Yahoo Lifestyle The 5 Biggest Takeaways, Snubs, and Surprises From the 2025 Grammy Nominations
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."
Competition at the 2025 Grammys will be fierce, judging from the list of nominees that were unveiled today. If you pay any attention to the music industry—or simply to what's playing on the radio—then many of the names on the list will likely come as no surprise.
Fresh off of her genre-exploding country album Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé leads the pack with a whopping 11 nominations, a number that has smashed records and made her the most-nominated artist of all time. She's joined by fellow Recording Academy favorites Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift, who scored seven and six nominations respectively.
The 2025 Grammys also embraced a wave of new talent. This year's star-making ascent for the likes of Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX, and Chappell Roan shaped major categories, with the pop darlings earning nods everywhere from Album of the Year to Best New Artist. And while there's much to celebrate, other stars were excluded from categories fans expected them to pull off—and some singers weren't included at all.
Ahead, we break down the top five biggest takeaways from the 2025 Grammy nominations.
Beyoncé and Cowboy Carter swept across genres.
Longtime members of the Beyhive know better than to get their hopes up when it comes to the Grammys, but you can't say the Recording Academy didn't recognize the magic of Cowboy Carter in nominations. Beyoncé's genre-bending country concept album featured collaborations with the likes of Miley Cyrus, Shaboozey, Linda Martell, Dolly Parton, and more. This year, the album swept the Grammys as the most-nominated single project and helped propel the superstar to become the most Grammy nominated artist of all time with 99 lifetime nominations—surpassing a previous tie with her husband, Jay-Z.
Most notably, Cowboy Carter granted Beyoncé her first official nominations in the Recording Academy's country categories as well, a major feat for any Black artist and a subtle middle finger to the CMAs, who famously shut out the singer's eighth studio album from their most recent ceremony. Even if Bey doesn't win Album of the Year, winning Best Country Album could potentially symbolize so much more—and maybe that was the goal all along.
A battle of the pop queens began brewing.
In 2024, the gifts just kept on coming for pop music fans with many of the world’s biggest female superstars releasing new albums back-to-back. So when the nominations for the 67th annual Grammy Awards were announced this morning, it was no surprise to see that pop queens dominated in categories like Album of the Year and Song of the Year. Now it’s gonna be a tight race between Grammy darlings like Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Billie Eilish, alongside recently-recognized stars like Charli XCX, Chappell Roan, and Sabrina Carpenter. (I can’t even fathom the carnage that will ensue among stans on X.)
Even though 2023 was deemed by many as the “Year of the Woman,” 2024 actually felt that way in terms of music. In the spring, Taylor set music record sales with The Tortured Poets Department and Queen Bey shifted the culture with Cowboy Carter. Then once summer rolled around, Charli XCX turned us all into brats, while Sabrina had us sipping espresso and Chappell had us spelling out “H-O-T T-O G-O” like the Village People.
But while it’s agonizing trying to pick amongst all our faves, we can rest easy knowing one thing: They’re all deserving of wins.
Ariana Grande was mostly snubbed.
While female pop stars dominated in the Album of the Year category this year, perhaps the most glaring omission was Ariana Grande’s seventh studio album, Eternal Sunshine. With rave reviews from critics and two number-one singles, the LP was considered one of the most cohesive and mature releases of her career. Still, it was mostly overlooked once nominations came around.
The album did earn a nod in the Best Pop Vocal Album category, while “Yes, And?” was recognized in Best Dance Pop Recording and “The Boy Is Mine” remix got nominated in Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. Still, another surprise was the complete shut-out of Ariana's “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love),” which got zero nominations.
One explanation could be the forthcoming release of Wicked, which has been a big focus for Ariana all year and may have taken top priority over campaigning for the Grammys. Also, with Eternal Sunshine coming out all the way back in March, it may have gotten lost amidst more recent buzz from artists like Charli XCX and Sabrina Carpenter. If there’s any consolation, let’s hope that Ariana gets an Oscar nomination to make up for it.
The next generation of pop royalty got their due.
There was no doubt that Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, and Charli XCX—three artists who saw the fruits of their labor materialize after they each experienced a blockbuster, career-defining year—would get recognition at the 2025 Grammys. The only question was by how much? Charli, riding off the wave of Brat summer, led the new vanguard with seven nominations. Meanwhile, Sabrina (who recently released her sixth studio album Short n' Sweet) and Chappell (who earned acclaim for her 2023 debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess and 2024 single “Good Luck, Babe!”) garnered six nominations each. All three earned nods in the top two marquee categories, Record of the Year and Album of the Year. Sabrina and Chappell also earned spots amongst the nominees for Song of the Year and Best New Artist.
But Dua Lipa, Hozier, and Jack Antonoff were snubbed.
It's been a particularly big year for Dua Lipa, Hozier, and Jack Antonoff, but all three missed out on nominations in major, albeit differing, ways.
Despite heavily promoting her highly-anticipated third studio album, Radical Optimism, Dua received zero nods in the general and pop categories. (Her 2021 album, Future Nostalgia, previously won the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album.)
Hozier had a stellar year with his chart-topping pop rock single, “Too Sweet,” which wound up being his first-ever No. 1 hit. Still, the Irish singer was excluded from the 2025 Grammys.
In perhaps one of the most-surprising snubs, Jack notably did not receive a nomination for Producer of the Year, a non-classical category that he had previously won for the last three years in a row. At least he can still lick his wounds with the other nominations he picked up, including two nods for Song of the Year.
You Might Also Like
