Country Music Remains Largely Out of Grammy Voters' Sights: 2025 Grammy Names Breakdown

In 2024, pop artists made their love for country music known, and today, Grammy voters made their love for these efforts known.

Pop and R&B stars dominated the country Grammy nominations, including Beyoncé, who was the only artist to receive nods in all four country categories. (Bey is the top artist worldwide with a record 11 nominations for her country-influenced Cowboy Carter album.)

Post Malone also earned two country nominations, while Noah Kahan received one. Mixing genre Shaboozey, whose “A Bar Song (“Tipsy”) became the first top 10 (and eventually top three) song on all four Bulletin board radio airplay charts — Country Airplay, Pop Airplay, Rhythmic Airplay and Adult Pop Airplay — received two.

Even though country radio ignores her (and vice versa), country voters remain justifiably enamored with Kacey Musgraves — who earned three nominations, including for country album, solo performance and song. jelly roll, Morgan Wallen and Chris Stapleton are the only artists who consider themselves primarily country (and are embraced by country radio) to receive more than one country nomination.

Notably, this is the first time two Black artists have been nominated in the best country solo performance category since its inception in 2012 (combining previous solo acts nominated for the former category). In 2021, Mickey Guyton was the first black artist to be nominated in the category. In addition to Beyoncé and Shaboozey, voters in the country categories ignored several non-crossover black artists who released acclaimed music this year, including Brittney Spencer, Guyton and Kane Brown.

If it weren't for Beyoncé and Shaboozey, country music would have been mostly shut out of the four main categories: album, record and song of the year and best new artist. Beyoncé is represented in album, Record and Song of the Year, while Shaboozey is nominated for Best New Artist and Song of the Year.

This is an ongoing issue with Grammy nominations, and one the Academy is working on in an effort to increase the ballot in the country community — but the numbers are too rarely in country music's favor to land slots in categories of all kinds.

In the last 10 years, not including today's nominations, only four country artists have been nominated for album of the year (including more Americana-oriented artists like Sturgill Simpson and Brandi Carlile), and there's only been one winner: Musgraves for Golden Hour in 2018. Only two country songs have received nominations for Song of the Year and none for Record of the Year. Best New Artist has fared better, with eight artist nominations in the past decade but no winners (country's last winner was the Zac Brown Band in 2010). Song of the Year goes to songwriters, so the break remains even more confusing — since in the past two years, two mostly country songwriters have taken two of the five spots in the non-classical songwriter of the year category. Shout out to Jessi Alexander and Jessie Jo Dillon.

The relative deadlock on the big four remains for 2025, even as country enjoys massive popularity and dominates the Hot 100, with titles such as Post Malone and Wallen's “I Had Some Help,” “Texas Hold'Em” by Beyoncé, Shaboozey's “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” and Wallen's “Love Somebody” spent more than half a year together at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100.

Speaking of Whalen, he remains the third guide for Grammy voters. He finally received his first Grammy nominations this year for “I Had Some Help” with Malone, but the no-nonsense hit was snubbed from song and record of the year and relegated solely to the country categories. (The Grammys' more than 12,000 voters can all vote in the four main categories, but are then limited to 10 categories in three genre fields, in an effort to ensure voters stick to their areas of expertise when voting.)

So it will be up to Beyoncé and Shaboozey to represent country music in the main categories (all of which are presented on the air, while country is often relegated to the pre-telecast) on February 2nd, and maybe Beyoncé will finally get the slot. win for album of the year.

In other notable and joyous nominations, country pioneer Linda Martell, the first black woman to play the Grand Ole Opry, receives her first Grammy nomination at age 83 — for best rap melodic performance, for “SPAGHETTII.” by Beyoncé featuring Martell and Shaboozey.

Jessica Nicholson contributed to this story.