Beyoncé makes history as ‘Cowboy Carter’ leads Grammy nominations

The pop princesses are going to battle it out for the crown at the 2025 Grammy Awards, but it’s Beyoncé’s first foray into country that leads the nominations and made history for the pop icon.
Grammy nominees were announced Friday morning, bringing Beyoncé’s legacy to a whopping 99 nominations and breaking her tie with husband Jay-Z as the most nominated artist in Grammy history.
Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter,” her first in the country genre, boasts 11 nominations — including in three of the four most coveted categories: Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Record of the Year.
Billie Eilish, Post Malone, Kendrick Lamar and Brat Summer architect Charli XCX follow with seven nominations each. Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan and Taylor Swift have six nominations each.
Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter,” Eilish’s “Hit Me Hard and Soft,” and Charli XCX’s “Brat” are all competing for Album of the Year. They’ll also be up against André 3000’s “New Blue Sun,” Chappell Roan’s “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” Jacob Collier’s “Djesse Vol. 4,” Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short n’ Sweet,” and Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poet’s Department.”
Those artists are all contending for Record of the Year — save for André 3000 and Jacob Collier — as well as Song of the Year, from which Charli XCX is absent.
Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” is nominated in both categories, as are Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather,” Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!,” Lamar’s “Not Like Us” and Swift’s collaboration with Post Malone, “Fortnight.”
The Beatles’ “Now and Then,” Charli’s “360,” and Carpenter’s song of the summer, “Espresso,” are also up for Record of the Year.
Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile,” Carpenter’s “Please Please Please” and Shaboozey are also competing for Song of the Year.
Though Beyoncé did not snag any nominations for this year’s Country Music Association Awards, “Cowboy Carter” is also nominated for several Grammys in four country categories — including Best Country Album — as well as in pop, melodic rap and Americana.
Charli and Post Malone also got nominated across genres, with the former tapped in pop as well as dance and electronic categories and the latter in pop and country.
Carpenter and Roan will face off for Best New Artist, as well as in Best Pop Solo Performance and Best Pop Vocal Album. Best Pop Solo Performance also includes Beyoncé, Charli, and Eilish, while Swift enters the chat with Best Pop Vocal Album, as does Ariana Grande’s “Eternal Sunshine.”
Though much of pop royalty nabbed the expected nominations, Grande was notably snubbed in both Album of the Year and Record of the Year. It was predicted she might snag a nomination for the latter with “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love).”
Other notable nominations include the star-studded Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Album categories. The Beatles are nominated for the former, The Rolling Stones for the latter, and Green Day and Pearl Jam have nods for both.
After his beef with Drake made headlines this summer, Lamar grabbed Best Rap Performance nominations for two tracks fueled by that rivalry: “Not Like Us” and his collaboration with Future and Metro Boomin, “Like That.”