Grammys Narrow Down Big Categories From ‘Way Too Many Nominees’ to ‘Too Many Nominees’

The Grammy Awards fan roundtable is pulling two chairs away from the table now that the general field categories have been reduced from 10 nominees, which became the standard when two additional nominees were added in each one day before nominations were announced in 2021. Now, only eight artists will be up against each other for Album, Record and Song of the Year as well as Best New Artist.

And while this means fewer musicians will receive nominations in those categories, nominees for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical and Songwriter of the Year, Non-Classical have cause to celebrate as the Recording Academy moves both to the general field. The big four is now the big six — and the producers and songwriters placing their imprint on the industry will be able to accept their award in front of their peers at the televised ceremony instead of the scarcely attended pre-show.

According to the New York Times, members of the Recording Academy took issue with the expanded number of nominations because it, in theory, allowed artists to win with just over 10% of the vote. Having eight nominees will certainly level out the playing field, in a way, but it’s still uneven when you consider that before it was bumped to eight in 2018, the standard was five nominees in each general field category. Still, Grammys president Harvey Mason Jr. denies hearing these complaints from Academy members.

“Does the vote get split? Is 10 too many? Does it minimize the nomination?” Mason asked in a press conference, positioning examples of the kind of questions they considered when rearranging for next year’s ceremony. “All these conversations were happening in trying to find what is the best number.”

In 2021, the New York Times reported that the two last-minute add-ons to Album of the Year were Taylor Swift’s Evermore and Kanye West’s Donda. They both lost out to Jon Batiste — as did Justin Bieber, Olivia Rodrigo, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, Doja Cat, H.E.R., Billie Eilish, and Lil Nas X. For Song of the Year, Doja Cat and SZA’s “Kiss Me More” was added alongside Brandi Carlile’s “Right on Time.”

The 66th annual awards will be presented in early 2024, following up this year’s ceremony which saw an unexpected win from Bonnie Raitt in Song of the Year and became the catalyst for online chaos when Harry Styles was awarded Album of the Year for Harry’s House over the expected winner Beyoncé. She became the most decorated artist in Grammy Awards history that night with 32 career wins, but still has only been awarded in the general field once — over a decade ago when “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” won Song of the Year.

Calls for the Recording Academy to make the proper changes to right their perceived wrongs going forward have seemingly been heard. In addition to the reduced main categories, the Grammy Awards eligibility period has also shifted to an odd, 11-and-a-half-month range from Oct. 1, 2022, to Sept. 15, 2023. There’s also three new categories: Best African Music Performance, Best Pop Dance Recording and Best Alternative Jazz Album.