Beyoncé becomes most-nominated artist ever : NPR

Beyoncé, already the most awarded performer in the history of the Grammys, leads the field of artists nominated for the 67th Grammy Awards, with 11 nominations. She secured nominations in three of the night’s four general categories, including album of the year for her critically acclaimed Cowboy Carter, as well as song of the year and record of the year for “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM.”

Beyond Beyoncé, artists who have been well-loved by the Recording Academy, the body of musicians and music industry figures who votes on and presents the Grammys, also racked up nominations. Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish, who have dominated the album, record and song of the year categories in the last five years, will each compete in all three categories again.

2024 has also been a stacked year for breakout stars, and several of them, including Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan and Charli xcx, scored multiple nominations. Carpenter and Roan are the only performers nominated in all four of the “general field” categories, which also include best new artist.

Beyonce’s rodeo

With this year’s 11 nods, Beyoncé is now the most nominated artist in Grammys history, with 99 total career nominations. In addition to her nominations in album, song and record of the year — categories in which she has somewhat infamously been beaten on multiple occasions — Beyoncé picked up nominations in a wide array of genre categories, including pop, Americana, country and melodic rap. Even though the artist had previously asserted, “This ain’t a country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album,” Cowboy Carter decidedly shows up in the best country album category, sandwiched between more expected albums by mainstays Kacey Musgraves, Chris Stapleton, Lainey Wilson and the rap-rocker-turned-country-convert, Post Malone.

Speaking of Posty, he’s tied with Charli xcx, Billie Eilish and Kendrick Lamar with seven nominations each heading into the ceremony, which will take place on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025. As a coveted feature artist for big names this year, Post’s writing credit and featured performance on the Taylor Swift track “Fortnight” landed him song of the year and record of the year nominations. For his work on the Cowboy Carter track “LEVII’S JEANS,” the Syracuse-born collaborator earns a nomination for best pop duo/group performance, a category he’ll be competing against himself in thanks to his own track, “I Had Some Help,” featuring Morgan Wallen. The drinkin’ buddy break-up jaunt — one of the year’s biggest hits — is also up for best country song.

While on the subject of boozy country tracks, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” by Shaboozey, the title-holder in the contest for the longest running No.1 song of 2024 to date, is up for song of the year. The singer-rapper himself, who also lent his talents to two songs on Cowboy Carter, joins Carpenter and Roan in the best new artist category, along with Benson Boone, Doechii, Khruangbin, RAYE and Teddy Swims.

10,000-hours artists

Two names who enjoyed flashbang success in 2024 after long-simmering careers are due to get their moments in the spotlight heading into the February ceremony. Sabrina Carpenter’s “Please Please Please” is nominated for song of the year while the frothy “Espresso” is up for record of the year. Chappell Roan’s festival-dominating queer anthem, “Good Luck, Babe!,” is nominated in both the song and record of the year categories. Each woman’s full-length albums, Short n’ Sweet and The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, will compete for album of the year.

Aside from the sweet and the sapphic, there was one woman who ruled summer 2024 and could take that reign into next spring. More than a decade into her career, Charli xcx has earned her first Grammy nominations as a solo artist. The English electropop phenom’s BRAT is nominated for both album of the year and best dance/electronic album, with multiple singles off the album earning nominations: “Guess,” featuring Billie Eilish, is up for best pop duo/group performance, “Apple,” for best pop solo performance, “Von dutch,” for best pop dance recording, and “360,” for best music video.

Familiar names in new territory

Despite not dropping an album this year, Kendrick Lamar made enough noise to alert the Recording Academy when he and Drake engaged in a ruthless rap battle earlier this summer. The Compton MC’s “Not Like Us,” the effective kill shot that ended the pair’s tête-à-tête, is nominated for record of the year, song of the year and, lastly, best rap performance, a category in which the rapper appears twice thanks to his feature on the track “Like That” with Future and Metro Boomin. The last time a rap diss track was nominated was in 2016, when Drake’s diss to Meek Mill, “Back to Back,” secured a nom for best rap performance, ultimately losing out that year to Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright.”

Alicia Keys is no stranger to the Grammys stage, but this year, the 16-time winner is nominated in the best musical theater album category for the first time, for her semi-autobiographical Broadway musical, Hell’s Kitchen. Meanwhile, the Florida-hailing rap protege Doechii is the only MC up for best new artist this year (bolstered by her single “Nissan Altima” securing a nom for best rap performance) and British R&B-jazz maestro RAYE is the first artist ever to be nominated for songwriter of the year, non-classical and best new artist simultaneously.

Surprises and snubs

With more than three decades in music-making, André 3000 dropped his debut solo album last year, the experimental jazz joint New Blue Sun. Now, the ATLien’s foray into ambient flute workouts has resulted in a nomination for album of the year. Even though this is his first solo body of work to be nominated, André collected two gramophones just last year for his feature on Killer Mike’s song, “Scientists & Engineers,” which was awarded best rap performance and best rap song. He has a total of nine career wins at the Grammys. The famed rapper/flutist will also compete for best alternative jazz album alongside Arooj Aftab’s Night Reign, Robert Glasper’s Code Derivation, Keyon Harrold’s Foreverland  and Meshell Ndegeocello’s No More Water: The Gospel Of James Baldwin.

As far as omissions, not all are created equal. Vampire Weekend received critical acclaim for its 2024 album, Only God Was Above Us, but was completely shut out of the rock and alternative categories. Three-time Grammy winner Dua Lipa received no nominations for her latest dance pop album, Radical Optimism. Despite African artists Ayra Starr, Tyla and Rema making major waves in the global market this year, none are represented in this year’s categories. In the hip-hop world, 21 Savage’s American Dream is not up for any awards despite critical acclaim. Meanwhile, Q4 heaters like Tyler, the Creator’s Chromakopia and GloRilla’s Glorious are vacant from the rap categories because they were released after the eligibility window of the coming year’s awards (although Glo’s confidence booster, “Yeah Glo!,” made it to the best rap performance category). The cut-off date to release work to be eligible for this year’s Grammy Awards was Aug. 30, 2024.