2025 Grammy Awards nominations: Beyoncé leads list of music contenders

Welcome to Beyoncé country. When it comes to the 2025 Grammy Award nominations, Cowboy Carter rules them all. She leads the nods with 11, bringing her career total to 99 nominations. That makes her the most nominated artist in Grammy history.

Cowboy Carter is up for album and country album of the year, and Texas Hold ’Em is nominated for record, song and country song of the year. She also received nominations in a wide swath of genres, including pop, country, Americana and melodic rap performance categories.

This is her first time receiving nominations in the country and Americana categories. Previously, she and her husband Jay-Z were tied for most career nominations, at 88.

If Beyoncé wins the album of the year, she’ll become the first Black woman to do so in the 21st century. Lauryn Hill last won in 1999 for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, joining Natalie Cole and Whitney Houston as the only Black women to take home the Grammys’ top prize.

Post Malone also received his first ever nominations in the country categories this year, having released his debut country album F-1 Trillion in August. That one is up for country album and I Had Some Help, his collaboration with Morgan Wallen, is nominated for country song and country duo/group performance. They are Wallen’s first ever Grammy nominations.

Malone is just behind Beyoncé, with seven nominations, tied with Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar and Charli XCX, who earned her first nominations as a solo artist.

Lamar’s ubiquitous diss track released during his feud with Drake, Not Like Us, is nominated for record and song of the year, rap song, music video as well as best rap performance. He has two simultaneous entries in the latter category, a career first: Future & Metro Boomin featuring Lamar, “Like That” is up for best rap performance and best rap song.

This is his third time receiving two simultaneous nominations for best rap song.

Taylor Swift and first-time nominees Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan boast of six nominations each.

Last year, women artists dominated the major categories. This year, that continues somewhat, but the main trend seems to be a variance of genre. In the album of the year category, alongside Cowboy Carter is André 3000’s new age, alt-jazz New Blue Sun and multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier’s Djesse Vol. 4. Rising pop stars Carpenter and Roan round it out, with Short n’ Sweet and The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess respectively, as well as Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department, Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft, and Charli XCX’s rave-ready BRAT.

Eilish is the only artist to have her first three albums become nominated for album of the year.

Last year, Swift won album of the year for Midnights, breaking the record for most wins in the category with four. This year, she becomes the first ever woman to seven career nominations in the category.

“The breadth and the variety of genres represented in the general field feels new and really exciting,” says the Recording Academy CEO and President Harvey Mason Jr. He credits an active and evolving voting body for its success. “We’ve been very intentional in how we looked at and tried to rebalance our membership. So not just gender or people of color, different racial makeup, but also genre equity and trying to make sure that all different types of music in different regions and different locations are being represented in every way possible.”

Only recordings commercially released in the U.S. between Sept. 16, 2023 through Aug. 30, 2024 were eligible for nominations. The final round of Grammy voting, which determines its winners, will take place Dec. 12 through January 3.

The 2025 Grammy Awards take place Feb. 2 from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

Find a list of the nominees in the major categories, below.

Record of the Year

The Beatles – Now and Then
Beyoncé – Texas Hold ’Em
Billie Eilish – Birds of a Feather
Chappell Roan – Good Luck, Babe!
Charli XCX – 360
Kendrick Lamar – Not Like Us
Sabrina Carpenter – Espresso
Taylor Swift Featuring Post Malone – Fortnight

Album of the Year

André 3000 – New Blue Sun
Beyoncé – Cowboy Carter
Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft
Chappell Roan – The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess
Charli XCX – Brat
Jacob Collier – Djesse Vol. 4
Sabrina Carpenter – Short n’ Sweet
Taylor Swift – The Tortured Poets Department

Song of the Year

Beyoncé – Texas Hold ’Em
Billie Eilish – Birds of a Feather
Chappell Roan – Good Luck, Babe!
Kendrick Lamar – Not Like Us
Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars – Die With a Smile
Sabrina Carpenter – Please Please Please
Shaboozey – A Bar Song (Tipsy)
Taylor Swift Featuring Post Malone – Fortnight

Best New Artist

Benson Boone
Doechii
Chappell Roan
Khruangbin
Raye
Sabrina Carpenter
Shaboozey
Teddy Swims

Best Pop Solo Performance

Beyoncé – Bodyguard
Billie Eilish – Birds of a Feather
Chappell Roan – Good Luck, Babe!
Charli XCX – Apple
Sabrina Carpenter – Espresso

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance

Ariana Grande, Brandy & Monica – The Boy Is Mine – Remix
Beyoncé Featuring Post Malone – Levii’s Jeans
Charli XCX & Billie Eilish – Guess Featuring Billie Eilish
Gracie Abrams Featuring Taylor Swift – Us.
Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars – Die With a Smile

Best Pop Vocal Album

Ariana Grande – Eternal Sunshine
Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft
Chappell Roan – The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess
Sabrina Carpenter – Short n’ Sweet
Taylor Swift – The Tortured Poets Department

Best Dance/Electronic Music Album

Charli XCX – Brat
Four Tet – Three
Justice – Hyperdrama
Kaytranada – Timeless
Zedd – Telos

Best Rock Performance

The Beatles – Now and Then
The Black Keys – Beautiful People (Stay High)
Green Day – The American Dream Is Killing Me
Idles – Gift Horse
Pearl Jam – Dark Matter
St. Vincent – Broken Man

Best Rock Song

The Black Keys – Beautiful People (Stay High)
Green Day – Dilemma
Idles – Gift Horse
Pearl Jam – Dark Matter
St. Vincent – Broken Man

Best Rock Album

The Black Crowes – Happiness Bastards
Fontaines D.C. – Romance
Green Day – Saviors
Idles – Tangk
Jack White – No Name
Pearl Jam – Dark Matter
The Rolling Stones – Hackney Diamonds

Best Alternative Music Performance

Cage the Elephant – Neon Pill
Fontaines D.C. – Starburster
Kim Gordon – Bye Bye
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Song of the Lake
St. Vincent – Flea

Best Alternative Music Album

Brittany Howard – What Now
Clairo – Char
Kim Gordon – The Collective
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Wild God
St. Vincent – All Born Screaming

Best R&B Song

Coco Jones – Here We Go (Uh Oh)
Kehlani – After Hours
Muni Long – Ruined Me
SZA – Saturn
Tems – Burning

Best R&B Album

Chris Brown – 11:11 (Deluxe)
Lalah Hathaway – Vantablack
Lucky Daye – Algorithm
Muni Long – Revenge
Usher – Coming Home

Best Rap Performance

Cardi B – Enough (Miami)
Common & Pete Rock Featuring Posdnuos – When the Sun Shines Again
Doechii – Nissan Altima
Eminem – Houdini
Future, Metro Boomin & Kendrick Lamar – Like That
Glorilla – Yeah Glo!
Kendrick Lamar – Not Like Us

Best Rap Song

Future, Metro Boomin & Kendrick Lamar – Like That
Glorilla – Yeah Glo!
Kendrick Lamar – Not Like Us
Rapsody & Hit-Boy – Asteroids
¥$, Kanye West, Ty Dolla $ign & Rich the Kid Featuring Playboi Carti – Carnival

Best Rap Album

Common & Pete Rock – The Auditorium Vol. 1
Doechii – Alligator Bites Never Heal
Eminem – The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)
Future & Metro Boomin – We Don’t Trust You
J. Cole – Might Delete Later

Best Country Solo Performance

Beyoncé – 16 Carriages
Chris Stapleton – It Takes a Woman
Jelly Roll – I Am Not Okay
Kacey Musgraves – The Architect
Shaboozey – A Bar Song (Tipsy)

Best Country Duo/Group Performance

Beyoncé & Miley Cyrus – II Most Wanted
Brothers Osborne – Break Mine
Dan + Shay – Bigger Houses
Kelsea Ballerini & Noah Kahan – Cowboys Cry Too
Post Malone Featuring Morgan Wallen – I Had Some Help

Best Country Song

Beyoncé – Texas Hold ’Em
Jelly Roll – I Am Not Okay
Kacey Musgraves – The Architect
Post Malone Featuring Morgan Wallen – I Had Some Help
Shaboozey – A Bar Song (Tipsy)

Best Country Album

Beyoncé – Cowboy Carter
Chris Stapleton – Higher
Kacey Musgraves – Deeper Well
Lainey Wilson – Whirlwind
Post Malone – F-1 Trillion

Best Comedy Album

Dave Chappelle – The Dreamer
Jim Gaffigan – The Prisoner
Nikki Glaser – Someday You’ll Die
Ricky Gervais – Armageddon
Trevor Noah – Where Was I

Best Music Video

A$AP Rocky – Tailor Swif
Charli XCX – 360
Eminem – Houdini
Kendrick Lamar – Not Like Us
Taylor Swift Featuring Post Malone – Fortnight

For a complete list of the 2025 Grammy nominees, visit the official Grammys site.

© 2024 The Canadian Press

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