Grammys
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The Recording Academy’s approach to dance/electronic music has long been a mixed bag, with the Grammys attempting to cram the genre’s often extremely different sounds and styles into its pair of dance/electronic categories for best recording and album.
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Now the Recording Academy has taken a major step forward in its approach to the expansive genre with its addition of best pop dance recording. On Tuesday (June 13), the academy announced this new category, along with other new categories for best African music performance and best alternative jazz album.
“This is the biggest victory for dance music at the Grammys in almost 20 years, since the addition of the dance album category in 2005,” says Matt Colon, the former Chairman of the dance/electronic screening committee at the Recording Academy, and also the president of YMU Music and Steve Aoki’s longtime manager.
Indeed for the dance world, this is a big deal. While the collision of house, EDM, IDM, indie electronic and other dance subgenres have made for strange nominee bedfellows over the years, nowhere has the Grammys’ dance/electronic culture war been so acute as with pop dance (or “dance pop,” as the genre is more commonly referred to), the style that rides the line between the two genres with big melodies, center-of-attention vocals and traditional pop structures. In 2005, for example, Britney Spears’ “Toxic” competed with The Chemical Brothers’ “Get Yourself High” for best dance/electronic recording. Spears won.
With the addition of the best pop dance category for 2024, the Grammys are essentially creating a new home for pop-centric dance music at the awards. In doing so, the academy is providing an official space for these kinds of artists while preserving its other two dance/electronic genres for artists and recordings from the more traditional dance/electronic world.
“It was much needed,” says Colon, “because there should be a place for commercial artists who are doing dance songs and dance artists who are making more commercial-leaning music… I think everybody recognizes there’s a difference between what The Chainsmokers or Zedd or Steve [Aoki] or Calvin Harris do, versus what SBTRKT or Mura Masa do.”
“In the same way that rock has many different categories, there is the same need for electronic — as it is a diverse overarching umbrella with many distinct genres,” adds TOKiMONSTA, who was nominated for best/dance electronic album in 2019.
Better representing the size and diversity of the dance world has been a mission for voting members of the dance music community for 25 years, since the genre was incorporated into the awards in 1998 with the addition of best dance/electronic recording. The issue has become particularly resonant in recent years, as house, techno, IDM and other “underground” genres have become greater mainstream forces.
“Genres like house and techno adhere to specific traits that can almost at times be anti-pop,” says TOKiMONSTA’s manager Lewis Kunstler. “I believe dance artists felt being included with pop electronic songs [made] it difficult for people to regard their music to the degree their music deserves.”
The creation of nominee fields that accurately reflect what’s going on in dance has been a particular challenge following the 2021 removal of the Grammys’ nominations review committees. These committees employed a panel of experts (rather than popular vote) to ensure nominations in the two dance/electronic categories accurately reflected the sprawling global scene. General sentiment is that the dance/electronic nominations haven’t been as accurate as possible since their removal.
(To wit, these committees were put in place in the dance/electronic fields in 2013 as a protective mechanism following that year’s infamous nomination for Al Walser, a little-known Los Angeles DJ who was nominated for best dance/electronic recording alongside heavy hitters Swedish House Mafia, Skrillex, Calvin Harris and Avicii.)
The nominations review committee is different from the dance/electronic screening committee, which employs a panel of dance-world experts to review submissions to the two dance categories that may be better suited elsewhere. This committee has, historically, been vexed by dance pop music.
“It was always a struggle with pop artists that leaned dance,” Colon says. “A song had a four on the floor beat, so it was submitted to dance, even though it was just a traditional pop song with all the hallmarks of a pop song… That kind of stuff tended to be shot down [by the screening committee] because the moment those get in, they win by popularity vote. You saw that with Beyoncé last year: Not that she didn’t create a dance album, but the moment there’s a name like that [they tend to win due to name recognition] — because the dance categories are voted on by the entire voting academy.”
While pop royalty like Madonna, Spears, Janet Jacket and Kylie Minogue have all been nominated in the dance/electronic categories, the genres became more explicitly dance/electronic-oriented following the EDM boom of the early 2010s — although the pop structures inherent to EDM presented their own challenges.
“Suddenly you had traditional dance artists creating pop-dance songs and sometimes creating straight-up pop songs, then submitting those to the category and getting offended or upset — sometimes justifiably so — when they didn’t get [approved for] the category,” says Colon. “That has been the largest focus of the screening committee, deciding what is dance and what isn’t, when you have an artist like Steve Aoki or a Tiësto or whomever making a song that straddles the line between dance and pop. It’s been a huge, huge battle internally, and oftentimes it goes either way. The committee tries to stay consistent, but it’s tough.”
It’s notable that the dance pop addition follows the 65th Annual Grammy Awards this past February, as 2023 marked an acutely conflicted year for dance/electronic music at the awards. Many in the dance world celebrated the fact that the genre’s best album award was presented on the live telecast for the first time ever, giving nominees including ODESZA, Diplo, RÜFÜS DÜ SOL and Bonobo a celebrated moment in primetime.
But more controversial was the likely reason behind this telecast inclusion — Beyoncé, who was nominated for (and won), both dance/electronic awards for her house-oriented album Renaissance and its ’90s house revival lead single, “Break My Soul.” Beyoncé’s inclusion in these genres was the subject of sharp debate amongst members of the dance music community, some of whom felt Renaissance was more pop than dance.
A similarly spicy conversation happened regarding the David Guetta/Bebe Rexha track “I’m Good (Blue),” which this year was nominated in the best dance/electronic recording category despite many voters feeling the song — which samples Eiffel 65’s 1998 pop smash “Blue” — is overtly pop.
Per the academy, the new pop dance category recognizes “tracks and singles that feature up-tempo, danceable music that follows a pop arrangement. Eligible pop dance recordings also feature strong rhythmic beats and significant electronic-based instruments with an emphasis on the vocal performance, melody and hooks.”
Thus, the pop dance recording category eases conflict by creating space for dance tracks forged with the pop melodies and structures — which have always been an element of dance/electronic music, and which remain a dominant force in dance in the post-EDM era. (The addition is also a win in that it earns dance/electronic a generally greater presence at the Grammys, via the addition of five more nominees.) Colon predicts pop dance nominees that include “pop artists doing what at least passes as credible dance songs, and dance artists creating the heavily pop leaning songs.”
Importantly, this new category is also a recording rather than performance award, meaning that the track’s producers, engineers and mixers – people at the heart of the dance world — will be honored, along with whichever pop or pop dance star might also make the track.
For a genre that often gets less exposure at the Grammys than juggernauts like hip-hop, Latin, pop and rock, the best pop dance addition is a landmark victory in ensuring the sprawling, global electronic scene is better represented at the awards. Whether one is making dance pop radio bangers or underground drum ‘n’ bass, it’s a development all varieties of electronic artists can get behind.
The Recording Academy has added three new categories for the 66th annual Grammy Awards, which are set for Sunday Feb. 4, 2024 – best African music performance, best alternative jazz album, and best pop dance recording. This brings the total number of categories to 94, the highest total since the number reached an all-time peak of 109 in 2010.
In addition, the existing categories of producer of the year, non-classical and songwriter of the year, non-classical will be moved to the general field. The general field has long consisted of four categories – album, record and song of the year plus best new artist. These four categories are often unofficially called the Big Four.
By moving the producer and songwriter awards to the general field, all Grammy voters can in these non-genre-specific categories without using up a field. (All voters can vote in the general field and then in no more than three other fields.)
Producer of the year, non-classical was added in 1974. Songwriter of the year, non-classical was added last year. Thom Bell and Tobias Jesso Jr. were the inaugural recipients, respectively.
These category additions and amendments were passed at the Recording Academy’s most recent semiannual board of trustees meeting held last month.
“The Recording Academy is proud to announce these latest category changes to our awards process,” Harvey Mason jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, said in a statement. “These changes reflect our commitment to actively listen and respond to the feedback from our music community, accurately represent a diverse range of relevant musical genres, and stay aligned with the ever-evolving musical landscape.
“By introducing these three new categories, we are able to acknowledge and appreciate a broader array of artists – and relocating the producer of the year and songwriter of the year categories to the general field ensures that all our voters can participate in recognizing excellence in these fields. We are excited to honor and celebrate the creators and recordings in these categories, while also exposing a wider range of music to fans worldwide.”
With these three new categories, the Academy has added 10 categories in the last three years. That’s the most categories the Academy has added in any three- year period since 1959-61, when it added 12.
Bill Freimuth, the Academy’s former senior vice president, awards, led an effort to pare down the number of categories. The number nosedived from 109 to 78 in 2011, but has since been creeping back up. There is an ongoing debate between those who think “less is more” (that having a glut of categories devalues the award) and those who think “more is more” (that it makes more creators happy, which will turn Grammy critics in the creative community into Grammy boosters).
The Recording Academy accepts proposals from members of the music community throughout the year. The awards and nominations committee, comprised of Academy voting members of diverse genres and backgrounds, meets annually to review proposals to update award categories, procedures and eligibility guidelines.
Here’s a closer look at the three new Grammy categories:
Best African Music Performance
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America still loves The Beach Boys. A Grammy Salute to the Beach Boys, which aired on CBS on Sunday April 9, was No. 1 in its time period with 5.18 million viewers and was the night’s No. 2 primetime broadcast in viewers. (The night’s champ was its lead-in, the venerable 60 Minutes, with 6.43 million viewers.)
The two-hour program had the largest audience for a Grammy Salute special since A Grammy Salute to Prince, which aired on April 21, 2020.
Here’s a sign of how just long The Beach Boys have been a cultural institution. The band first hit the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1962, more than six years before 60 Minutes, one of the longest running shows in TV history, went on the air.
A Grammy Salute to the Beach Boys was produced by Tenth Planet Productions. Joel Gallen, Rick Krim and Irving Azoff served as executive producers and Rick Austin as co-executive producer. Gallen also directed the special.
The special featured performances by Andy Grammar, Beck, Jim James, Brandi Carlile, John Legend, Charlie Puth, Fall Out Boy, Foster the People, Hanson, Norah Jones, Lady A, John Legend, Little Big Town, Luke Spiller, Taylor Momsen, Michael McDonald, Take 6, Mumford & Sons, My Morning Jacket, Pentatonix, LeAnn Rimes, St. Vincent, and Weezer.
It also featured appearances by fellow music icons Elton John and Bruce Springsteen; actors Tom Hanks, Drew Carey and John Stamos; Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. and former chair of the academy’s board of trustees Jimmy Jam.
The Beach Boys entered into a partnership with Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group (Iconic) in 2021 to preserve and grow their legacy in a digital era. Iconic also represents such artists as Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Linda Ronstadt, David Crosby and Stephen Stills.
“This celebration highlights, once again, the power of the Beach Boys music to influence today’s biggest artists and reach new generations of fans,” said Jimmy Edwards, president of Iconic.
Taylor Swift has a reputation as one of the finest songwriters of her generation. Grammy voters seem to agree – she has received six song of the year nominations since 2009, which puts her in a tie with Lionel Richie and Paul McCartney for the most by any songwriter in Grammy history.
Richie wrote five of his six song of the year nominees by himself. He teamed with Michael Jackson to write his sixth, “We Are the World.”
By contrast, Swift and McCartney wrote just one of their song of the year nominees by themselves. Swift was the sole writer of “Lover.” McCartney was the sole writer of “Ebony and Ivory.”
Swift teamed with Liz Rose to write two of her nominated songs; with Max Martin and Shellback to write two others; and with Aaron Dessner to write one. McCartney and John Lennon were credited as co-writers of all five nominated songs that were recorded by The Beatles.
“Anti-Hero,” which Swift co-wrote with Jack Antonoff, seems very likely to be nominated for song of the year when the nods for the 66th annual Grammy Awards are announced later this year. That would give her a tiebreaking seventh nomination.
Unlike McCartney and Richie, Swift has yet to win in the category. McCartney won on his third nomination, for “Michelle,” a charming tune from The Beatles’ Rubber Soul that few would regard as one of his or their greatest songs. Richie won on his sixth nomination, for USA for Africa‘s “We Are the World.” That song raised millions to fight starvation in Africa and hunger here in the U.S., but it’s more admired for its purpose and intentions than its songcraft.
As Swift launches her 52-date The Eras Tour in Glendale, Ariz. on Friday (March 17), we have prepared this list showing you each of these songwriters’ six Grammy nominations – in a handy, side-by-side format.
First nominations
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Swift: “You Belong With Me” (2009, co-written with Liz Rose)
Richie: “Three Times a Lady” (1978)
McCartney: “A Hard Day’s Night” (1964, co-written with John Lennon)
Notes: All three of these songs were smash hits. “You Belong With Me,” the third single from Fearless, reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 – Swift’s highest ranking to that point. Commodores’ recording of “Three Times a Lady,” the lead single from Natural High, logged two weeks at No. 1. The Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night,” from the soundtrack to their film of the same name, topped the Hot 100 for two weeks – and was the first rock song to receive a song of the year nod.
Second nominations
Swift: “Shake It Off” (2014, co-written with Max Martin and Shellback)
Richie: “Lady” (1980)
McCartney: “Yesterday” (1965, co-written with John Lennon)
Notes: All three of these songs were No. 1 hits on the Hot 100 for four or more weeks. (Four weeks for the Swift and Beatles hits; six weeks for Kenny Rogers’ recording of “Lady.”) Rogers’ smash was the lead single from his perfectly-timed, Billboard 200-topping Kenny Rogers’ Greatest Hits. “Shake It Off” was the lead single from 1989. Though “Yesterday” didn’t win the Grammy, many regard it as one of the greatest songs ever written.
Third nominations
Swift: “Blank Space” (2015, co-written with Max Martin and Shellback)
Richie: “Endless Love” (1981)
McCartney: “Michelle” (1966, co-written with John Lennon)
Notes: “Blank Space,” the second single from 1989, topped the Hot 100 for seven weeks, making it Swift’s longest-running No. 1 to that point. “Endless Love,” which Richie wrote for the film of the same name and which he recorded with Diana Ross, logged nine weeks at No. 1, making it Richie’s longest-running No. 1 ever. The Beatles didn’t release any singles from Rubber Soul, but a cover version by David and Jonathan reached No. 18 on the Hot 100.
Fourth nominations
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Swift: “Lover” (2019)
Richie: “All Night Long (All Night)” (1983)
McCartney: “Hey Jude” (1968, co-written with John Lennon)
Notes: “Lover,” the third single from Swift’s album of the same name, reached No. 10 on the Hot 100. “All Night Long (All Night),” the lead single from Can’t Slow Down, logged four weeks at No. 1. “Hey Jude” led the chart for nine weeks, making it McCartney’s longest-running No. 1 hit – with The Beatles or post-Beatles. It was one of only two singles to top the Hot 100 for nine weeks in the 1960s, the other being Percy Faith’s shimmering instrumental “Theme from a Summer Place.” (That 1960 smash was nominated for song of the year despite being an instrumental, something that couldn’t happen today.) As noted above, “Lover” is Swift’s only song of the year nominee that she wrote by herself.
Fifth nominations
Swift: “Cardigan” (2020, co-written with Aaron Dessner)
Richie: “Hello” (1984)
McCartney: “Let It Be” (1970, co-written with John Lennon)
Notes: All three songs were No. 1 hits on the Hot 100. “Cardigan,” the lead single from Folklore, spent one week on top. “Hello,” the third single from Can’t Slow Down, spent two weeks on top. “Let It Be,” from the documentary film of the same name, spent two weeks on top.
Sixth nominations
Swift: “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (The Short Film)” (2022, co-written with Liz Rose)
Richie: “We Are the World” (1985, co-written with Michael Jackson)
McCartney: “Ebony and Ivory” (1982)
Notes: Again, all three songs were No. 1 hits on the Hot 100. The expanded version of “All Too Well,” the lead single from Red (Taylor’s Version), spent one week on top. It set a new record as the song with the longest playing time to reach No. 1. USA for Africa’s “We Are the World” topped the chart for four weeks. “Ebony and Ivory,” a glossy plea for brotherhood and understanding across racial lines, topped the Hot 100 for seven weeks. McCartney wrote the song by himself and recorded it with Stevie Wonder. While everyone admired the song’s good intensions, the song hasn’t aged especially well. A Saturday Night Live parody version by Eddie Murphy (as Wonder) and Joe Piscopo (as Frank Sinatra) skewered the song. Sample lines: Murphy as Wonder: “I am dark, and you are light.” Piscopo as Sinatra: “You are blind as a bat, and I have sight!”
When Bonnie Raitt‘s touching ballad “Just Like That” won the Grammy for song of the year, the singer-songwriter seemed just as shocked as the crowd. “I am just totally humbled,” she said while accepting the award.
Though she is a decorated and critically acclaimed musician, with 11 Grammys and five top 40 hits on the Hot 100 to her name, Raitt’s “Just Like That” was the least commercially successful song up for the category this year by a long shot. Despite not cracking the Hot 100 chart, “Just Like That” managed to beat out the nine other nominated songs, each of which ranked in the top 20 of the Hot 100 this year, including two No. 1 tracks (“As it Was” by Harry Styles and “About Damn Time” by Lizzo). Many see Raitt’s win as proof that the top Grammy awards do not necessarily always go to those with the most commercial or widespread success.
This particular award win is surprising for Raitt in more ways than one. Song of the year is one of four top awards given out each year by the Recording Academy, along with record of the year, album of the year and best new artist, and it is the only one of the big four that honors the craft of songwriting specifically. Raitt, as she admitted in her acceptance speech, “[doesn’t] write a lot of songs,” but she did write “Just Like That” singlehandedly.
So how much did “Just Like That” earn in publishing royalties for Raitt as its only songwriter, and how much did the Grammy win help the song commercially?
Billboard estimates that before the Grammys, “Just Like That” had earned Raitt over $6,000 in publishing royalties from its release date (April 22, 2022) to the week of the Grammys, which aired on Feb. 5, 2023, for her work as a songwriter from U.S. streaming, sales and airplay combined. In the two weeks following the show, those formats earned her another nearly $6,000. In other words, Raitt earned almost as much from the song in just two weeks as she did in the more than nine months prior to the broadcast.
Raitt owns her publishing, and she houses her songwriting catalog under two entities, Kokomo Music and Open Secret Music. In 2018, she entered an arrangement with indie publishing house Bluewater Music to administer her publishing catalog worldwide. Because she owns her publishing and wrote “Just Like That” by herself, the vast majority of the money she earns from the song will end up in Raitt’s pocket, with deductions likely only made to pay Bluewater Music administration fees and whatever cut her manager makes.
Overall, since the release of “Just Like That,” Billboard estimates that Raitt has earned a total of about $12,000 in publishing royalties from streams and sales of the song. The majority of that came from both physical sales of the album on which the song appears — also called Just Like That — and U.S. on-demand audio streams, according to Luminate. In the two-week period after the Grammys, song downloads and streaming were the biggest source of royalties by far.
In terms of streaming alone, Raitt earned only about $975 worth of publishing royalties from U.S. on-demand audio streams in the almost 10 months that elapsed between the song’s release and the week of the Grammys. But in just the two weeks since her song of the year win, she has earned a little over $2,000 in publishing royalties for U.S. on-demand audio streams.
The week before the Grammys, dated Jan. 27-Feb. 2, “Just Like That” was racked up 44,000 on-demand audio streams in the U.S. The week after the Grammys, dated Feb. 3-9, on-demand U.S. audio streams increased by 3,028% to 1.377 million, according to Luminate. The massive spike, however, did not hold steady in the following week, dated Feb. 10-16, when the number of U.S. on-demand audio streams fell to just over 410,000.
On the physical sales side, Raitt earned over $4,000 in publishing royalties from selling copies of her albums through to the night of the Grammys. In the two weeks after the awards show, Raitt earned about $700.
Along with increased consumption in the sales and streaming categories, “Just Like That” has also sparked interest at radio. The week before the Grammys, it was played just a handful of times, but in the two weeks after her win, she received a total of 144 radio spins, according to Luminate. While still not significant enough to push her to the top of any charts, airplay could contribute solidly toward her future publishing earnings if it continues to gain traction.
So far, the big Grammy win for “Just Like That” doesn’t appear to be boosting sales and streaming activity for Raitt’s overall catalog in the U.S. While weekly catalog album consumption activity jumped to over 9,000 copies on average in each of the two weeks after the show — up from the weekly average of over 3,000 copies before the show — all of that gain is coming from the Just Like That album.
After Bonnie Raitt’s “Just Like That” won the Grammy Award for song of the year, her team put out a shorter radio edit of the tear-jerking ballad — and then proceeded to do almost no further radio advertising or promotion.
“I’m afraid the song is not something we feel an aggressive marketing approach fits,” Kathy Kane, Raitt’s manager, says by email. “We didn’t put it forth as a single with a specific [radio] impact date aggressively going for ads. We are simply here to support those interested in the song.”
The lack of a radio strategy around “Just Like That” is distinct from the strategy around the album, which has the same title. A year ago, before Raitt put out the album on her own label, Redwing Records, she attended a Zoom video call with programmers as part of a marketing campaign to extend the rock, pop and blues star’s long history of radio hits. The strategy worked: Just Like That made its debut last May at No. 1 on several Billboard charts, including Top Current Album Sales, and hit No. 6 on Top Rock Albums.
But when “Just Like That” won song of the year, Raitt’s team opted for a low-key promotional effort for the country-leaning ballad about a woman who loses her son and falls in love with the man who received his heart. While the song topped Billboard’s Rock Digital Song Sales chart and hit No. 6 on Digital Song Sales the week after the Grammys, radio spins increased from just 27 to 41 over the past week.
That said, some influential radio programmers are working to boost the airplay.
“Hopefully, I can be the station that breaks these records so other stations can follow,” says Dan Mathews, program director for Top 40 stations Rhythm 105.9 in Sacramento, Calif., Jamz 99.3 FM in Salina, Kan., and Hitz 90.5 in Edgar, Neb., all of which now air “Just Like That” every two hours. “Our listenership has gone up just playing that record.”
The low-key approach has had sporadic success elsewhere. Dennis Constantine, a longtime adult album alternative programmer, added two or three “Just Like That” spins per day to 92.5 the River in Boston and The Point in Burlington, Vt. (They play the original version, not the shorter radio edit.) “We were playing other tracks off the album, and when that won best song of the year, we started playing it everywhere,” says Constantine, program director for the two stations and a consultant for another in Flagstaff, Ariz. “It makes sense. She’s a legend in our format.”
SZA played just a small role at the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 5. She presented best música urbana album to Bad Bunny, and she was on hand as a nominee for best melodic rap performance for her featured role (alongside Future) on DJ Khaled’s “Beautiful.” (They lost.)
Expect SZA to play a much larger role at the 66th annual Grammy Awards early next year. Her sophomore album, SOS, is a top contender for nominations for both album of the year and best progressive R&B album. “Kill Bill,” the album’s biggest hit to date, has a good chance at record and song of the year nods.
This would be SZA’s first album of the year nod as a lead artist. Her debut album, Ctrl, was nominated for best urban contemporary album (the former name of best progressive R&B album). Three songs from the album – “The Weekend,” “Supermodel” and “Love Galore” (featuring Travis Scott) – were nominated in various R&B and rap categories. In addition, SZA was nominated for best new artist, but lost to Alessia Cara.
SZA has been nominated twice for both record and song of the year. “All the Stars,” a collab with Kendrick Lamar from Black Panther, was nominated for both awards in 2018. “Kiss Me More,” a collab with Doja Cat, was nominated for both awards in 2021. The latter track also led to SZA’s first album of the year nod, as a featured artist on Doja’s Planet Her.
“Good Days,” a one-off single at the time that was included on SOS, was nominated for best R&B song in November 2021.
Many of the producers and featured artists on SOS have Grammy awards or nominations on their resumes. Six Grammy winners – Babyface, Jeff Bhasker, Darkchild (Rodney Jerkins), DJ Dahi, Emile Haynie and Shellback – are among the producers of SOS. All four of the featured artists on the album – Scott, Don Toliver, Phoebe Bridgers and Ol’ Dirty Bastard – are past Grammy nominees.
SOS has ranked No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in nine of its 10 chart weeks to date. Ctrl is still riding high (it holds at No. 22) in its 297th week on the Billboard 200. “Kill Bill” is in its sixth week at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. SOS has also received warm reviews. It has a 90 rating at the review aggregation site Metacritic.com.
Three albums by Black female artists were nominated for album of the year in November – Beyoncé’s Renaissance, Lizzo’s Special and the deluxe edition of Mary J. Blige’s Good Morning Gorgeous – but no album by a Black female artist (as lead artist) has won the award since Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which won in 1999.
SZA has received 15 Grammy nods to date, but has won just one award, for the aforementioned “Kiss Me More,” which won best pop duo/group performance. Expect her winning percentage to improve next year.
Beyoncé’s Renaissance returns to the top 10 of Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated Feb. 18) for the first time in three months, rising 56-10, following the diva’s multiple wins at the Grammy Awards (Feb. 5). The set sold 5,500 copies in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 9 (up 138%), according to Luminate.
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The album was last in the top 10 on the Oct. 29, 2022-dated list, when it ranked at No. 7.
Renaissance won the Grammy Award for best dance/electronic album (an award presented on-air during the CBS-TV broadcast of the main ceremony) while three of its songs won individual awards. “Break My Soul” won best dance/electronic recording, “Plastic Off the Sofa” took home best traditional R&B performance and “Cuff It” won best R&B song.
Beyoncé won four Grammys on Feb. 5, bringing her total of awards to 32 – breaking the record for the most wins in the Awards’ history (a feat that was promoted extensively during the CBS show).
In total, Beyoncé was nominated for nine Grammys at the ceremony, winning four. She was also up for album of the year (Renaissance), record of the year, song of the year (both for “Break My Soul”), best R&B performance (“Virgo’s Groove”) and best song written for visual media (“Be Alive”).
Elsewhere on Billboard’s album charts, Renaissance runs 30-8 on Top Current Album Sales, 24-11 on the Billboard 200 (its highest rank since the Nov. 12 chart, when it placed at No. 10), 10-5 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, 4-3 on Top R&B Albums and holds at No. 1 for an 11th week on Top Dance/Electronic Albums.
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Top Current Album Sales lists the week’s best-selling current (not catalog, or older albums) albums by traditional album sales. Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, Top R&B Albums and Top Dance/Electronic Albums rank the week’s most popular R&B/hip-hop, R&B and dance/electronic albums, respectively, by units.
Back on Top Album Sales, TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION, which debuted atop the list a week ago, spends a second week at No. 1, with 43,000 copies sold (down 72%). The set has shifted 195,000 copies in its first two weeks of release – with 98% of that sum from CD sales.
Shania Twain’s new studio album Queen of Me debuts at No. 2 on Top Album Sales with 34,000 sold. It’s the country/pop superstar’s sixth top 10-charting effort on the list.
Taylor Swift’s former leader Midnights is a non-mover at No. 3 on Top Album Sales with 15,500 sold (down 12%).
Harry Styles’ Harry’s House zooms 21-4 with 10,000 sold (up 119%), following its two wins at the Grammy Awards (best pop vocal album and album of the year). Styles also performed the album’s hit single “As It Was” on the CBS broadcast. Meanwhile, best new artist winner Samara Joy reaches the top 10 for the first time as her album Linger Awhile vaults 87-5 with 6,500 sold (up 317%). The set also won the Grammy best jazz vocal album.
The charity compilation A Philly Special Christmas rises 7-6 on Top Album Sales despite a decline in sales (down 31% to 6,000 for the week). It’s the highest charting non-soundtrack compilation since 2020, when the all-star Now 74 set also hit No. 6 (May 16, 2020 chart). (Speaking of the Now That’s What I Call Music! franchise, the new Now 85 compilation debuts on the new chart at No. 13.)
The Philly album continues to perform well thanks to vinyl sales. 65% of its cumulative sales (20,500 of 31,500) are vinyl, with the remainder digital album purchases.
Michael Jackson’s Thriller rises 10-7 on Top Album Sales with nearly 6,000 sold (down less than 1%), Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours rebounds 13-8 with 5,500 (up 4%) and Stray Kids’ former No. 1 MAXIDENT climbs 22-9 with nearly 5,500 (up 21%).
In the week ending Feb. 9, there were 1.778 million albums sold in the U.S. (down 5.6% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.414 million (down 8.9%) and digital albums comprised 364,000 (up 9.9%).
There were 606,000 CD albums sold in the week ending Feb. 9 (down 16.2% week-over-week) and 801,000 vinyl albums sold (down 2.4%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 3.659 million (up 0.2% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 5.299 million (up 25.6%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 11.037 million (up 6.4% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 9.009 million (up 13.8%) and digital album sales total 2.029 million (down 17.4%).