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Now that Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department has entered the Billboard 200 at No. 1 and smashed sales records, thoughts turn to its next big test – how it will fare with Grammy voters.
If it is nominated for album of the year, Swift will become the first woman to receive seven album of the year nods, breaking out of a tie with Barbra Streisand, who received six nods from 1964-87. (All years in this story refer to the year of the Grammy ceremony.)
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Swift would be the sixth artist to land seven or more album of the year nominations – and just the second artist to reach that mark strictly with solo albums.
Paul McCartney is the leader with nine album of the year nods – five with The Beatles, one (Band on the Run) with Paul McCartney & Wings and three as a solo artist.
Frank Sinatra and George Harrison are next in line with eight album of the year nods. Sinatra scored with seven solo albums and one collab, Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim. Harrison scored with five Beatles albums; a solo album (All Things Must Pass); an all-star live album, The Concert for Bangla Desh, which was credited to George Harrison & Friends; and a Traveling Wilburys album (Volume One) on which he teamed with Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne.
Paul Simon follows with seven album of the year nods –- two with Simon & Garfunkel (Bookends and Bridge Over Troubled Water) and five on his own. Swift, if nominated, would pull into a tie with Simon for third place.
Swift’s last three studio albums, not counting her Taylor’s Versions re-recordings, were nominated for album of the year, though one of them just barely made it. The Recording Academy confirmed the accuracy of a New York Times report that Evermore placed ninth or 10th in the voting and was nominated only because, at the eleventh hour, the Academy expanded the field of nominees in each of the Big Four categories from eight to 10 that year (2022). After keeping the number of nominees at 10 the following year, the Academy returned to eight nominees in each of those categories for the telecast in February and will presumably hold it at that number for next year’s telecast, so Tortured Poets will have to do better than Evermore to be nominated. (Fittingly, that was a rather “tortured” explanation.)
If Tortured Poets is nominated, Swift will become the first artist to receive album of the year nominations with four consecutive official solo studio LPs since Kendrick Lamar (Swift’s colleague on “Bad Blood,” a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100) scored with good kid, m.A.A.d city, To Pimp a Butterfly, DAMN. and Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers. The last artist before Lamar to achieve this feat was Billy Joel, who scored with 52nd Street, Glass Houses, The Nylon Curtain and An Innocent Man.
It’s of course way too early to know with any certainty if Swift will be nominated. Compared to Swift’s recent releases, the new album has drawn somewhat mixed reviews. The album has a 76 rating on Metacritic.com, the review aggregation site. That’s a bit below the marks registered by her four previous studio albums (excluding Taylor’s Version albums). Lover had a 79, folklore an 88, and evermore and Midnights, both an 85. (An expanded version of the new album, dubbed The Anthology, has a lower rating, 69.)
Billboard’s Jason Lipshutz took stock of Swift’s album in a thoughtful review headlined, “Taylor Swift’s ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ Is Messy, Unguarded and Undeniably Triumphant: Critic’s Take.” Here are the first four paragraphs from Lipshutz’s review, which posted on April 19, the day the album was released.
“One of the constants of Taylor Swift’s storied career has been the chances she’s taken at the precise moment when taking a chance wasn’t necessary. She was a country superstar who didn’t need to go pop; she was less than a year removed from a major pop album and didn’t need to take an indie-folk detour; she was in the middle of a blockbuster run of new albums and didn’t need to re-record her old ones.
“Time and again, Swift has identified artistic opportunities that other stars would have blanched at (or at the very least, set aside for a different time, so as to not muck up any professional momentum), and she has leapt into them fearlessly, always coming out on top.
“So right now — in the middle of a mega-selling stadium tour, after a record-breaking fourth album of the year Grammy win, in a high-profile new romance and at the commercial zenith of an already all-time career — is, naturally, the time Swift has chosen to release a knowingly messy, wildly unguarded breakup album.
“She didn’t have to do this! But then again, making an album like The Tortured Poets Department is exactly what separates Swift from her more careful peers. Challenging herself to shape-shift, to accomplish something new at the moment anyone else would rest on their laurels, is what makes her so fascinating.”
Other albums that are seen as front-runners for album of the year nominations include Beyoncé‘s Cowboy Carter, Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine and Bad Bunny’s Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Manana. Upcoming albums that are seen as likely prospects include Dua Lipa’s Radical Optimism (due May 3) and Billie Eilish’s Hurt Me Hard & Soft (due May 17). The eligibility period ends Sept. 15.
If both Beyoncé and Swift are nominated, this will be the second time the two superstars have faced off in this category. In 2010, Swift’s Fearless beat Bey’s I Am…Sasha Fierce.
Could Swift possibly win her record-extending fifth award in the category? I have learned to never say never, especially when it concerns Swift at the Grammys. But more than a few Grammy watchers would howl if Swift won a fifth album of the year award before Beyoncé won her first in the category.
It would probably be better for Swift if she lost the big one and was seen leading the cheers for Beyoncé. If that does happen – and at this moment, it seems the likeliest scenario – this would be the third time in Grammy history that there has been a reversal of fortune in the top category, where there was a different outcome in a rematch.
At the first Grammy Awards in May 1959, Henry Mancini won album of the year for The Music From Peter Gunn, his jazzy score to the TV detective series of the same name. It beat a pair of Frank Sinatra albums, Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely and Come Fly With Me. (Did the double nominations cause Sinatra to “split his votes”? We’ll never know for sure, but the rules have since been changed so that an artist can be nominated with only one album as the lead artist in any one year.)
Mancini and Sinatra competed again at the second Grammy Awards in November 1959 (yes, there were two ceremonies that year) with the opposite result. Sinatra’s Come Dance With Me! beat More Music From Peter Gunn, a sequel to Mancini’s album.
Sinatra and The Beatles competed for album of the year three years in a row, 1966-68. Sinatra’s highly regarded thematic album September of My Years (which contained the classic “It Was a Very Good Year”) won the award in 1966, beating The Beatles’ Help! soundtrack. Sinatra’s A Man and His Music, a two-disc career retrospective, won the award in 1967, beating The Beatles’ Revolver. (That victory by Ol’ Blue Eyes is harder to defend, since his album was a career recap, and Revolver was another step forward by a group that was growing by leaps and bounds.) In 1968, The Beatles’ landmark album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band beat Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim, the singer’s widely admired collab with the architect of the bossa nova sound.
Swift co-produced her new album with Jack Antonoff, Aaron Dessner and Patrik Berger. Antonoff has been nominated for producer of the year, non-classical the last five years running – and has won the last three years in a row.
If Antonoff is nominated again this year, he’ll be the first producer or production team to be nominated six years in a row since Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, who were nominated each year from 2001-2006. Moreover, if he is nominated again, Antonoff will become one of just five producers or production teams to land six or more producer of the year nods (whether consecutive or nod). He will join Jam & Lewis (11 total nods), Quincy Jones (eight), David Foster (eight) and Babyface (six).
If Antonoff wins in that category again early next year, he’ll become the first producer to ever win four years in a row. Babyface is the only producer to win four times – in 1993 (with L.A. Reid) and then on his own from 1996-98.
Watch Latin American Music Awards
The American Music Awards, a fixture on ABC from 1974 to 2022, is moving to CBS. The first show on its new network is set for Sunday, Oct. 6, live on both coasts at 8:00 p.m. ET and 5:00 p.m. PT and streaming on Paramount+.
The official announcement was made on Friday (April 26) by CBS and Dick Clark Productions (DCP), which is producing the 2024 AMAs. Nominees are based on key fan interactions as reflected on the Billboard charts – including streaming, album sales, song sales and radio airplay.
The AMAs are the third major awards show that CBS has picked up in the past few years, following the CMT Music Awards (in 2022) and the Golden Globes (earlier this year, having previously broadcast the show in 1981-82). CBS has also been the long-time home of the Grammy Awards (since 1973), the Tony Awards (since 1978) and the Kennedy Center Honors (also since 1978).
With the AMAs leaving ABC, the Oscars are ABC’s longest-running awards show. The Oscars moved from NBC to ABC in 1976.
The AMAs were created as a fan-based alternative to the Grammys. The first two Grammy live telecasts in March 1971 and March 1972 aired on ABC. When the Grammys shifted to CBS for the March 1973 telecast, ABC looked for a show to fill that void and went with Dick Clark’s fan-based show.
In December 1973, Clark was working on the first AMAs, which would launch on Feb. 19, 1974. The veteran producer knew a little publicity couldn’t hurt, so he found time for an interview with Billboard’s Bob Kirsch which ran on page one of the Dec. 15, 1973 issue under the headline “ABC-TV Slates Favorite Acts’ Awards Feb. 19.”
At the end of the piece, Clark attempted to take the long view of his fledgling show and said “If this is done properly, we may have a show that will last 20 years and will finally get the general public involved in popular music awards.”
Clark underestimated the longevity of his own creation. This year’s AMAs will be the 51st (there were two shows in 2003).
That first show ran just 90 minutes. It has been allotted three hours for many years, though this year’s show length has not been announced. The show in the first five years had a tight focus on three broad genres – pop/rock, soul/R&B and country. It now recognizes far more genres, including hip-hop, Latin, inspirational, gospel, Afrobeats and K-pop.
But, for the most part, the vision that Clark outlined to Kirsch 50 years ago still guides the show.
“This is probably the first time a major effort has been made to sample the U.S. public music taste through popular vote. … To date, we have received extremely favorable response from those in the music industry we have talked to about the show. They seem delighted at the opportunity to be honored by the music-buying public.”
Helen Reddy, Smokey Robinson and Roger Miller co-hosted that first show – each representing one of the three main genres. Reddy, who was red-hot at the time, was also the inaugural winner of favorite pop/rock female artist. Clark was executive producer of that first show. Bill Lee was producer. John Moffitt directed.
Clark, a master showman, was a legend in both music and television. He received a trustees award from the Recording Academy in 1990 and was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1992. He died in 2012 at age 82.
DCP is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a Penske Media Corporation (PMC) subsidiary and joint venture between PMC and Eldrige. PMC is the parent company of Billboard.
Watch Latin American Music Awards One thing you cannot say about the 2024 Latin AMAs, which aired live last night on the Univision network, is that they lacked guts. Beyond its 21 performances on the evening, the awards featured many up and coming acts, as well as a group of hosts that included two music […]
The Latin American Music Awards 2024 are a wrap, but the best looks on the red carpet must be immortalized. Mexican-American star Becky G, who co-hosted the ceremony, which took place live from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on April 25, was among the first to arrive. Shining bright in a sparkly cutout mermaid […]
Karol G and Feid have swept the 2024 Latin American Music Awards, taking six trophies each on Thursday night (April 25).
The former nabbed the coveted artist of the year, song of the year (“TQG” with Shakira), and album of the year (Mañana Será Bonito); whereas the latter took home collaboration of the year (“Yandel 150” with Yandel), global Latin song of the year, and streaming artist of the year, to name a few accolades.
Other top winners included Shakira and Young Miko with three awards each; and with two awards each, Marshmello, Peso Pluma, RBD, Romeo Santos, and Yandel, who also swept the special Latin AMA Pioneer Award for his contributions to the reggaetón movement. (See complete winners list here)
Under the theme “We Speak Música,” the awards ceremony broadcasted its first-ever bilingual edition co-hosted by Thalia, Becky G, Alejandra Espinoza, and Carlos Ponce.
“It’s my first time coming to one of these awards shows and not feeling ashamed of being a Pocha, speaking in Spanglish,” Becky exclusively told Billboard ahead of her co-hosting opportunity. “The fact that this is a historical moment that I get to be a part of, for me, brings me so much pride.”
The Latin AMAs aired live at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday, April 25, from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas via Univision, UNIMÁS, Galavisión and ViX.
Meanwhile, Billboard was backstage at the red carpet and media center catching all the things you missed on TV, such as Jay Wheeler celebrating his 30th birthday with press, and more. Check them out below:
Morat Talks Grupo Frontera
Deservingly so, Banda MS was honored with the Legacy AMA at the 2024 Latin American Music Awards.
The special award recognized the band’s more-than two decades of artistic career that began in 2003 in their native Sinaloa and eventually saw them become one of the biggest exponents of regional Mexican music around the world.
Presented by Eslabon Armado and Joss Favela, Banda MS took the stage to deliver an emotional speech, acknowledging the new generation of regional Mexican hitmakers. “More than 21 years ago, we started a dream in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, to be able to take this music to all the corners of the world, to fight for a purpose,” said frontman Oswaldo Silvas.
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He continued: “Not just to take the name of a band, but the name of the regional Mexican music, of a genre, all over the world. We have not yet achieved the purpose but we are still in the fight. The new generations have to achieve more than what we have achieved. Here we have a generation of musicians who have taken music to a new level and at home there is another generation that will take the genre to a higher level. To all those people who think we deserve this, thank you. Long live music, long live Mexican music.”
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Later that night, Banda MS — backed by their live musicians that power their banda sinaloense signature sound — took the stage to perform a show-stopping medley with real star power, bringing out artists like Carin León and A.B. Quintanilla. They kicked off with their latest hit, “Tu Perfume,” and were then joined by Los De La S for “Somos Los Que Somos.” Then, León joined the group to sing their collab “Ojos Cerrados” and Banda MS wrapped with special guest A.B. Quintanilla to sing the the party anthem “Es Viernes.”
The 2024 Latin American Music Awards took place Thursday, April 25, live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas via Univision. Hitmakers Feid and Peso Pluma lead this year’s list of nominations with 12 nods each. The Colombian singer and Mexican star, who are up for the coveted artist of the year award and album of the year award, are followed by top nominees Bad Bunny (11), Grupo Frontera (11), Karol G (9), Shakira (9), Eslabon Armado (8) and Fuerza Regida (8).
Thalia, Becky G, Alejandra Espinoza and Carlos Ponce co-hosed the award ceremony that presented in a combination of English and Spanish, marking the first time any major U.S. award show featured a bilingual broadcast.
We can’t remember the last time anthemic pop/rock made it onto a Latin music awards show. But after watching Morat perform at the Latin AMAs 2024, all we can say is: Let’s bring on some more of this. The Colombian power quartet, who are in the midst of a global tour, performed their new single, […]
Dripping in diamonds and donning all-black, Peso Pluma and Arcángel took the stage at the 2024 Latin American Music Awards to perform their joint single “Peso Completo.” Accompanied by 2 dozen black-clad people with their faces covered and standing in two rows amid scaffolding — and exuding mysterious vibes — the Mexican and Puerto Rican superstars […]
Ricardo Montaner is a synonym for romanticism, delivering some of the best love songs in Latin music. For that, and his many decades in music, the Venezuelan singer-songwriter was honored with a special award for his extraordinary artistic legacy at the 2024 Latin AMAs on Thursday (April 25). Before hitting the stage for a riveting […]
Carín León, fresh from announcing his upcoming tour and news that he’ll be opening up one of The Rolling Stones’ shows, performed a sparse yet totally satisfying rendition of his recently released single “Cuando La Vida Sea Trago” on the 2024 Latin American Music Awards on Thursday night (April 25). León, wearing his cowboy hat, […]
