Beyoncé is the most nominated artist in the history of the Grammy Awards, leading the 2025 nominations.
NEW YORK (AP) — Greetings from Beyoncé’s homeland. “Cowboy Carter” dominates the country’s 2025 Grammy Award nominations. With eleven nominations, she leads the field, raising her career total to 99. She now has the most Grammy nominations of any performer.
“Texas Hold ‘Em” is nominated for single, song, and country song of the year, and “Cowboy Carter” is up for album and country album of the year. Additionally, she was nominated in a variety of genres, including as pop, country, Americana, and melodic rap performance.
She has never before been nominated in either the country or Americana categories.
Beyoncé will be the first Black woman to win album of the year in the twenty-first century if she does. Lauryn Hill, who joined Natalie Cole and Whitney Houston as the only Black women to win the Grammys’ top honor, last won in 1999 for “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.”
After releasing his first country album, “F-1 Trillion,” in August, Post Malone also garnered his first-ever nominations in the country categories this year. His collaboration with Morgan Wallen, “I Had Some Help,” is nominated for both country song and country duo/group performance, and that one is up for country album. These are the first Grammy nominations that Wallen has ever received.
With seven nominations, Malone trails only Beyoncé, who is tied with Kendrick Lamar, Charli XCX, and Billie Eilish. Charli XCX received her first nominations as a solo artist.
Lamar’s well-known diss song from his fight with Drake, “Not Like Us,” is nominated for best rap performance, rap song, music video, and record and song of the year. For the first time in his career, he is entering the latter group twice at once: “Like That,” a song by Future and Metro Boomin featuring Kendrick Lamar, is a contender for both best rap song and best rap performance.
He has now received two nominations for best rap song at the same time for the third time.
Taylor Swift boasts six nods, as do newcomers Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan.
The main categories were dominated by female performers last year. That is somewhat still the case this year, but a change in genre appears to be the primary trend. Alongside “Cowboy Carter,” multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier’s “Djesse Vol. 4” and André 3000’s new age, alt-jazz “New Blue Sun” are included in the album of the year category. Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department,” Eilish’s “Hit Me Hard and Soft,” Charli XCX’s rave-ready “BRAT,” and rising pop artists Carpenter and Roan complete it with their respective songs “Short n’ Sweet” and “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.”
The only performer to have three albums nominated for album of the year is Eilish.
Swift broke the record for the most wins in the category with four last year when she won album of the year for “Midnights.” She is the first female to receive seven career nominations in the category this year.
Harvey Mason Jr., president and CEO of the Recording Academy, states, “The range and diversity of genres represented in the general field feels new and really exciting.” He attributes its success to a dynamic and changing voting body. “We’ve looked at and attempted to rebalance our membership with great intentionality. Therefore, genre equity and ensuring that all diverse genres of music in all areas and regions are represented in every manner imaginable are just as important as gender, people of color, and distinct racial makeup.
Nominations were limited to recordings that were commercially released in the United States between September 16, 2023, and August 30, 2024. The Grammy Awards’ last round of voting, which selects the winners, will run from December 12 to January 3.
Carpenter and Roan will compete against Benson Boone, Doechii, Khruangbin, RAYE, Shaboozey, and Teddy Swims in the best new artist category.
Beyoncé’s songs include “Birds of a Feather” by Eilish, “Fortnight” by Swift and Post Malone, “Good Luck, Babe!” by Roan, “Please Please Please” by Carpenter, “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar, “Die With A Smile” by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars, and “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” by Shaboozey.
Additionally, Shaboozey is a first-time nominee. With more weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 than any other song, his “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” is the biggest hit of the year. It is so well-liked that a remix of the song is also available for recording.
In other news, Shaboozey’s feature on Beyoncé’s “SPAGHETTII” has earned him a nomination in the melodic rap performance category. The song also features Linda Martell, the first commercially successful Black woman country music performer, earning the 83-year-old artist her first Grammy nomination.
Swift and Post Malone’s “Fortnight,” Eilish’s “Birds of a Father,” Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” Carpenter’s “Espresso,” Charli XCX’s “360,” and the Beatles’ most recent new song, the AI-assisted “Now and Then,” will all vie with “Texas Hold ‘Em” for record of the year.
We’re making an effort to stay up to date with the technological advancements made by our community and music producers. And in this instance, AI improved the record and made it eligible for the categories for which it qualified, Mason Jr. says.
What is lacking, then? Similar to the previous year, Latin music, which is the streaming genre with the fastest growth in the US, is completely absent from the major categories. Despite being one of the fastest-growing genres, the best Música Mexicana album category only has four entrants.
Additionally, K-pop appears to be missing. The BTS members who have released solo music this year—RM’s “Right Place, Wrong Person,” J-Hope’s “Hope on the Street, Vol. 1,” and Jimin’s “Muse”—are not nominated. Throughout their existence, the boy band BTS has been nominated five times.
Mason Jr. states, “We are still inviting people to be a part of the academy, and I definitely see room for improvement across many genres.” We don’t attain the desired outcomes if we don’t have the proper representation. I mean reflecting and representational of the current state of music when I say “right.” Thus, the task goes on.
CBS and Paramount+ will broadcast the 2025 Grammy Awards live from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on February 2.