State Champ Radio Grammy Nominations
Trending on Billboard
When the Recording Academy announced the nominees for the 68th annual Grammy Awards on Friday (Nov. 7), details were scant in the category of best compilation soundtrack for visual media. The five nominated soundtracks were identified, but the only individual named was Timothée Chalamet for singing Bob Dylan’s songs on the soundtrack to A Complete Unknown.
On Tuesday (Nov. 11), the academy announced the rest of the credits in the category. Ryan Coogler landed his third career Grammy nod as one of the compilation producers for Sinners (along with Ludwig Göransson and Serena Göransson). Coogler was nominated in that same category two years ago for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. He was also nominated for best song written for visual media for co-writing “Lift Me Up” for that film.
Coogler wasn’t nominated in the latter category this year, but three songs from Sinners were – “I Lied to You,” “Pale, Pale Moon” and the title song. Only two other films have ever had three or more nominees for best song written for visual media since the category was introduced at the 1988 ceremony. Waiting To Exhale had three in 1997; Barbie had four two years ago.
Coogler is also very likely to receive Oscar nods for Sinners, which he directed, wrote and co-produced. He has received two Oscar nods to date – best picture as a producer of Judas and the Black Messiah and best original song for “Lift Me Up.”
The additional nomination brings Ludwig Göransson’s nominations count for this year to five, all for work on Sinners. He is also nominated for best song written for visual media (“Pale, Pale Moon” and “I Lied to You”) best score soundtrack for visual media (includes film and television) and best instrumental composition (“Why You Here / Before the Sun Went Down”). This ups Göransson’s career Grammy nominations count to 20. It’s the first nod for his wife, Serena Göransson.
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande were also named as nominees for best compilation soundtrack for visual media for Wicked. They were nominated last week for best pop duo/group performance for the musical’s most famous song, “Defying Gravity.” Erivo received an additional nomination last week for best arrangement, instrumental or a cappella for “Be Okay,” a song from her second studio album, I Forgive You. The additional nod brings Grande’s career Grammy nominations total to an even 20; Erivo’s to five.
Both stars received Oscar nominations for their roles in Wicked and may receive Oscar nods for Wicked: For Good. If they do, they’ll join a short list of actors who have received two nods for playing the same role in different films.
Stephen Schwartz was also named as a nominee for best compilation soundtrack for visual media for Wicked. He had received two other nominations for his work on the film last week – best score soundtrack for visual media (includes film and television) and best instrumental composition for “Train to Emerald City.” This ups his career nominations tally to 18.
The Recording Academy waits until the nominations are announced to fully research the nominees in this category and determine who meets their eligibility criteria. The 68th annual Grammy Awards will be presented on Feb. 1 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Here’s the complete list of nominees for best compilation soundtrack for visual media, with full credits added:
A Complete Unknown, Timothée Chalamet; Nick Baxter, Steven Gizicki & James Mangold, compilation producers; Steven Gizicki, music supervisor
F1® The Album, Various Artists; Brandon Davis, Joe Khoury & Kevin Weaver, compilation producers; David Taylor & Jake Voulgarides, music supervisors
KPop Demon Hunters, Various Artists; Spring Aspers & Dana Sano, compilation producers; Ian Eisendrath, music supervisor
Sinners, Various Artists; Ryan Coogler, Ludwig Göransson & Serena Göransson, compilation producers; Niki Sherrod, music supervisor
Wicked, Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande (& Wicked Movie Cast); Stephen Oremus, Stephen Schwartz & Greg Wells, compilation producers; Maggie Rodford, music supervisor
Trending on Billboard
The 2026 Grammy nominations were announced Friday (Nov. 7), with Bad Bunny, Sabrina Carpenter, Kendrick Lamar and Lady Gaga highlighting some of the biggest categories. Within the traditional Big Four categories — record of the year, song of the year, album of the year and best new artist — Interscope led all record labels with eight nominees among the 32 slots, giving parent company Universal Music Group (UMG) a commanding 21 of those 32 nods. What’s more, Interscope’s leadership structure means its total is even higher: Interscope Capitol includes Capitol (two nominations), Motown (two nominations) and the joint HYBE/Geffen partnership that signed KATSEYE (one nomination), meaning that Interscope Capitol led the way with 13 total nominations in those four categories.
Related
That marks the fifth time in the past eight years Interscope has led among labels. Interscope artists that received those nominations were Billie Eilish (record, song), Kendrick Lamar (record, song, album) and Lady Gaga (record, song, album). Capitol’s nominations were for Doechii (record, song), Motown’s came for Leon Thomas (album, best new artist) and KATSEYE’s nomination was for best new artist.
In second among labels with six nominations is Island Records, which achieved a few feats of its own. For the second year in a row, the label had two nominees for best new artist. This year, those two honorees are Olivia Dean and Lola Young, while last year, Carpenter and Chappell Roan were both nominated (Roan ultimately took home the award). Island — which led all labels last year, when Carpenter and Roan were both nominated in all of the Big Four categories — also saw additional nominations for Carpenter (record, song and album) and Roan (record), each of whom has received nominations in those categories for the second year in a row. Carpenter now joins Taylor Swift (who has done it twice) as the only artists to receive album of the year nominations in back-to-back years since the categories were expanded from five to eight nominees for the 2019 ceremony.
Related
Island is also part of a larger structure in REPUBLIC Collective, which encompasses Republic Records, Def Jam and more. REPUBLIC Collective, overall, received eight nominations, as “Golden” from the Kpop Demon Hunters soundtrack was nominated for song of the year for Republic Records and Justin Bieber’s SWAG album, released by Def Jam, was recognized for album of the year.
In third among labels is Atlantic, which got song and record nominations for ROSÉ and Bruno Mars’ “APT.,” as well as best new artist nominations for Alex Warren and The Marías. In fourth is Rimas, home to Bad Bunny, who saw his DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS album nominated for album of the year, while its title track “DtMF” got song and record nominations. Columbia also grabbed two nominations — album of the year for Tyler, The Creator’s CHROMAKOPIA and best new artist for Addison Rae — while Roc Nation Distribution got a nod for releasing Clipse’s album of the year-nominated Let God Sort Em Out and Warner Records kept its best new artist success alive with a nod for Sombr, marking the seventh best new artist nod the label has racked up in the past six years.
Among label groups, the aforementioned UMG dominated with 21 nominations, while Warner Music Group accounted for five, the indies collectively garnered four and Sony Music had two.
Trending on Billboard
Kendrick Lamar leads the 2026 Grammy nominations with nine nods, including album, record and song of the year. It’s the third time Lamar has been the leading nominee. He also led the field at the 2016 ceremony with 11 nods and at the 2019 ceremony with eight.
Lamar is followed on this year’s leaderboard by Jack Antonoff, Cirkut and Lady Gaga, with seven nods each; Bad Bunny, Sabrina Carpenter, Serban Ghenea and Leon Thomas, with six each; and Clipse, Doechii, Sounwave, SZA, Turnstile, Tyler, the Creator and Andrew Watt, with five each.
This is the third time Lamar has been nominated for album, record and song of the year in the same year. Bad Bunny, Carpenter and Gaga were also nominated in all three of those categories this year. It’s the second year in a row that Carpenter has managed that sweep, the first time Gaga has done it since 2010, and the first time Bunny has ever done it.
Lamar is the first solo artist from any genre to be nominated for album of the year with five consecutive studio albums. Donald Fagen was nominated with five consecutive studio albums, but that combines solo and Steely Dan projects.
Lamar also becomes the first rapper to receive five album of the year nods as a lead artist. He had been tied with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, with four album of the year nods. Lamar’s nods are for good kid, m.A.A.d. city (2014), To Pimp a Butterfly (2016), DAMN. (2018) and Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers (2023). Lamar was also nominated for the Black Panther soundtrack (2019), but not as a lead artist.
Lamar and SZA become the first occasional duet partners to receive two record of the year nods. They were nominated seven years ago for “All the Stars” and are nominated again for “luther.”
Bad Bunny is the first Latin artist to receive Grammy nods for album, record and song of the year in the same year. He is nominated in the album category for the second time with Debí Tirar Más Fotos, after first being nominated three years ago with Un Verano Sin Ti. These are the only all-Spanish-language albums to be nominated in the category. He is also nominated for record and song of the year with “DtMF.” The latter is the second all-Spanish-language song to be nominated for both record and song of the year, following Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito” (featuring Justin Bieber).
Bunny is also on track to become the first artist to be an album of the year contender in the same year that he was a Super Bowl halftime headliner since Justin Timberlake achieved both feats in 2004. JT was up for album of the year with his solo debut, Justified, and co-headlined the Super Bowl show with Janet Jackson, P. Diddy, Nelly, Kid Rock and Jessica Simpson. Bunny will be the first sole headliner (not part of a multi-artist show) who was nominated for album of the year in the same year that they headlined the Super Bowl show since U2 in 2002.
This marks the first time that three albums have been nominated for both album of the year and best rap album. Lamar’s album is joined in the finals in both categories by Tyler, the Creator’s CHROMAKOPIA and Clipse’s Let God Sort Em Out.
This was the year K-pop finally made its presence felt in the marquee categories. “APT.,” ROSÉ’s hit collab with Bruno Mars, is the first song by a Korean pop artist to receive a record of the year nod. “Golden,” from KPop Demon Hunters, is the first song co-written by a Korean songwriter, EJAE, to receive a song of the year nod. KATSEYE, the “global girl group” nominated for best new artist, includes one member from South Korea, YOONCHAE.
“APT.” is Mars’ seventh hit to receive a record of the year nomination. Billie Eilish received her sixth nod in the category (in just seven years) for “Wildflower”; Lamar his fifth for “luther.” (That makes him the first rap artist with five record of the year nods. He had been tied with Jay-Z with four each.)
Doechii’s “Anxiety” is the first song that samples a previous record of the year winner (“Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye featuring Kimbra) to be nominated for that same award.
Seven of the nominees for record of the year are also nominated for song of the year. The only difference between the two sets of nominees is that Chappell Roan’s “The Subway” is up for record and not song, while “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters is up for song and not record. It’s the first time there was just one difference in the two lists since the 2015 ceremony, when Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” (featuring Charli xcx) was up for record but not song, while Hozier’s “Take Me to Church” was up for song but not record.
Jack Antonoff had both good and bad news in this year’s nominations. He has two nominations in each of three high-profile categories – album, record and song of the year. That brings his career total of song of the year nominations to eight, which puts him in a tie with his frequent collaborator Taylor Swift for the most nods in the history of the category. But he was passed over for a nod for producer of the year, non-classical nod for the second year in a row.
The nominees for producer of the year, non-classical are Dan Auerbach (his fifth), Blake Mills (his third), Dijon (his second) and Cirkut and Sounwave (the first for each).
Amy Allen and Henry Walter also each have two song of the year nominees this year.
Leon Thomas is the only best new artist nominee who is also nominated in another “Big Four” category. His Mutt is vying for album of the year. Alex Warren, thought to be a sure thing for record and song of the year nods, wasn’t nominated in either category.
Three songs from Sinners are competing for best song written for visual media. Only two other films have ever had three or more nominees in this category. Waiting to Exhale had three in 1997; Barbie had four two years ago.
In best traditional country album, there is a rare instance of a parent and child competing in the same category. Willie Nelson, 92, is nominated for Oh What a Beautiful World. His son, Lukas Nelson, 36, is nominated for American Romance.
Barbra Streisand is nominated for best traditional pop vocal album for The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume 2, 62 years after she received her first three nods for The Barbra Streisand Album and its standout track, “Happy Days Are Here Again.” That puts her in a tie with composer John Williams for the longest span of Grammy nominations. Williams received his first nod in 1962 and his three most recent nods in 2024.
Streisand also received her 14th nomination in the category of best traditional pop vocal album – a category she has yet to win. Will this be her year? She’s competing with Laufey, who won in this category two years ago; Lady Gaga, who won twice for collabs with Tony Bennett; Elton John & Brandi Carlile; Jennifer Hudson; and Laila Biali, a Canadian jazz singer and pianist who has worked with Chris Botti and Sting.
The late pianist, composer and bandleader Chick Corea received two nominations, bringing his career total of nods to 77, a total topped by only four people in Grammy history: Beyoncé (99), Jay-Z (89), Paul McCartney (84) and Quincy Jones (80). Corea died in 2021 at age 79.
All of the nominees for songwriter of the year, non-classical, have been nominated in that category previously. This is the third nod for Amy Allen, Edgar Barrera and Jessie Jo Dillon; the second for Tobias Jesso Jr. and Laura Veltz.
As always, best audio book, narration and storytelling recording provided an eclectic batch of nominees. This year’s nominees are The Dalai Lama; Fab Morvan, the surviving member of Milli Vanilli; Supreme Court justice Ketanji Brown Jackson; comedian (and five-time Grammy host) Trevor Noah; and Kathy Garver, who played the oldest child on the 1960s sitcom Family Affair.
Final-round voting extends from Dec. 12 to Jan. 5. The 68th annual Grammy Awards will be presented at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Feb. 1.
The Recording Academy has withdrawn 2025 Grammy nominations for J-Kwon (Jerrell C. Jones), Joe Kent and Mark Williams, the writers of J-Kwon’s 2004 hit “Tipsy,” which is interpolated in Shaboozey’s megahit “A Bar Song (Tipsy).”
The genre-bridging smash received Grammy nods for song of the year and best country song on Nov. 8. If it wins either or both awards when the 67th annual Grammy Awards are presented on Feb. 2, the writers of the original “Tipsy” will receive certificates, not Grammy trophies.
The decision was made on Dec. 12, and was announced in the Academy’s Grammy Award Update Center, which carries this legend: “Each year, the Recording Academy makes adjustments to the nominations list as-necessary after the list is first published. Common changes are often the result of updated credits and may include spelling corrections, title modifications, and the addition of nominees who were not included in the original submission, among other revisions.”
Trending on Billboard
Grammy rules state that “songs that contain samples or interpolations are eligible” for song of the year. But they also make a distinction between songwriters of the new song (who are eligible for Grammys) and “publisher & songwriter(s) of sampled or interpolated material, if applicable),” who are eligible only for certificates.
“A Bar Song (Tipsy)” includes the lines, “One, here comes the two to the three to the four” and “everybody at the bar gettin’ tipsy,” which are borrowed from “Tipsy.” J-Kwon joined Shaboozey to perform the smash on the BET Awards on June 30. “BET, make some noise for Mr. Tipsy himself, all the way from St. Louis, J-Kwon,” Shaboozey said in introducing the rapper.
In a Q&A posted on April 26, the week the song entered the Hot 100 at No. 36, J-Kwon told Billboard’s Michael Saponara that he was very well compensated for the lift. “I got a crazy percentage… Let’s say it like this, we did that together, and I’m proud of him.”
“A Bar Song (Tipsy)” logged 19 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, which put it in a tie with Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” (featuring Billy Ray Cyrus) for the longest run at No. 1 in the chart’s 66-year history. “Old Town Road” also contains borrowed elements. It features a sample of Nine Inch Nails’ “34 Ghosts IV,” which was co-written by that band’s Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. “Old Town Road” wasn’t nominated for Grammys in songwriting categories, but it was entered for song of the year. The listing did not show Reznor and Ross as co-writers, which is consistent with Grammy rules. (“Old Town Road” went on to two Grammys — best pop duo/group performance and best music video — and was nominated for record of the year.)
If the Grammy decision is a disappointment for J-Kwon and his collaborators on “Tipsy,” they may want to head for the nearest open bar to drown their troubles. They may even be able to get a good song out of it.
Each year, the Recording Academy tweaks its Grammy nominations list with changes and corrections. That’s to be expected in a list of 94 categories, which contains hundreds of entries and thousands of names. When the nominations for best compilation soundtrack for visual media were announced a week ago, the information provided was incomplete; the Academy has now filled in those credits.
Film stars Ryan Reynolds and Bradley Cooper are among the nominees that category. (Cooper was listed as a nominee last week, but more information has been provided.) This is Reynolds’ second Grammy nomination. He was previously nominated in this category for Deadpool 2 six years ago. This is Cooper’s fourth nod. He is a two-time Grammy winner. He won in this category five years ago for A Star Is Born and also won for best pop duo/group performance for “Shallow,” his Hot 100-topping collab with Lady Gaga.
Interesting note: The directors of four of the films that are represented in this category received Grammy nods as soundtrack compilation producers. They are Blitz Bazawule (The Color Purple), Shawn Levy (Deadpool & Wolverine), Cooper (Maestro) and Emerald Fennell (Saltburn). (Lee Isaac Chung, the director of Twisters, which spawned the fifth nominee in the category, is not nominated for the soundtrack.)
Trending on Billboard
Stephen Bray is among the nominated compilation producers of The Color Purple. This is his seventh Grammy nomination; his third for this lucrative property. He was nominated for best musical theater album for the Broadway show in 2007 and won for best musical show album for a revival of the show in 2017. Fun Fact: Bray received his first Grammy nod in 1988 as a member of The Breakfast Club, nominees for best new artist.
Per long-established academy practice, names listed in parentheses are not nominees. They are shown just for identification purposes.
Here are the nominees for best compilation soundtrack for visual media.
The Color Purple
(Various Artists)
Nick Baxter, Blitz Bazawule, and Stephen Bray, compilation producers
Jordan Carroll and Morgan Rhodes, music supervisors
Deadpool & Wolverine
(Various Artists)
Dave Jordan, Shawn Levy & Ryan Reynolds, compilation producers
Dave Jordan, music supervisor
Maestro: Music By Leonard Bernstein
Bradley Cooper, Yannick Nezet-Seguin (London Symphony Orchestra), artists
Bradley Cooper, Yannick Nézet-Séguin & Jason Ruder, compilation producers
Steven Gizicki, music supervisor
Saltburn
(Various Artists)
Emerald Fennell, compilation producer
Kirsten Lane, music supervisor
Twisters: The Album
(Various Artists)
Ian Cripps, Brandon Davis, Joe Khoury & Kevin Weaver, compilation producers
Mike Knobloch & Rachel Levy, music supervisors
11/12/2024
They’re no doubt grateful for the nominations they received, but also probably surprised and maybe even stung by the ones that eluded them.
11/12/2024
Tears have been happily flowing from RAYE ever since she found out she scored her first three Grammy nominations on Friday morning (Nov. 8). The English singer-songwriter earned nods for best new artist, songwriter of the year, non-classical and best engineered album, non-classical for her work on Lucky Daye‘s album Algorithm. This marks the first […]
In recent years, the Grammys have served up several decisive sweeps (and head scratching omissions) that have dominated the conversation and led to some record labels celebrating huge wins in the Big Four categories of record of the year, song of the year, album of the year and best new artist. Within the past decade, Interscope Records emerged victorious in all four categories when Billie Eilish swept the top honors in 2020, while Atlantic’s Bruno Mars took three of the four in 2018, Columbia’s Adele did the same in 2017 and Capitol, through Beck (AOTY) and Sam Smith (BNA, ROTY and SOTY), swept them all in 2015.
What makes the full Big Four sweep particularly difficult is the best new artist aspect, in that rarely does an artist make such an impact with their initial breakthrough that they can win, or even get nominated in, the record, song and album of the year categories. It’s not unheard of — Eilish, Smith, Lizzo, Olivia Rodrigo, Amy Winehouse and Norah Jones have all been nominated in the Big Four categories in a single year this century, with Eilish and Jones sweeping the wins — but it’s not exactly common, either.
Trending on Billboard
Which makes this year particularly notable: Both Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan received nominations in each of the Big Four categories for the 2025 Grammy Awards, marking just the second time that two artists have achieved that in the same year. (Eilish and Lizzo both received them in 2020.) Even more, they’re both signed to Island Records, a historic achievement for a historic label.
With those eight nods — for Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” (record and song); Roan’s The Rise & Fall of a Midwest Princess (album); Carpenter’s Short N Sweet (album); Carpenter’s “Please Please Please” (song); Carpenter’s “Espresso” (record); and BNA for both — Island leads all labels in Big Four nominations, a huge moment for a label that had not been at that table at all in years.
Following Island is Interscope, which racked up seven Big Four nominations through a combination of Kendrick Lamar (record and song for “Not Like Us”), Billie Eilish (record and song for “Birds of a Feather,” album for Hit Me Hard And Soft), Jacob Collier (Interscope distributes his Hajanga label, which put out his album of the year-nominated Djesse Vol. 4), and Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga’s “Die With a Smile” (song), which came out on Interscope (Mars’ label Atlantic did play a role, but Interscope is the credited label).
Beyond Island and Interscope, many of the rest of the nominations were spread out among several labels. Receiving three nods apiece were Republic (album, record and song for Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department and “Fortnite”) and Columbia (album, record and song for Beyoncé’s COWBOY CARTER and “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM”). Elsewhere, EMPIRE (best new artist for Shaboozey and song for Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”) received two, as did Warner (best new artist for both Benson Boone and Teddy Swims), Atlantic (album for Charli XCX’s BRAT and record for Charli’s “360”) and Capitol (best new artist for Doechii and record of the year for the Beatles’ AI-assisted “Now and Then”). Lastly, Epic (album for Andre 3000’s New Blue Sun), dead oceans (best new artist for Khruangbin) and Human Re Sources (best new artist for RAYE) all received one nomination each.
Among the label groups, that means that the Universal Music Group — home to Island, Interscope, Republic and Capitol — racked up 20 of those Big Four nominations, far and away leading the sector. (Given UMG’s recent reorganization, the REPUBLIC Corps Collective claimed 11 nominations, while the Interscope Capitol Labels Group had nine.) Finally, Sony Music had five, Warner Music landed four, while the indie sector claimed three.
Once again, it’s Queen Bey’s world, we’re just living in it.Beyoncé made history on Friday (Nov. 8) when she landed 11 2025 Grammy Award nominations, setting a one-year record for nods for a woman artist. The Cowboy Carter star had previously shared the title with Lauryn Hill, who earned 10 noms in 1999; Bey got 10 as well in 2010.
She wasn’t alone in racking up multiple nominations, with Charli XCX, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar and Post Malone tied for second place with seven nods and Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan and Taylor Swift tied for third place with six nominations.
Records fell all over the place, with Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department marking her seventh album of the year nomination, helping her break a tie with Barbra Streisand for the woman with the most AOTY nods. Beyoncé also made history when Cowboy Carter got an AOTY bid, elevating the singer to the pole position on the list of Black artists with the most AOTY nominations as a lead artist; she was formerly tied with Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar on that list.
Bey has been up for the night’s top prize four other times, but to date has never won the award. In addition, Cowboy Carter has officially become the most Grammy-nominated album of all time, surpassing previous record-holders Michael Jackson’s Thriller and husband Jay-Z’s The Blueprint 3, which both earned 10 noms; her earlier albums Renaissance and Lemonade both earned nine AOTY nominations.
Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us” snagged record and song of the year nominations, putting the Compton MC in a tie with Jay-Z for the most noms in each of those categories by a rapper. Roan and Carpenter both racked up nominations in each of the Big Four categories – album, record and song of the year and best new artist – marking the third time in Grammy history that two artists have achieved that quadfecta in the same year.
Eilish ran up her fifth record of the year nomination for “Birds of a Feather,” making the singer the first artist in Grammy history to roll up five record of the year nods before turning 23; Eilish will turn that age on Dec. 18. Grammy darling Swift got her record-extending eighth song of the year nomination for co-writing the Tortured Poets single “Fortnight,” a category she has yet to win in. Swift co-wrote “Fortnight” with Jack Antonoff and Post Malone, whose nomination marks his second in that category.
“Fortnight” is also up for record of the year, with Posty scoring additional attention in best pop duo/group performance for his Cowboy Carter duet with Bey on “Levii’s Jeans,” as well as best country duo/group performance for his smash single “I Had Some Help” with Morgan Wallen, which also got a nod for best country song.
Charli XCX might celebrate her Brat summer next year thanks to a record of the year nomination for her single “360,” as well as AOTY notices for Brat and best pop solo performance for “Apple,” among other noms.
For the full list of this year’s nominees, click here. The 67th annual Grammy Awards will take place on Feb. 2 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Below, find the artists who have the most 2025 Grammy nominations.
The Recording Academy recently announced that 66% of its voting members have joined since 2019, when the academy adopted a peer-reviewed membership model. Harvey Mason Jr., the academy’s CEO, says the change in the membership can be seen in this year’s nominations.
Album of the year nominees include three albums from genres that are not in regular rotation in this top category – André 3000’s New Blue Sun, which is also nominated for best alternative jazz album; Charli XCX’s Brat, which is also nominated for best dance/electronic album; and Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, which is also nominated for best country album.
Mason took time on the eve of the nominations reveal to talk to Billboard about the nominations. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Trending on Billboard
In a press release, you were quoted saying “These nominations reflect the work of a voting body that is more representative of the music community than ever before.” Can you point to a specific nomination that illustrates that point?
I would start by looking at the General Field [which includes the Big Four categories – record, album and song of the year plus best new artist]. The reach of genres in those categories – country, rap, alternative jazz – is a direct reflection of the diversity of our membership.
66% of this year’s voters are new [since 2019]. More than 3,000 women voters have joined. People of color are now almost 40%. That is a stark difference from where we were about four or five years ago. Definitely, the tastes, the ears, the outcomes are going to change.
Back in July, I sent a very direct message to our voters. I asked them to please vote with purpose; vote with intention; vote with your ears. And I’m really, really pleased. It seems like they definitely did that.
I was a little surprised by The Beatles being nominated for record of the year for “Now and Then.”
You can never be surprised by The Beatles popping up. When I was nominated many moons ago [for Dreamgirls, nominated for best pop compilation soundtrack album for motion picture, television or other visual media], I thought I had that sucker won, and then The Beatles came along and snatched it [for Love, featuring music remixed for the Cirque du Soleil show of the same name].
To me, the AI is kind of the interesting part [of ‘Now and Then’]. It’s a great example of how AI definitely enhanced some creativity as opposed to creating a fake voice. This was a cool use of AI that I felt made a lot of sense and I’m pleased it’s been nominated.
Beyoncé was shut out in the nominations at the CMA Awards, a very credible show, and leads here with 11 nominations for the same album. How do you reconcile that?
I would reconcile it by saying our voters really resonated with the music. And it wasn’t just one group of voters. Because of our 10-3 rule, voters have to declare [no more than] three fields you’re going to vote in, so you’re not just wandering all over the ballot voting. Country voters voted for Beyoncé in country. Different voters voted for her in rap – she’s nominated for best melodic rap performance. It’s totally different subsets of voters. So, I think it’s really impressive.
Jack Antonoff co-produced two albums that are nominated for album of the year (Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet and Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department). He’s the only producer with two albums in that category, but he’s not nominated for producer of the year, non-classical. How do you explain that?
Yeah, that’s definitely different. I can’t speak for the voters. They each vote in their own way, but it’s something to look at.
This is the second year in a row you’ve had eight nominees in each of the Big Four categories. Before that, it was 10 for two years and before that it was eight for three years. Do you like eight?
I do because I think it gives us the opportunity to celebrate more music than five [nominees, which was the norm before 2018]; more diverse genres and to hear from a lot of different artists. I think maybe to get much higher than that, it starts to get confusing, too many to choose from for voters and maybe diluting the category. We’re trying to find the sweet spot, the right number. We’ll continue to look at it.
André 3000’s album wasn’t a big hit – it spent two weeks on the Billboard 200 last December – but it’s up for album of the year.
That’s hopefully reflective of the fact that they listened to the music and they’re not basing it on chart positions or fan reactions or streaming numbers. It’s really based on the quality of the music. You don’t know what’s going to resonate from year to year. This year, these eight albums resonated with our voters and I think they did a great job.
Cowboy Carter is the only country album up for album of the year and even Beyoncé wrote on Instagram, ‘This ain’t a Country album, it’s a Beyoncé album.’ We don’t have a Chris Stapleton or a Kacey Musgraves or a Lainey Wilson in there. It seems to me you’re perennially a little light on country. When you see the nominations every year, do you think ‘We need to work on this’?
I say that about a lot of things when I see the nominations – more so when I see our voting membership numbers. We’re always working on this. The membership team is working really hard, making adjustments to the membership so that we’re reflective of the music community. Yes, we’re working on balancing out different genres, and we’ll continue to do that work. But you’re not wrong.
