Beyonce leads Grammy nods after trailblazing country album

Bey versus Tay

The nominee list sets up a showdown between Beyonce and Swift, global superstars and Grammy regulars.

The 43-year-old Beyonce was already the show's most decorated artist ever. 

Before Friday, she was also tied for most nominations with her music mogul husband, Jay-Z—now, she's in a class of her own.

But for all the records she sets, Beyonce is among the most snubbed Grammy artists. She conspicuously has lost out the top album award to the likes of Adele and Harry Styles.

The 34-year-old juggernaut Swift, on the other hand, last year swept past Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, and Paul Simon to win more best album prizes than anyone with four, and she could extend that lead this time around.

Her album Fearless beat Beyonce for the prestigious prize in 2010.

The Tay vs. Bey narrative once again highlights the Grammy organization's complicated history with race.

The Academy is routinely criticized for sidelining the work of Black artists, including at last year's gala when Jay-Z, accepting a non-competitive honor for his hip-hop contributions, castigated the institution onstage.

It's all the more prescient considering Beyonce's nominations this season stem from Cowboy Carter, a rowdy, wide-ranging homage to her southern heritage that took to task the country industry, which has long promoted a rigid view of the genre that's overwhelmingly white and male.

At the last Grammys, Swift seized the limelight by taking the podium to accept a prize and announcing a surprise album, The Tortured Poets Department, which was a sprawling double album purging her insecurities and scorching former lovers.

It left critics lukewarm but it's put Swift back in the running.

Also vying for Album of the Year are works by Carpenter, Charli XCX, Eilish, Roan, and...Andre 3000's New Blue Sun, a flute album the former Outkast hip-hop star released late last year. 

That niche entry is joined by another from multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier to round out the category.

Genre-fluid

Top nominee Post Malone was buoyed to the top thanks to his collaborations with both Beyonce and Swift. The one-time warbling rapper features in major categories as well as pop and country fields.

The closely watched Best New Artist field features Carpenter and Roan, who both soared into the mainstream this year and are favorites for that coveted prize. 

Also in contention for Best New Artist is Shaboozey, whose song A Bar Song (Tipsy) has topped the US hot songs chart for weeks and is up for the top award honoring songwriting.

Shaboozey, 29, is also nominated for a melodic rap award thanks to his collaboration with Beyonce—whom he will also compete against in the country categories, in a sign that the Academy might finally be reading the room when it comes to songs and artists that defy categorization.

An entry by The Beatles into the top record category will likely prompt a little head-scratching: Now and Then was the "last" song released by the iconic group, reconstituted based on John Lennon's rough demo.

But then again, the Grammys wouldn't be the Grammys without some idiosyncrasies—or anger over snubs.

Megan Thee Stallion, Dua Lipa, Tinashe, and South African phenom Tyla were all left out of the 2025 running.

And once again, top Latin artists including Shakira, Peso Pluma, Bad Bunny, and Young Miko were notably relegated to genre-specific categories and overlooked for the top fields. 

Here is a list of nominees in the major categories for the 67th annual Grammy Awards, which will be handed out on February 2, 2025 in Los Angeles. (AFP)

Album of the Year

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

Record of the Year, recognizing overall performance on a song

• "Now and Then" - The Beatles
• "Texas Hold 'Em" - Beyonce 
• "Espresso" - Sabrina Carpenter 
• "360" - Charli XCX
• "Birds of a Feather" - Billie Eilish
• "Not Like Us" - Kendrick Lamar
• "Good Luck, Babe!" - Chappell Roan
• "Fortnight" - Taylor Swift, featuring Post Malone 
• Song of the Year, recognizing songwriting
• "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" - Sean Cook, Jerrel Jones, Joe Kent, Shaboozey, Nevin Sastry & Mark Williams, songwriters (Shaboozey) 
• "Birds of a Feather" - Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell, songwriters (Billie Eilish)
• "Die with a Smile" - Dernst 'D'Mile' Emile II, James Fauntleroy, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars & Andrew Watt, songwriters (Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars) 
• "Fortnight" - Jack Antonoff, Post Malone & Taylor Swift, songwriters (Taylor Swift Featuring Post Malone) 
• "Good Luck, Babe!" - Chappell Roan, Daniel Nigro & Justin Tranter, songwriters (Chappell Roan) 
• "Not Like Us" - Kendrick Lamar, songwriter (Kendrick Lamar) 
• "Please Please Please" - Amy Allen, Jack Antonoff & Sabrina Carpenter, songwriters (Sabrina Carpenter) 
• "Texas Hold 'Em" - Brian Bates, Beyonce, Elizabeth Lowell Boland, Megan Bulow, Nate Ferraro & Raphael Saadiq, songwriters (Beyonce) 

Best New Artist

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

Best Pop Solo Performance

• "Bodyguard" - Beyonce
• "Espresso" - Sabrina Carpenter
• "Apple" - Charli XCX
• "Birds of a Feather" - Billie Eilish 
• "Good Luck, Babe!" - Chappell Roan

Best Pop Vocal Album

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

Best Music Video

• "Tailor Swif" - A$AP Rocky
• "360" - Charli XCX
• "Houdini" - Eminem
• "Not Like Us" - Kendrick Lamar
• "Fortnight" - Taylor Swift featuring Post Malone

Best Rap Album

• "Might Delete Later" - J. Cole
• "The Auditorium, Vol. 1" - Common and Pete Rock
• "Alligator Bites Never Heal" - Doechii
• "The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grace) - Eminem
• "We Don't Trust You" - Future and Metro Boomin

Best Rock Album

• "Happiness Bastards" - The Black Crowes
• "Romance" - Fontaines DC
• "Saviors" - Green Day
• "Tangk" - Idles
• "Dark Matter" - Pearl Jam
• "Hackney Diamonds" - The Rolling Stones
• "No Name" - Jack White

Best Country Album

• "Cowboy Carter" - Beyonce
• "F-1 Trillion" - Post Malone
• "Deeper Well" - Kacey Musgraves
• "Higher" - Chris Stapleton
• "Whirlwind" - Lainey Wilson

Best Country Solo Performance

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

Best Global Music Album

• "Alkebulan II" - Matt B featuring Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
• "Paisajes" - Ciro Hurtado
• "Heis" - Rema
• "Historias de un Flamenco" - Antonio Rey
• "Born in the Wild" - Tems

Artists with Most Nominations

• Beyonce (11)
• Charli XCX (7)
• Billie Eilish (7)
• Kendrick Lamar (7)
• Post Malone (7)
• Sabrina Carpenter (6)
• Chappell Roan (6)
• Taylor Swift (6)