull off a nomination for his Alex Isley joint album, I Left My Heart In Ladera, he would become the sole most-nominated artist in the category’s history (four). Given his track record here, Martin is a surefire contender, as is NxWorries, the duo comprised of Anderson .Paak and Knxwledge; .Paak is an eight-time Grammy winner, including a win for best R&B album (2019, Ventura) and a nomination for best progressive R&B album (2017, Malibu). Hiatus Kaiyote (Love Heart Cheat Code), Childish Gambino (Bando Stone and The New World) and Kehlani (Crash) are all previous nominees in this category who could each earn their second bids. Chlöe has been nominated here twice as a part of Chloe x Halle, and though her debut LP, In Pieces, was passed over for a nod, she could earn her first solo nomination here for Trouble In Paradise.
Partynextdoor is one of the few artists to send an R&B album to the Billboard 200’s top 10 this year; a nod for Partynextdoor 4 would be his first Grammy nomination since 2017. Bryson Tiller (Bryson Tiller) and Tinashe (Quantum Baby) both had big hits this year with “Whatever She Wants” and “Nasty,” respectively; both are looking for their first nomination in this category. Also keep an eye on Rae Khalil, a .Paak protégé who’s vying for a nod with her debut LP Crybaby, and Ravyn Lenae, a critical darling who’s in contention with Bird’s Eye. And never count out Black Pumas, a band that has reaped seven Grammy nominations — though none have been in the R&B field.
Other artists to look out for: Durand Bernarr (En Route); Lizzen (On the Bus); Louis York (Songs with Friends) and Sampha (Lahai)
Our Fearless Forecast
We’re going with: Terrace Martin & Alex Isley (I Left My Heart In Ladera), Tinashe (Quantum Baby), NxWorries (Why Lawd?), Hiatus Kaiyote (Love Heart Cheat Code), Childish Gambino (Bando Stone and The New World)
There are five categories devoted to R&B nestled in the R&B, rap and spoken poetry field at the 67th annual Grammy Awards. Here, we preview three of them — best R&B performance, best R&B song and best traditional R&B performance. We’ll preview the other two — best R&B album and best progressive R&B album — later this week.
Best R&B Performance
Though a version of the category has existed since the very first Grammy ceremony in 1959, best R&B performance boasts a particularly tumultuous history. The awarded was given out annually until 1968, when additional categories divided by gender were introduced. Women and men would compete in separate R&B performance categories until a major overhaul ahead of the 2012 ceremony that combined the existing categories of best female R&B vocal performance, best male R&B vocal performance, best R&B performance by a duo or group with vocal and best urban/alternative performance.
Since the best R&B performance was streamlined and reintroduced in 2012, just three artists have won twice: Beyoncé (2015 and 2021), Bruno Mars (2018 and 2022) and Anderson .Paak (2020 and 2022). This year six artists have a chance to join that club, including defending champ Coco Jones, Muni Long, Usher, Corinne Bailey Rae, Lalah Hathway and H.E.R.
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Earlier this year, Jones triumphed with her Billboard chart-topping “ICU,” which spent four weeks atop Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay (chart dated May 27, 2023). For the current Grammy cycle, she’s in contention with a pair of tracks: her featured turn on BJ the Chicago Kid‘s “Spend the Night” and her own “Here We Go (Uh Oh).” According to the 2025 Grammys rulebook, an artist can only receive one nomination in best R&B performance, so Jones won’t be able to pull double duty here. Either way, her chances are strong; BJ is a seven-time nominee, while “Here We Go” became her second song to reach the top 10 on Adult R&B Airplay (No. 8).
Usher is another artist who will suffer from the “one nomination per artist” rule. A previous winner for “Climax” back in 2013, he’s back in contention with three songs: his guest appearance on Victoria Monét‘s “SOS (Sex On Sight),” his Color Purple H.E.R. duet “Risk It All,” and his own Pheelz-assisted “Ruin.” Given Monét’s three-Grammy haul at the 2023 ceremony and the chart-topping airplay run of “Risk It All,” either of those two tracks are the A-Town icon’s strongest shots. Similarly, H.E.R. could pull off a nod with either “Risk It All” or Lila Iké’s “He Loves Us Both,” but the former is her best bet.
Corinne Bailey Rae (2012) and Lalah Hathaway (2014) were the first two women to win this category since the 2012 restructuring. Bailey Rae could reap a bid for “Fly Away” (with Eric Benét), while Hathaway could earn a nod for “So in Love.” And then there was Muni Long. The 2023 winner of this category — for her breakout hit “Hrs & Hrs” — is in contention with a live version of one of the year’s biggest R&B crossover hits, “Made for Me,” which reached No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Several artists could earn their first nods in this category this year, including Tems (“Burning”), Leon Thomas (“Mutt”), Tinashe (“Nasty”), Ravyn Lenae (“One Wish”), Blxst (“Dancing With the Devil”), October London (“She Keeps Calling”), Partynextdoor (“No Chill”) and Normani (“All Yours”).
Some previous Grammy winners and nominees to keep an eye on: SZA (“Saturn”), NxWorries and Thundercat (“Keep Her”), Mary J. Blige and Fabolous (“Breathing”), Childish Gambino (“In the Night”), Chris Brown (“Residuals”), Chlöe and Halle (“Want Me”), Ledisi (“Good Life”), Lucky Daye (“HERicane”), PJ Morton (“Please Be Good”), Terrace Martin, Alex Isley and Robert Glasper (“I Left My Heart In Ladera”), Bryson Tiller (“Persuasion”), Marsha Ambrosius (“One Night Stand”) and Jeymes Samuel, D’Angelo and Jay-Z (“I Want You Forever”).
Our Fearless Forecast
There’s a chance the entire 2024 lineup could repeat, but we’re predicting: “Residuals” (Chris Brown), “SOS (Sex On Sight)” (Victoria Monét & Usher), “Saturn” (SZA), “Made for Me — Live on BET” (Muni Long) and “Keep Her” (NxWorries & Thundercat).
Best R&B Song
For the last five Grammy ceremonies, the nominees for best R&B song and best R&B performance haven’t overlapped much. In fact, the 2022 ceremony is the only instance this decade where three or more songs earned nods in both categories. As a reminder, best R&B song is awarded to the songwriter, while best R&B performance goes to the recording artist.
In addition to the aforementioned tracks, here are a few more songs to look out for. Halle pulled off a surprise nod with “Angel” last year and she could do it again with “Because I Love You,” which was co-written by RAYE. SZA triumphed here with “Snooze” last year, and both she (“Saturn”) and co-writer Leon Thomas (“Mutt”) are in contention this year. Beyoncé is the most-awarded songwriter (five) in this category, and she could earn her 10th nod here with her Dolly Parton-assisted “Tyrant.” Notably, as Parton is not a credited songwriter on “Tyrant,” she would not receive a nomination should the song make the final five. Bruno Mars has won here twice before (2018 and 2022), and he could earn a third nomination in this category thanks to Lucky Daye’s chart-topping “That’s You,” which he co-wrote with Daye and six-time Grammy winner D’Mile.
Since live versions are only eligible in performance categories, Muni Long is contention here with “Ruined Me,” the latest single from her Revenge album. That song has already become her fifth consecutive top 10 hit on Adult R&B Airplay and is gaining traction across social media. Like Long, Tinashe had a crossover R&B hit this year with “Nasty,” which could earn her the first Grammy nod of her career.
Some other names to look out for: Mavis Staples (“Worthy”), Brittany Howard (“I Don’t), Meshell Ndegeocello (“Love”), Sampha (“Only”) and Gary Clark Jr. & Stevie Wonder (“What About The Children”).
Our Fearless Forecast
We’re predicting: “Saturn” (SZA), “Because I Love You” (Halle), “That’s You” (Lucky Daye), “Nasty” (Tinashe) and “Tyrant” (Beyoncé & Dolly Parton).
Best Traditional R&B Performance
Since best traditional R&B performance — a category honoring recordings that adhere to classic R&B/soul sonic signifiers as opposed to more contemporary approaches to the genre — was first awarded in 1999, two artists have emerged as the all-time winners.
Beyoncé and Lalah Hathaway each have three wins to their name in this category. While Queen Bey does not have a song contending here this year, Hathaway could snag her fourth win if her Michael McDonald-assisted “No Lie” scores a nod. There are a number of high-profile duets to keep an eye on here, including Eric Benét and Tamar Braxton (“Something We Can Make Love To”), Chlöe and Ty Dolla $ign (“Might As Well”), Clark Jr. & Wonder (“What About the Children”), Keyon Harrold and PJ Morton (“Beautiful Day”), Kamasi Washington and BJ The Chicago Kid (“Together”) and Louis York and Tamia (“Three Little Words”). The Benét-Braxton team-up received a lot of love in R&B circles, and the Chlöe-Ty link-up highlights the perseverance of traditional R&B amongst the newest generation of crooners.
Muni Long’s name is sure to pop up across the R&B field this cycle, and “Make Me Forget,” which became her first Adult R&B Airplay chart-topper in August, is her entry in this category. Last year’s winners — PJ Morton and Susan Carol (“Good Morning”) — could return with solo songs of their own. Morton is contending with “I Found You,” while Carol entered “Karma.”
Some other names to look out for: Brittany Howard (“I Don’t”), Marsha Ambrosius (“Wet”), Jacob Collier, John Legend and Tori Kelly (“Bridge Over Troubled Water”), Kenyon Dixon (“Can I Have This Groove”), Meshell Ndegeocello (“Love”), Lucky Daye (“That’s You”), NxWorries, Snoop Dogg & October London (“FromHere”) and Usher (“Please U”).
Our Fearless Forecast
Here goes nothing: “That’s You” (Lucky Daye), “FromHere” (NxWorries, Snoop Dogg & October London), “Make Me Forget” (Muni Long), “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (Jacob Collier, John Legend & Tori Kelly) and “No Lie” (Lalah Hathaway & Michael McDonald)
Nicki Minaj‘s Pink Friday 2 topped the Billboard 200 and launched the highest-grossing female rap tour of all time — could it land the rap queen her first Grammy too?
Minaj has been nominated for best rap album twice in the past — in 2012 for Pink Friday and in 2016 for The Pinkprint — making her second-most nominated female rapper in this category behind Missy Elliott, who earned four nods between 1998 and 2006. Since the Recording Academy established best rap album in 1996, only two female rappers have won the honor; as a part of the Fugees, Lauryn Hill won in 1997 for The Score, and Cardi B triumphed with Invasion of Privacy in 2018.
A nod for Pink Friday 2 would mark Minaj’s first non-soundtrack nomination in nearly 10 years. Last year, she earned a pair of nods alongside Ice Spice and AQUA for their “Barbie World” collaboration from the Barbie soundtrack, but she hasn’t been recognized for her own work since The Pinkprint and its tracks earned three nominations at the 2016 ceremony. Notably, Minaj has yet to win a Grammy, but if Pink Friday 2 can repeat its victory at last week’s BET Hip-Hop Awards (Oct. 15), she may finally take home her very first gilded gramophone.
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In addition to Minaj, Elliott, Hill and Cardi, just two other female rappers have earned nominations for best rap album: Iggy Azalea (2015, The New Classic) and Rapsody (2018, Laila’s Wisdom).
This year, a number of female rappers could earn a nomination for best rap album. In fact, the 2025 ceremony could be the first time in Grammy history that multiple female rappers are simultaneously nominated for best rap album. Most of this year’s contending projects by female rappers also made inroads on the Billboard 200, including Doechii‘s Alligator Bites Never Heal (No. 117), Doja Cat‘s Scarlet 2 Claude (No. 4), Flo Milli‘s Fine Ho, Stay (No. 54), GloRilla‘s Ehhtang Ehhthang (No. 18), Ice Spice‘s Y2K! (No. 18), JT‘s City Cinderella (No. 27), Latto‘s Sugar Honey Iced Tea (No. 15), Megan Thee Stallion‘s Megan (No. 3) and Sexyy Red‘s In Sexyy We Trust (No. 17).
Out of those projects, Scarlet, Ehhthang Ehhtang, Megan and Sugar Honey Iced Tea have the strongest shot at a nod since Doja, GloRilla, Megan and Latto are all previous Grammy nominees. GloRilla, in particular, could pull off a nomination here thanks to her dominant year and the well-timed release of her debut studio LP, Glorious, which snagged the largest opening week total for a female rap album in 2024 during the last few days of first-round voting. Keep an eye on Doechii, as well; she has one of the most critically acclaimed hip-hop projects of the year and has been running a steady campaign, which included a recent co-sign from Grammy darling Kendrick Lamar. Of course, voters could opt for a project that didn’t hit the Billboard charts, but still stands on its own merit — Rapsody’s Please Don’t Cry. Already a three-time Grammy nominee, the North Carolina MC could pull off her second nod for best rap album, which would tie her with Minaj as the second-most nominated female rapper in the category.
Outside of the ladies, it was still a characteristically busy year for rap. With six wins to his name in this category, Eminem is the all-time winner here, and he could very well earn his eighth best rap album bid — and first in 10 years! — for his Billboard 200-topping The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce). Ye (the artist formerly known as Kanye West) could extend his record as the second-most nominated (eight) and second-most awarded (four) artist in this category if Vultures 1, his joint album with Ty Dolla $ign, earns a nod. This would be Ty’s first nod in this category. Both Em and Ye are vets, and it’s possible some of their peers join them as nominees this year. Common & Pete Rock are strong contenders with The Auditorium Vol. 1, and Killer Mike could bookend last year’s victory with a nod (and possible win) for Songs for Sinners and Saints. Also look out for Juicy J‘s Ravenite Social Club and Erick the Architect‘s I’ve Never Been Here Before.
Obviously, this year in rap was defined by Lamar — but he doesn’t have an album in contention this cycle. Nonetheless, We Don’t Trust You, the Billboard 200-topping Future–Metro Boomin joint album that served as Trojan horse for Lamar’s blistering “Like That” verse, is the clear frontrunner for a nomination here. This would mark the second nomination for both Future and Metro. Both artists have yet to win this category.
Both J. Cole, a recurring star in the Lamar-Drake showdown, and ScHoolboy Q, Lamar’s former TDE labelmate, could earn their third bids in this category with Might Delete Later and Blue Lips, respectively. Like Future and Metro, both Cole and Q are looking for their first victory here. Big Sean, another blog era big dog, could also earn his very first nod in the category with Better Me Than You. 21 Savage, who was nominated here last year alongside Drake for their Her Loss joint album, could earn his third nomination in this category with American Dream.
Also in contention: Don Toliver‘s Hardstone Psycho and Danny Brown‘s Quaranta.
Our Fearless Forecast
Which hip-hop albums will make the final five? Our predictions are: We Don’t Trust You (Future & Metro Boomin), Vultures 1 (Ye & Ty Dolla $ign), The Auditorium Vol. 1 (Common & Pete Rock), Blue Lips (ScHoolboy Q) and The Death of Slim Shady (Eminem).
If these predictions prove to be correct, this would be the sixth consecutive year that men have locked up all the nominations in this category.
Since the Recording Academy established the Grammy award for best melodic rap performance — named best rap/sung collaboration until 2017, and best rap/sung performance from 2018 to 2020 — in 2002, Rihanna has emerged as the most-nominated (nine) and most-awarded (five) woman in the category. This year, Beyoncé could earn her ninth nod in the category and match Riri’s record.
Of Rihanna’s nine career Grammy wins, five come from this category. She first won alongside Jay-Z for “Umbrella” back in 2008, and followed that up with four more victories: 2010’s “Run This Town (with Jay-Z & Kanye West), 2012’s “All of the Lights” (with West, Kid Cudi and Fergie), 2015’s “The Monster” (with Emninem) and 2018’s “Loyalty” (with Kendrick Lamar).
Beyoncé won this category in 2004 for “Crazy in Love” (with Jay-Z). Her other nominated songs in this category include 2007’s “Deja Vu” (with Jay-Z), 2010’s “Ego” (with West), 2012’s “Party” (with André 3000), 2014’s “Part II” (with Jay-Z), 2017’s “Freedom” (with Lamar) and 2018’s “Family Feud” (with Jay-Z). In 2006, she also earned a nod as a part of Destiny’s Child with “Soldier,” alongside Lil Wayne and T.I.
Trending on Billboard
This year, Beyoncé is in contention with “Spaghettii,” a country-rap hybrid that features record-breaking newcomer Shaboozey and oft-overlooked country pioneer Linda Martell. Thanks to the combined star power of the names attached and the cultural pull of Cowboy Carter and “A Bar Song,” “Spaghettii” could be Beyoncé’s first victory in this category in more than 20 years. A nod for “Spaghettii” would enable her to tie Rihanna as the most-nominated woman in this category; Shaboozey and Martell would also both earn their first nods in this category.
But what other songs could give “Spaghetti,” which peaked at No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100, a run for its money? Let’s break down the contenders.
Future and Metro Boomin‘s names will be all over the Grammy ballot thanks to their myriad submissions from We Don’t Trust You and We Still Don’t Trust You, both of which topped the Billboard 200 this year. In this category, they submitted the Weeknd-assisted title track from the latter album. The Weeknd won here in 2022 (“Hurricane”) and Future reigned victorious in 2023 (“Wait for U”), so two out of the three credited artists on “We Still Don’t Trust You” have a favorable history in this category. A nod for the synthy track would be the third for both Future and The Weeknd, and the first for Metro. Tommy Richman‘s No. 2-peaking “Million Dollar Baby” is probably the frontrunner here from a purely commercial standpoint, a nod here would be the first for the Virginia native.
Drake, who is currently tied with Beyoncé as the fourth-most nominated artist in this category, is in contention as a part of Sexyy Red‘s “U My Everything,” which peaked at No. 44 on the Hot 100. A nod here would be Sexyy’s first in any category; she is also in contention for best new artist this year. Justin Timberlake, a five-time nominee and two-time winner here, could score a nod for “Sanctified” (with Tobe Nwigwe).
At the most recent ceremony, Latto made history when “Big Energy” became the first live rendition to earn a nod in this category. This year she’s in contention with “Big Mama,” which could surprise with a nomination despite its No. 92 Hot 100 peak. Some other notable 2024 Hot 100 hits in contention include: Jordan Adetunji and Kehlani‘s “Kehlani” (No. 24), Flo Milli‘s “Never Lose Me” (No. 15), Offset and Don Toliver‘s “Worth It” (No. 90), Toliver, Charlie Wilson and Cash Cobain‘s “Attitude” (No. 58), Quavo and Lana Del Rey‘s “Tough” (No. 33), 21 Savage and Summer Walker‘s “Prove It” (No. 43) and Travis Scott, James Blake and Savage’s “Til Further Notice” (No. 38). A nod in this category would be the first for all aforementioned artists except for Wilson, Scott and 21 Savage. Scott and 21 Savage are both seeking their fourth nominations and first wins in this category, while Wilson is seeking his third nod here. Notably, if “Attitude” pulls off the win, Charlie Wilson would take home his very first Grammy — more than four decades after his first nomination.
Of course, there are some other songs to keep an eye on; their critical acclaim and name recognition can make up for what they lack in commercial success. Those songs include: Anycia and Latto’s “Back Outside”; Big Sean, Thundercat and Eryn Allen Kane‘s “Black Void”; Childish Gambino, Amaarae and Flo Milli’s “Talk My Shit”; Cordae and Anderson .Paak‘s “Summer Drop”; Doja Cat‘s “Acknowledge Me”; Erick the Architect and Lalah Hathaway‘s “Liberate”; Gunna‘s “Bittersweet”; Rapsody and Erykah Badu‘s “3:AM”; ScHoolboy Q and Jozzy‘s “Lost Times”; SiR & .Paak’s “Poetry In Motion”; Tems and J. Cole‘s “Free Fall” and Bryson Tiller‘s “Ciao!”
Keep an especially close eye on “Free Fall” — Tems (2023, “Wait For U”) and Cole (2024, “All My Life”) are the last two winners in this category — as well as “Black Void,” which features Eryn Allen Kane who won best rap song and performance last year for “Scientists and Engineers” alongside Killer Mike, Future and André 3000.
Our Fearless Forecast
So, which five songs could make up the next crop of best melodic rap performance nominees? Our picks are: “Spaghettii” (Beyoncé, Shaboozey & Linda Martell), “We Still Don’t Trust You” (Future, Metro Boomin & The Weeknd), “Free Fall” (Tems & J. Cole), “Attitude” (Don Toliver, Charlie Wilson & Cash Cobain) and “Million Dollar Baby” (Tommy Richman).