The Grammy nominations were announced on November 10, and the nominees for Album of the Year are historic. Seven out of the eight contenders in the category are female acts, which sets a new record for the most women ever nominated in a single year as lead artists. Check out the list of Grammy nominations here.
The seven distaff nominees are superstar Taylor Swift (“Midnights”), pop prodigy Olivia Rodrigo (“Guts“), alt pop queen Lana Del Rey (“Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd“), past provocateur Miley Cyrus (“Endless Summer Vacation“), R&B darling Janelle Monae (“The Age of Pleasure“), nominations leader SZA (“SOS”) and the alternative supergroup Boygenius (“The Record“). The only male artist nominated is Jon Batiste (“World Music Radio”), who happened to win this award two years ago.
So who will win? Well, Swift went into the nominations as the front-runner in our racetrack odds, and she’s nominated six times, which means she got in for all but one of her seven submissions on the ballot. But voters might be hesitant to award her in the category a fourth time. No performer has ever won Album of the Year that many times, and currently Swift is tied with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder for the most ever at three apiece.
SZA has the most nominations (nine) and therefore may have the most support from voters, but Grammy voters are often skittish around R&B and hip-hop, and no Black woman has won the top category since Lauryn Hill (“The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill”) in 1999. Also, Monae may siphon some R&B votes from her. Meanwhile, Rodrigo and Cyrus could split pop votes, Del Rey and Boygenius could divide some of the alternative support. That leaves … the only male nominee, Batiste. But Batiste just won in 2022. No one has claimed multiple Album of the Year trophies that close together since the aforementioned Stevie Wonder won three times in four years back in the 1970s.
The fact is, at first glance, this appears to be one of the most wide-open races in years. Who do you think will win it?
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