Grammys
When the Country Music Association presents the 58th annual CMA Awards on Nov. 20, it will mark the latest date on the calendar that the organization’s trophy event has ever been convened.
The late date set up a precedent when the Recording Academy unveiled the nominees for the 67thannual Grammy Awards on Nov. 8, the earliest announcement date in the history of that show’s cycle. It marks the first time that both the Grammy and CMA contests have simultaneously aligned: Each has announced its final ballot, but neither has revealed any of its winners.
As a result, the differences in the two institutions’ approaches to country are even more glaring than in previous years. Houston native Beyoncè is the clearest example of the dichotomy. Her country-hybrid album, Cowboy Carter, and seven of its tracks amassed 11 Grammy nominations, making her the leading finalist in the entire contest. Her portfolio includes entries in each of the four country-specific categories: best country song (“Texas Hold ’Em”), best country album (Cowboy Carter), best country solo performance (“16 Carriages”) and best country duo/group performance (“II Most Wanted,” featuring Miley Cyrus).
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But Beyoncè’s crossover material was entirely absent from the CMA ballot.
Cody Johnson I Credit: Chris Douglas
Conversely, fellow Texan Cody Johnson tied for second in the CMA hardware royale with five nominations, including slots among the finalists for male vocalist and album of the year (Leather). But his big-voiced traditionalism was left off the Grammy list.
The disparities between the two awards shows were built into their missions. The CMA is a Nashville-based trade organization devoted to promoting the country format, and it counts plenty of marketers, media and executives among its membership. Its origins date back to the late 1950s when Music City’s leaders united out of fear that the emergence of youthful rock’n’roll could destroy country’s very existence.
The Recording Academy is a multigenre institution centered in Santa Monica, Calif., that is primarily focused on the creatives in the business.
The academy and the CMA hold many common values and purposes, which means that they share plenty of nominees. This year, 10 artists appear on the CMA list and in the Grammy country field, including Lainey Wilson, Morgan Wallen, Shaboozey, Jelly Roll and Chris Stapleton.
But the organizations’ history and structures create some specific differences, too, and the ways in which they diverge have the greatest influence on the contrasts in their ballots. CMA voters, who represent a single format with a large bloc of members in the genre’s home city, operate with an air of protectionism.They tend to reward artists and projects that maintain country’s identity, even as they help the genre progress. They’re also prone to honor people they see on a regular basis, meaning the nominees mostly live in Music City or visit and mingle often. As a result, Megan Moroney, Parker McCollum, Lady A, Maddie & Tae, Brooks & Dunn and Old Dominion are all CMA contenders, though they didn’t quite make the Grammy ballot.
Grammy voters, following the dictates of creativity, are more likely to celebrate songs and artists that color outside the lines. The academy tends to champion specific artists for long periods of time, but even those Grammy favorites who have strong traditional roots — such as Willie Nelson and Kacey Musgraves, both of whom appear on the current ballot — arrived as rebel spirits. Likewise, the CMA has often celebrated country acts whose style straddles mainstream commercialism and left-of-center sounds, such as eclectic red-dirt artist Lyle Lovett, folky Mary Chapin Carpenter and honky-tonk firebrand Dwight Yoakam.
Traditional country icons George Strait and Alan Jackson further underscore the differences between the Grammys and the CMAs. They rank third and fourth on the all-time list of CMA winners, with 17 and 16 victories, respectively. But they have won only three Grammys between them.
Much was made about Beyoncè’s absence from this year’s CMAs, with a number of critics implying the snub was cold-stone racism in action. No doubt that played a role in some votes, but if that was the sole factor, it’s likely that neither Shaboozey -— who’s up for new artist and single of the year, with “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” — nor vocal duo nominees The War and Treaty would be on the ballot in the Nov. 20 ceremony.
To be certain, country has made a greater effort to support Black artists and executives in recent years. And many in the space were excited about the prospects of Beyoncè entering the country realm and perhaps expanding the genre’s audience.
But she announced quite pointedly that Cowboy Carter was a “Beyoncè album,” not solely a country release, and to many insiders, it sounds more like an artist playing with the sound than immersing herself in it. Given the choice, CMA voters — with their interest in maintaining country’s identity — were always likely to choose talents who seem like they’re committed to country over an artist dipping their toe in the water for one album. And in the fields where she seemed most likely to have a shot — album, single, song, musical event or female vocalist — it’s not like there’s a dud who doesn’t belong on the ballot.
By contrast, Post Malone spent plenty of face time with country creatives while making F-1 Trillion, investing himself in the culture and snagging four CMA nods in the process.
Ultimately, with CMA and Grammy nominees both waiting for the final results, the awards events’ differing views seem to embody the tug between tradition and progressiveness. The desire to protect the sound of the format is valid, as is the artful interest in pushing its limits and mixing it with other sounds and traditions.
The two awards shows, taken in combination, validate both viewpoints on the genre. Both shows, and both approaches to the music, are necessary. And welcome.
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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.)
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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
When the Eras Tour first started nearly two years ago, Taylor Swift‘s The Tortured Poets Department didn’t even exist. Now, the trek has just a handful of shows left, and the bestselling album is up for multiple Grammys.
At her Canada-leg kickoff concert in Toronto Thursday (Nov. 14) — the singer’s first performance since Grammy nods were announced the week prior — Swift took a moment during the night’s surprise song section to reflect on her 11th studio album’s success. “You guys did something over the course of the last few months,” she began, moments before diving into an acoustic-guitar mashup of “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys” and Reputation‘s “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things.”
“What you did with embracing Tortured Poets Department the album, it’s truly blown my mind,” she continued, as captured in fan videos. “Because it’s truly emotional to me. This album — I wrote it during the Eras Tour. I wrote that album, made that album, all trying to keep it a secret from you guys, and then announced the album. And we basically were working really hard to secretly put together a new chapter of the Eras Tour of The Tortured Poets Department, and we wanted to surprise you guys with it.”
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Swift then thanked her fans for being “so wonderful about digging into this album and understanding where I was coming from with it.” “Everything that happens is a direct reflection of the passion you show, and you guys got this album nominated for six Grammys,” she added. “So thank you.”
The “Anti-Hero” singer’s first of six shows in Toronto came six days after the Recording Academy unveiled its 2025 honorees, revealing that The Tortured Poets Department — which spent 15 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 — is in the running for album of the year. It makes Swift the woman with the most AOTY nominations ever, and follows her record-breaking fourth win in the category last year with Midnights, which made her the artist with the most AOTY wins in Grammy history.
This year, Swift is also up for record and song of the year for “Fortnight,” her Billboard Hot 100-topping duet with Post Malone, which also snagged her a Grammy nod for best music video. Plus, Tortured Poets is being considered for best pop vocal album, while the superstar’s Gracie Abrams collaboration, “Us,” is recognized in the best pop duo/group performance category.
Swift now has just a total of eight Eras Tour shows left before the culture-shifting trek concludes Dec. 8 in Vancouver, B.C. When it first started in March 2023, the three-hour-plus program was a very different show. Instead of the now-nightly Tortured Poets section that’s been in play since the album dropped in April, the performer used to sing extended selections from her first 10 albums. To make room for new tracks such as “Fortnight,” “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” and “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?,” Swift cut several of her older songs and combined her Folklore and Evermore sections into one.
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They’re no doubt grateful for the nominations they received, but also probably surprised and maybe even stung by the ones that eluded them.
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Alissia got some very good news on Friday, when she became only the ninth woman (or team of women) to receive a Grammy nomination for producer of the year, non-classical.
Alissia’s only previous Grammy nod was for production and songwriting work on the deluxe edition of Mary J. Blige’s Good Morning Gorgeous, which was nominated for album of the year two years ago. (Her full name, Alissia Benveniste, appeared on her songwriting credit for “Love Without the Heartbreak,” which she co-wrote with Blige, Anderson .Paak and Rogėt Chahayed.)
Her credits during the current eligibility year included tracks by Rae Khalil, BJ the Chicago Kid, Jamila Wood and Lion Babe.
The Recording Academy introduced the producer of the year, non-classical category at the 1975 Grammy ceremony. Thom Bell, one of the architects of the Philly Soul sound, was the inaugural winner. In all this time, no woman has ever won in the category, either on her own or as part of a collaboration.
It’s a very different story in the producer of the year, classical category. Three women have won multiple times in that category, which was introduced five years after producer of the year, non-classical. Judith Sherman has won seven times, which puts her in a tie with David Frost, Steven Epstein and Robert Woods for the most wins by anyone in the category’s history. Joanna Nickrenz has won twice (once alongside Marc Aubort). Elaine Martone has also won twice.
Alissia is competing this year with D’Mile (Dernst Emile II), who is nominated in the category for the third year in a row; Daniel Nigro, nominated in the category for the second year in a row; and fellow first-time nominees Ian Fitchuk and Mustard (Dijon Isaiah McFarlane).
Who will win when the 67th annual Grammy Awards are presented on Feb. 2 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles? Hard to say, but it won’t be Jack Antonoff, who won the last three years in a row, but wasn’t nominated this year.
Here are all the women who have been nominated for producer of the year, non-classical. The years shown are the years of the Grammy ceremonies.
Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman (1985)
Jimmy Carter is likely headed for the Grammy history books. The former president’s audiobook Last Sundays in Plains: A Centennial Celebration, is nominated for best audio book, narration and storytelling recording. If it wins on Feb. 2, Carter, 100, will become the oldest Grammy winner in history. That distinction is currently held by blues pianist Pinetop Perkins, who was 97 in 2011 when he won best traditional blues album for Joined at the Hip.
Perkins is followed by legendary singer Tony Bennett, who was 95 in 2022 when he won best traditional pop vocal album for Love for Sale, his second collab with Lady Gaga; George Burns, who was also 95 when he won in 1991 for spoken word or non-musical recording album for Gracie: A Love Story, a tribute to his late wife and comedy partner Gracie Allen; and Carter, who was a whippersnapper of 94 in 2019 when he won best spoken word album for Faith: A Journey for All.
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If Carter wins, this would be his fourth Grammy, which is more than any other president. He previously won in 2007 for Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis; in 2016 for A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety, and in 2019 for Faith – A Journey for All. Two other former U.S. presidents, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, have each won two Grammys.
Four of this year’s five nominees in the audiobook category are over 75. Funk legend George Clinton, nominated for …And Your Ass Will Follow, is 83; Barbra Streisand, nominated for My Name Is Barbra, is 82; Dolly Parton, nominated for Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones, is 78. The relative youngster in the nominations is Guy Oldfield, who produced All You Need Is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words. He’s 55. (The two living former Beatles — Paul McCartney, 82, and Ringo Starr, 84 — are not nominees.)
Carter has had the longest life of any U.S. president. That title was formerly held by George H.W. Bush, who was 94 when he died in 2018. Carter has also had the longest post-presidential retirement of any U.S. president (nearly 44 years). That distinction was formerly held by Herbert Hoover, whose retirement lasted more than 31 years. Both Carter and Hoover were one-term presidents, who were unseated by Ronald Reagan and Franklin D. Roosevelt, respectively. Their long retirements provided some consolation for their landslide losses.
Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars have a lot to smile about following the unveiling of the 2025 Grammy nominations Friday (Nov. 8), which saw the duo earn two major nods for their chart-topping collaboration “Die With a Smile.”
And on Sunday (Nov. 10), both pop stars reacted to the news with a passionate thank-you note to fans who supported the track. “I’m so grateful for these 2 GRAMMY NOMINATIONS! 😭” Gaga wrote on Instagram, sharing a photo of herself and Mars enjoying glasses of champagne.
“Because of our amazing fans we are so blessed to be nominated for Song of the Year and Best Pop Duo recording for Die With A Smile!!” the Joker: Folie à Deux actress continued. “@recordingacademy We love y’all! 😭Monsters and Hooligans did that! 🥂”
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In the comments, Mars added, “(Monsters 🤝 Hooligans) Thank you! We love you!”
Nominations for next year’s Grammy awards arrived about three months ahead of the Feb. 2 ceremony. Gaga and the Silk Sonic star share the song of the year category with Shaboozey, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, Kendrick Lamar and Beyoncé, while 2025’s best pop duo/group performance is split among “Die With a Smile” and “Us” by Gracie Abrams and Swift, “Levii’s Jeans” by Bey and Post Malone, “Guess” by Charli XCX and Eilish, and “The Boy Is Mine” by Ariana Grande, Brandy and Monica.
Gaga and Mars spent eight weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 and reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Die With a Smile” this year. Complete with a retro Nashville-themed music video, the track served as a standalone collaboration ahead of Gaga’s Joker 2 companion album, Harlequin, and upcoming seventh studio album. It also preceded Mars’ “APT.” duet with ROSÉ of BLACKPINK, which recently debuted atop the Global 200.
“This was a pure, organic thing that both these artists who respect each other so much wanted to do together,” songwriter Andrew Watt, who worked on “Die With a Smile” with the two superstars, told Billboard earlier this year. “This was about the love of making great music.”
Nominees for the best children’s music album award at the 2025 Grammys were revealed with the full announcement of Grammy nominations on Friday (Nov. 8). Among the artists named are three family-centered acts with previous nominations in the category — Lucky Diaz and The Family Jam Band, Lucy Kalantari & The Jazz Cats and Divinity Roxx and Divi Roxx Kids — plus newcomers to the category, John Legend and Rock for Children (in collaboration with Alice Cooper).
The 67th annual Grammy Awards are set for Feb. 2, 2025 at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena. The event will be broadcast on CBS and streamed live and on demand via Paramount+.
For parents and kids who are curious about the children’s albums up for a Grammy at the 2025 ceremony, here’s an introduction to all five nominees from Billboard Family.
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Divinity Roxx, pictured in the jubilant photo above, is Beyoncé’s former bassist and musical director, and the composer and performer of the Lyla in the Loop theme song on PBS. Divinity Roxx and Divi Roxx Kids are up for the best children’s music album Grammy for the album World Wide Playdate, an upbeat collection of songs celebrating friendship, family, self-empowerment and going after your dreams that’s inspired by ’90s hip-hop and fit for a family party. It’s Divinity’s second time receiving a nod in the category following a nomination at the 2023 Grammys for Ready Set Go!, her debut children’s album.
“I am proud to create music that inspires, empowers and encourages future generations and I am overjoyed and honored that my peers in the Recording Academy recognized the power of positivity in World Wide Playdate. Mom says always expect a Miracle and right about now we all need one,” Divinity tells Billboard Family, after receiving the news on Friday that she’s a Grammy nominee again.
Lucy Kalantari & The Jazz Cats‘ Creciendo — Kalantari’s first full-length, Spanish-language children’s album — is nominated for best children’s music album at the 2025 Grammys following Kalantari’s previous two Grammy wins: All the Sounds was named best children’s album in 2019, and All the Ladies took home the best children’s album honor in 2021. Creciendo means “growing up” in Spanish, and that’s the sweet theme of this new collection by Kalantari, who was raised by immigrant parents from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Drawing from her family’s roots, she even brings her own child on as a guest (playing cello in the album) on this album, a musical fusion of Latin and jazz.
“I’m moved to bits to have my Spanish album Creciendo nominated for a GRAMMY!” Lucy Kalantari tells Billboard Family following Friday’s Grammy nominations announcement. “It’s so wonderful to be nominated along side such incredible artists! I truly hope this nomination can help bring my big messages of joy, community and resilience to families all over the world.”
Lucky Diaz and The Family Jam Band receive their third Grammy nomination for best children’s music album this year with Brillo, Brillo!, having previously been nominated in the category for Crayon Kids at the 2023 Grammys and Los Fabulosos at the 2022 event. Also four-time Latin Grammy nominees, the husband-and-wife musical team (Lucky Diaz and Alisha Gaddis) have won twice in the best Latin children’s album category: they’re award winners for ¡Fantastico! in 2013, and for Buenos Diaz in 2019 under the name The Lucky Band. With this year’s Brillo, Brillo!, they bring bilingual, whimsical pop-rock to the family-centered music space.
The band tells Billboard Family they are “deeply honored” by their latest Grammy nod: “This nomination is historical for our band — with seven nominations and two wins across the Latin Grammy and Grammy spaces, we’re the most nominated in the children’s category. That’s huge. This means that families continue to welcome us into their homes, year after year after year, and trust us to entertain their children. This is an honor we don’t take lightly, even though children’s music is full of silly joy and delight!”
They are also offering a warm welcome to a familiar name who’s brand-new to the children’s category: “Thrilled to welcome the legend, John Legend, into the category. Obviously, he is a talented star who we love — so it’s fabulous that he will bring more eyes to our category.”
John Legend has a longtime history with the Grammys, including 12 wins, but is a first-timer to the best children’s music album category with his debut children’s set, My Favorite Dream. The singer-songwriter, whose Sufjan Stevens-produced album is a mix of sweet originals and Legend’s version of children’s classics, was influenced by life at home with his young kids (two of which make musical cameos, as does wife Chrissy Teigen). He shared a statement about the Grammy nomination on Instagram, where he wrote, “My Favorite Dream holds a very special place in my heart. It’s my first children’s album, inspired by the heart of our family. Working alongside the incredibly gifted @sufjan brought this dream to life in ways I could have never imagined.”
Legend, whose album track “Always Come Back” is also up for the best arrangement, instrumentals and vocals Grammy with string arranger Matt Jones, gave a shout-out to his peers in children’s music.
“Thank you to the @recordingacademy for recognizing our labor of love, and thank you to the Children’s Music community for welcoming this rookie into your beautiful world. These nominations aren’t just for me and my family — they’re for everyone who believes in the magic of music, family, togetherness and L-O-V-E.”
Rock for Children receive their first Grammy nomination with Solid Rock Revival‘s nod in the best children’s music album category at the 2025 awards. Those unfamiliar with the collection, which was recorded with young musicians from an after-school teen center, might be intrigued to learn Alice Cooper is heavily involved with the album, and even guests on six tracks; other classic rockers playing on the project include Rob Halford and Slash, and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels of Run-DMC also makes an appearance. Proceeds from the album benefit Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Teen Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with bringing free music and arts programs to local aged 12-20, and the Norelli Family Foundation.
“It’s a takeoff on our own stuff,” Cooper, who’s been nominated for a Grammy three other times throughout his career, told The Arizona Republic of the Solid Rock Revival project earlier this year. “Instead of ‘I’m Eighteen,’ it’s ‘I’m Thirteen.’ ‘School’s In.’ And ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy’ is ‘Now, I’m Mr. Nice Guy.’ It’s kind of a positive take on the stuff we used to do.”
See the roundup of 2025 Grammy nominations for best children’s music album nominees below, and find the complete list of nominees in all categories here.
2025 Grammy Nominations: Best Children’s Music Album
Brillo, Brillo!, Lucky Diaz and The Family Jam Band
Creciendo, Lucy Kalantari & The Jazz Cats
My Favorite Dream, John Legend
Solid Rock Revival, Rock for Children
World Wide Playdate, Divinity Roxx and Divi Roxx Kids
Sabrina Carpenter earned her first-ever Grammy nominations — six, actually — when the Recording Academy announced their picks for the 2025 ceremony on Friday morning (Nov. 8). The “Please Please Please” singer took to Instagram to celebrate, sharing a series of videos of herself on her tour bus with her team finding out about the […]
Even though Beyoncé made history when the 2025 Grammy nominations were announced on Friday (Nov. 8), she turned the spotlight to another “queen” — Linda Martell. Martell is nominated for best melodic rap performance alongside her and Shaboozey with “Spaghetti” from Beyoncé’s eighth studio album Cowboy Carter. Outside of “Spaghetti,” the pioneering country artist delivered […]